Как британцы сорвали Египетский поход Наполеона

0:11 1798 It's the sixth year of the French Revolutionary Wars...

0:18 and France is winning.

0:19 The brilliant victories of General Bonaparte

0:22 in Italy forced Austria to ask for peace.

0:25 Spain, once at enmity with France, is now its ally.

0:30 Great Britain remains the only major power

0:34 still at war with the French Republic.

0:37 The strength of the British navy makes a cross-Channel invasion impossible.

0:43 The French government therefore decides

0:45 to attack Britain's communications with India

0:49 by sending an expedition under the command

0:52 of General Bonaparte to conquer Egypt.

0:57 If the French were successful in driving

0:59 British influence and trade out of the region,

1:03 they would have dealt a powerful blow to their last major enemy.

1:11 The previous year, the British had defeated the Spanish

1:15 fleet at the Battle of Cape San Vicente.

1:18 However, the Royal Navy does not currently

1:21 have a major force in the Mediterranean.

1:24 Therefore, the French are confident that the route to Egypt is safe.

1:31 When the British learn that a large French fleet is forming at Toulon,

1:36 they send Rear Admiral Nelson with three ships of the line to reconnoiter.

1:43 But he is thrown south by a storm just

1:45 at the moment when the French- with 13 battleships,

1:49 several frigates and hundreds of transport ships- go to sea.

1:55 Bonaparte eluded the British.

2:13 Nelson receives reinforcements: 11 more battleships.

2:18 Upon learning that the French have stopped and captured Malta,

2:22 he correctly concludes that their goal is Egypt.

2:27 He raises all sails and rushes to intercept.

2:37 The British ships were much faster than

2:40 the clumsy French squadron, but at night,

2:42 in thick fog, the fleets missed each other

2:48 by only a few kilometers without noticing each other.

2:53 Unaware of how close success was,

2:56 the British quickly moved towards the shores of Egypt.

3:00 Arriving in Alexandria,

3:02 Nelson sees no sign of the French and heads north to continue his search.

3:09 He missed Bonaparte's fleet...

3:12 by 24 hours.

3:14 The French successfully land in Egypt

3:16 and begin to advance deeper into the country,

3:19 soon winning a famous victory at the Battle of the Pyramids.

3:23 The French fleet remains anchored in Aboukir Bay.

3:28 More than a month later, news finally reaches Nelson,

3:31 who is in Sicily, that the French fleet is in Egypt.

3:38 Immediately setting off for Alexandria with his squadron,

3:41 Nelson arrived there on 1 August and quickly discovered the French fleet.

3:50 The French fleet is commanded by Admiral François-Paul Bruet d'Aigallier.

3:56 He is an experienced commander who participated

3:59 in the Battle of the Chesapeake during the American Revolution.

4:03 Now he is a rare sight in the navy of the French Republic:

4:07 a forty-five-year-old aristocrat who did not

4:10 flee abroad and was not guillotined.

4:13 Recently promoted to vice admiral,

4:16 he has a reputation for courage and caution in strategic matters.

4:25 Admiral Bruet has one goal- to preserve his fleet.

4:31 Bonaparte's army relied on his ships

4:35 for communications and supplies from France.

4:40 When Nelson arrives, almost a third of Brueux's crews are ashore,

4:47 obtaining water and provisions.

4:50 The French admiral realizes that it will not be possible to avoid battle,

4:55 and is preparing for defense.

4:57 Its fleet- 13 battleships and 4 frigates- is anchored in Aboukir Bay,

5:04 lined up just 1.5 km from the coast.

5:08 In the center is his flagship, the 120-gun Orient battleship of the first rank.

5:15 Shoals and shallow water cover its western flank...

5:18 This means that with a reduced crew,

5:21 the French will be able to service the guns on only one side.

5:27 Bruhe orders each ship to fasten to its

5:30 neighbors in front and behind with thick ropes.

5:34 The fleet must form an impenetrable wall of ships, ready to repel any attack.

5:42 Bruet is well aware of the reputation of his enemy, Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson.

5:49 Last year, Nelson was honored for his heroic

5:52 role in the Battle of Cape San Vicente.

