Unit/ Formation: Royal Marines Location: Lebanon Period/ Conflict: Egyptian–Ottoman War Year: 1840 Date/s: 11 August 1840 In June 1840 Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, commanding the British Mediterranean Fleet, sent Commodore Charles Napier with a small squadron to the Syrian (now the Lebanese) coast. He was then ordered to proceed to Beirut to compel the Egyptians to withdraw.
The situation on the ground was extremely volatile, and called for quick and decisive action; this Napier provided, acting as if his was an entirely independent command.
On August 11, 1840, Napier's ships appeared off Beirut and he called upon Suleiman Pasha, Mehmet's governor, to abandon the town and leave Syria, whose population shortly revolted against Mehmet's occupying army. With such a small force, there was little that Napier could do against fifteen-thousand Egyptian troops until September, when Stopford's ships joined up with him.
Open war broke out on September 11, when Napier bombarded Beirut and effected a landing at Jounieh with 1,500 Turks and Marines to operate against Ibrahim, who was prevented by the revolt from doing more than trying to hold the coastal cities.
Royal Marines Related 'Dits':
Sidon 1840
References/ Further Reading:
Wikipedia - Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–1841)
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