British Military Campaigns 1783-1802

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French Revolutionary Wars 1792-1802
The French Revolution led to much of Europe going to war in the mid-1790s. Some Countries wanted to put Louis XVI back on a throne, many had other agendas like gaining territory or, in the case of some in France, creating a French Republic. A coalition of European powers formed to fight France and the early phase of this mammoth conflict, the wars of the First and second Coalition, is also known as the French Revolutionary Wars. France was at war with Great Britain continuously from 1793 to 1802. Hostilities with Great Britain ceased with the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, but conflict soon started up again with the Napoleonic Wars.

The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries)
1793 to 1795
For the British and the Austrians the campaign proved disastrous. The British were ill-equipped and poorly clothed By Spring 1795 they had left Dutch territory entirely, and reached the port of Bremen, a part of Hanover. There they waited for orders from Britain. In 1795 the British Evacuated taking with them the remnants of the Dutch, German and Austrian troops that had retreated with them. The British army had lost more than 20,000 men in the two years of fighting.

Egypt Campaign
1801
Napoleon Bonaparte landed in Egypt in 1798 but his army was cut off when the British fleet under Admiral Nelson defeated the French navy at the Battle of the Nile. Turkey joined Britain and Russia in declaring war on France. Napoleon laid siege to Acre but was forced to retreat to Egypt where he defeated the Turkish Army at the Battle of Aboukir in July 1799. He then returned to France leaving General Kléber in command. In March 1800 Kleber defeated the Turks again at the Battle of Heliopolis but was assassinated in June. General Menou took command of the French army.

In 1801 the British decided to drive the French from Egypt and an expeditionary force under Sir Ralph Abercrombie landed at Aboukir on 8 March. On 21 March the French were defeated at the Battle of Alexandria and Menou was besieged in the city.

The Anglo-Indian expeditionary force from Bombay reached Jeddah on 17 May where he was joined by a contingent from the Cape of Good Hope. The force reached Kosseir on 8 June and marched across the desert to Kenna. General Belliard surrendered Cairo on 27 June and the Indian contingent joined the forces at the Siege of Alexandria. General Menou surrendered to General Hely-Hutchinson on 30 August. The French army was allowed to evacute Egypt.