5:55 But five months later he lost his right arm

5:59 during a failed attack on the Spanish in Tenerife.

6:02 He spent the rest of the year ashore recovering from his wounds,

6:07 and therefore missed the British victory over the Dutch

6:10 at Camperdown in October- an event that so upset him

6:14 that he declared that he would willingly give his other

6:18 hand for the opportunity to take part in that battle.

6:21 Having discovered the enemy fleet,

6:24 Nelson is determined to engage and destroy it.

6:28 At the same time, he has strong strategic

6:31 reasons for such a risky attack on the French.

6:34 If Nelson succeeds in destroying the French fleet,

6:37 the French army in Egypt will find itself cut off- far from home,

6:43 surrounded by a hostile climate and local population.

6:47 This would lead to the collapse of Bonaparte's expedition,

6:50 even without a single British soldier setting foot on the Egyptian shore.

6:55 Nelson has at his disposal 13 battleships of the third rank,

7:00 as well as the 50-gun Leander and a small sloop for transmitting messages.

7:06 Against 13 French battleships and four frigates,

7:10 the forces look roughly equal...

7:12 although the French flagship Orient, with 120 guns,

7:16 is far and away the most powerful warship in the battle.

7:22 Nelson opts for a night attack, seeking to exploit Bruhe's caution.

7:28 He would follow the French line from the sea,

7:32 and when his vanguard reached the flagship Orient, Nelson's ships would anchor.

7:39 His entire fleet would meet with only half the French forces,

7:43 as the north wind would prevent the rest

7:47 of Brueux's ships from joining the battle.

7:51 Nelson's plan is bold and simple.

7:58 But it will not come true as planned.

8:17 The British fleet begins its decisive approach at 6 pm,

8:22 under full sail, lined up in a wake column.

8:28 The 74-gun battleship Goliath leads the way.

8:35 It is followed by "Zeles" and "Odeishes".

8:44 The wind blows from the northwest, the sea is calm.

8:50 The British do not have reliable maps of the bay,

8:54 which means there is a real danger of running aground.

8:57 Therefore, the Goliath is forced to carefully measure the depth while moving,

9:03 monitoring the ship’s draft.

9:06 As the Goliath rounds Abukir Bay, surrounded by shoals and a small island...

9:12 the British turn south to sail with the wind towards the French line.

9:20 The French were watching the approach of the British all this time.

9:25 And at 6:20 pm, when the Goliath comes into range, they open fire.

9:38 Nelson always encouraged his officers to take initiative.

9:44 Therefore, when Captain Foley, commander of the Goliath,

9:48 notices that there is a gap between the French ships and the shoals,

9:53 he instantly decides to pass there.

9:55 The course of "Goliath" will then be repeated by "Zeles",

10:00 "Odeishes", "Orion" and "Theseus".

10:05 Nelson's flagship, the Vanguard,

10:07 would now lead the rest of the fleet along the outside of the French line.

10:16 Captain Foley's bold decision takes advantage of a fatal

10:20 underestimation on the part of Admiral Brueux.

10:23 He assumed that due to the shallows,

10:26 an attack from the coastal side was impossible.

10:31 Now the French vanguard was caught in a pincer movement,

10:36 caught in the crossfire,

10:37 and the guns on the opposite side were not yet ready to go

10:41 into battle— there were barely enough sailors on the gun decks to service them.

10:48 When the Goliath passes in front of the Guerrier's bow,

10:51 it fires a longitudinal salvo,

10:53 striking the enemy's hull along the entire length of the ship.

11:02 Each subsequent British ship unleashes the same salvo on the Guerrier.

11:12 "Orion" takes a course with a large turning radius to bypass

11:16 the ensuing brawl at the head of the French line.

11:20 This leads him to the French frigate Serieuse, anchored in shallow water.

11:28 According to established rules,

11:30 battleships usually did not open fire on frigates during major battles.

11:35 But when the captain of the Serious opens fire on the Orion,

11:40 he deprives himself of this protection.

11:43 "Orion" refrains from firing until it reaches the French frigate,

11:50 after which it opens fire.

11:55 A powerful broadside literally blows the French frigate to pieces.

