Acre (French Invasion of Egypt).
The city was besieged March 17, 1799, by the French under Napoleon, and defended by the Turks under Djezzar, and a small force of British seamen under Sir Sidney Smith. An assault on the 28th was repulsed with loss, and then a threatened attack by a Syrian army forced Napoleon to withdraw a large portion of his troops. On the resumption of the siege, no less than seven more assaults were delivered, while the French had to meet eleven sallies of the besieged[besieged], but they were unable to effect a lodgment, and on May 21 Napoleon reluctantly raised the siege. The fall of Acre would have placed the whole of Syria, and possibly of the Turkish Empire, in the hands of the French.