Siege of Butrint (1798)

The Siege of Butrint took place on 18–25 October [O.S. 7–14 October] 1798 between the armed forces of Revolutionary France and the autonomous Ottoman-Albanian ruler, Ali Pasha of Janina. The French had seized the Venetian Ionian Islands off the western coast of Greece the previous year, after the Fall of the Republic of Venice. The islands also included a few mainland exclaves like Butrint and Preveza, which were coveted by Ali. French efforts to draw Ali into their camp against the Ottoman sultan failed, and when the Ottoman Empire turned against France, Ali attacked the French positions, attacking Butrint first. The French, led by Nicolas Grégoire Aulmont de Verrières and eventually by the French governor-general, Louis François Jean Chabot, resisted for a week, but finally withdrew from the fortress and blew it up. After this success, Ali Pasha moved on to capture Preveza to the south.

Sources

• Baeyens, Jacques (1973). Les Français à Corfou, 1797-1799 et 1807-1814 [The French in Corfu, 1797-1799 and 1807-1814] (in French). Athens: Institut français d'Athènes. OCLC 2763024.
• Fleming, Katherine Elizabeth (1999). The Muslim Bonaparte: Diplomacy and Orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-69100194-4.
• Moschonas, Nikolaos (1975). "Τα Ιόνια Νησιά κατά την περίοδο 1797-1821" [The Ionian Islands in the period 1797-1821]. In Christopoulos, Georgios A. & Bastias, Ioannis K. (eds.). Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους, Τόμος ΙΑ΄: Ο Ελληνισμός υπό ξένη κυριαρχία (περίοδος 1669 - 1821), Τουρκοκρατία - Λατινοκρατία [History of the Greek Nation, Volume XI: Hellenism under Foreign Rule (Period 1669 - 1821), Turkocracy – Latinocracy] (in Greek). Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon. pp. 382–402. ISBN 978-960-213-100-8.

Further reading

• Bellaire, J. P. (1805). Précis des opérations générales de la division française du Levant (in French). Paris.