12:03 The British "coastal" column anchors to engage the French vanguard...

12:09 While the "sea" column, led by Nelson on the Vanguard,

12:14 approaches from the other direction.

12:20 The captains of each ship choose a target and anchor next to it: Vanguard vs.

12:28 Spartiate...

12:29 Minotaur vs.

12:31 Aquilon...

12:32 Defense vs.

12:34 Ash Sovereign.

12:36 Five French ships are now attacked by eight British ships,

12:41 most of them from both sides.

12:46 Bellerophon and Majestic also join the battle.

12:53 They go to the center of the French line.

12:56 "Bellerophon" intends to attack the "Franklin", however,

13:00 he passes by and finds himself next

13:03 to the formidable flagship of Admiral Bruet, the Orient.

13:07 The Majestic makes a mistake in its maneuver and, having lost its course,

13:11 finds itself entangled with the Tonnan,

13:13 entering into an unequal battle with two French battleships at once.

13:20 By seven o'clock in the evening it begins to get dark.

13:24 Three kilometers to the north, the last of the British ships, the Culloden,

13:28 unable to discern the treacherous contours of the shoals, runs firmly aground.

13:37 Leander and the sloop Muyutin change course to try to free Culloden.

13:43 But this will turn out to be a futile undertaking.

13:50 The fate of the Culloden shows how little

13:54 room for maneuver there was during such an approach.

13:59 The French vanguard has been under heavy fire for 30 minutes.

14:07 The Konkeran was completely dismasted.

14:09 The captain of the ship dies.

14:11 A third of the crew was out of action.

14:17 He is the first to lower the flag.

14:21 However, events are not only developing in one direction.

14:25 Bellerophon suffers a serious defeat in a duel with Orient.

14:36 Two hundred people, a third of its crew, were killed or wounded,

14:40 and the ship lost its main and mizzen masts.

14:43 The captain orders the anchor rope to be cut

14:48 so that the ship leaves the line of fire.

14:52 Around half-past nine, two late British ships,

14:56 Swiftsure and Alexander, finally enter the fray.

15:01 In the smoke and twilight, they pass by the drifting Bellerophon...

15:06 and almost open fire on it by mistake.

15:10 Swiftsure and Alexander break the enemy line on either side of Orient,

15:16 unleashing a longitudinal salvo on the French flagship.

15:26 On the Vanguard, Nelson is hit in the forehead by shrapnel.

15:31 Blood floods his face and he decides it's the end.

15:35 “I’m dead!” he announces.

15:37 “Tell my wife about me.” However,

15:40 the ship's surgeon quickly stitches up the wound,

15:43 and Nelson is soon back in service.

15:46 The wounds of the French commander, Admiral Bruet,

15:49 aboard the Orient, are much more serious.

15:53 Horribly wounded in the face and arms,

15:55 he is then struck by a cannonball that tears off his legs.

16:00 And yet he refuses to leave the deck and dies there.

16:10 With the onset of darkness, “Guerrier” and “Spartiat”,

16:13 who had been under heavy fire for more than two hours, both lowered their flags.

16:22 At about the same time, the Leander,

16:25 having given up trying to refloat the Culloden,

16:28 breaks through the French line between the Peple Souveiren and the Franklin,

16:33 inflicting heavy blows on both.

16:38 The battle is rapidly tilting in favor of the British fleet.

16:43 The Aquilon thrashes furiously,

16:45 changing course to fire a longitudinal salvo at the British flagship Vanguard.

16:50 However, he himself is subjected to longitudinal fire

16:55 from the “Minotaur” and at 9:25 he lowers the flag.

17:00 The "Pople Souvérien" tries to escape by cutting

17:04 the anchor rope and drifting along the French line.

17:08 Orient mistakes him for an enemy and opens fire.

17:13 Just a few minutes later, reflections of flames are seen through the gun

17:19 ports on the lower deck of the Orient.

17:22 The fire spreads from deck to deck until

17:25 the huge French flagship is ablaze from stem to stern.

17:34 Everyone understands that in the depths of the Orient’s

17:39 hold there is a hook chamber- 30–40 tons of gunpowder.

17:45 All ships nearby are urgently taking precautions.

17:49 The cannon ports are closed, the sides,

17:52 decks and sails are doused with water from pumps,

17:56 preparing in advance for the coming explosion.

18:01 The French ships "Tonnan", "Herrier" and "Mercure" cut off the anchor ropes,

18:07 hoping to retreat to a safe distance.

18:11 At about ten o'clock in the evening the fire reaches the Orient's crew chamber.

18:21 The ship is destroyed by a colossal explosion,

18:24 killing everyone who remained on board and many

18:28 who jumped overboard in an attempt to escape.

18:35 More than 90% of the ship's crew died- about 1000 people.

18:42 The power of the explosion miraculously spares nearby ships,

18:45 as flaming debris flies up and over them.

18:53 Stunned, both sides cease fire for a moment

18:57 and look at this terrible sight in numbness.

19:01 British ships lower lifeboats to rescue the few survivors.

19:08 After a ten-minute respite, the cannonade resumes.

19:13 But after the horrific death of the flagship, the French lose morale.

19:19 Swiftsure and Defense turn their guns on Franklin, forcing her to capitulate.

19:29 "Tonnan", having broken the anchor ropes and unable to maneuver,

19:34 drifts helplessly in the French rearguard.

19:38 The three ships, unable to sail downwind to engage in battle,

19:43 watched the carnage indifferently.

20:00 At dawn on August 2,

20:04 a terrible picture of death and destruction opened before our eyes.

20:10 John Nichol from Goliath witnessed this.

20:16 “I went up on deck to see the condition of both fleets,

20:21 and a terrible sight appeared before me.

20:24 The entire bay was covered with corpses: mutilated, wounded and burned,

20:30 with nothing left on them except their trousers.”

20:36 The entire French vanguard was either captured or destroyed.

20:41 The Airier and Mercury ran aground,

20:45 desperately trying to escape the Orient's explosion.

20:49 The four remaining French battleships will now try to break free.

20:57 Two of them will also run aground.

21:00 Only the Generier, Guillaume Tell and two frigates escape destruction.

21:07 The captain of the Guillaume Tell, Pierre-Charles de Villeneuve,

21:11 would be harshly criticized for failing to take

21:14 a more active part in the battle.

21:17 Seven years later, already as commander of the fleet,

21:20 he will again meet in battle with Nelson...

21:25 at Trafalgar.

21:26 British losses were two hundred and eighteen

21:30 killed and six hundred and seventy-eight wounded.

21:34 Three ships- Bellerophon, Majestic and Culloden- are badly damaged.

21:40 The French lost about one thousand seven hundred

21:43 people killed and more than three thousand captured, many of whom were wounded.

21:51 Two battleships and two frigates sank.

21:55 Nine ships were captured.

21:58 Of these, three were so damaged that it was impossible to restore them,

22:03 and they were set on fire.

22:05 The remaining six went on to serve in the Royal Navy.

22:11 To top it all off, most of the treasury that General Bonaparte

22:15 had relied on to finance the Egyptian campaign went down with the Orient.

22:35 Nelson's brilliant victory at the Nile had major consequences.

22:41 The balance of naval power in the Mediterranean

22:46 swung sharply in favor of Great Britain.

22:50 General Bonaparte's expeditionary force in Egypt found itself cut off;

22:55 the commander himself,

22:57 however, returned to France the next year, but his army surrendered in 1801.

23:06 The French garrison on Malta also capitulated

23:09 and the island became a British protectorate.

23:15 The French defeat inspired its opponents to create a new,

23:19 Second Coalition- and thereby resumed the war.

23:25 Nelson became a hero- he was feted at royal courts from London to St.

23:31 Petersburg and Constantinople.

23:33 He received jewelry, medals,

23:35 ceremonial swords and finally what he had long dreamed

23:40 of: the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile.

23:47 The Battle of the Nile was one

23:49 of the most decisive and devastating naval battles in history.

23:53 Some historians believe that she was

23:56 the most significant in Nelson's military career.

24:00 But the battle that forever linked Nelson’s name

24:03 with the pages of world history took place seven years later...

24:11 at Cape Trafalgar.

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