Siege and capture of Corfu
After a four-month blockade, the combined Russo-Ottoman squadron of Vice Admiral Fyodor Ushakov stormed the island of Vido and forced the French garrison of Corfu, the main fortress of the Ionian Islands, to surrender.
- Date
- 24 October (4 November) 1798 – 20 February (3 March) 1799exact date · duration: ≈ 4 monthsJulian calendar (Old Style); the Gregorian date (New Style) is in brackets
- Place
- Corfutoday: Corfu (Kerkyra), Greece · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire, French First Republic, Fyodor Ushakov
- Threads
- Russia at the turn of the 19th century, French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
- Also known as
- Взятие Корфу
Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign pushed the Ottoman Empire into an alliance with Russia: in August 1798 Ushakov’s Black Sea squadron left Sevastopol and passed through the Straits into the Mediterranean. Within a few weeks in the autumn of 1798 the allies drove the French from Cerigo, Zante, Cephalonia and Santa Maura, and from 24 October (4 November) they blockaded Corfu.
The assault began on 18 February (1 March) 1799: the ships’ guns silenced the batteries on Vido, which covered the fortress from the sea, and landing parties took the island and then the outer fortifications of Corfu. On 20 February (3 March) the garrison signed an honorable capitulation. On the liberated islands the Septinsular Republic was set up under Russian and Ottoman protection; it became a base for the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- French invasion of Egypt and Syria19 May 1798 – 2 September 1801 · Middle East and Egyptthe French invasion of Egypt pushed the Ottoman Empire into an alliance with Russia
Related events
- Suvorov’s Italian campaign3 (14) April 1799 – 31 August (11 September) 1799 · Western and Central Europeboth operations were part of the War of the Second Coalition; after Corfu, Ushakov’s squadron operated off the coast of Italy
Same participants
- Death of Catherine the Great6 (17) November 1796 · Eastern Europevia Russian Empire
- Battle of the Pyramids21 July 1798 · Middle East and Egyptvia Ottoman Empire
- Battle of the Nile1–3 August 1798 · Middle East and Egyptvia French First Republic
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Suvorov’s Italian campaign3 (14) April 1799 – 31 August (11 September) 1799
- Suvorov’s Swiss campaign10 (21) September 1799 – 27 September (8 October) 1799
- Coup of 18 Brumaire9–10 November 1799
Middle East and Egypt
- Battle of the Nile1–3 August 1798
- Battle of the Pyramids21 July 1798
- French invasion of Egypt and Syria19 May 1798 – 2 September 1801
Central and Northern Asia
- Syrym Datuly’s uprising1783–1797
South Asia
- Fall of Seringapatam and death of Tipu Sultan5 April – 4 May 1799
East Asia
- White Lotus Rebellionbetween 1794 and 1796 – 1804
Latin America
- Haitian Revolutionbetween 21 August and 22 August 1791 – 1 January 1804
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Siege of Corfu (1798–1799)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Осада Корфу (1798—1799)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Средиземноморский поход Ушакова
- Wikipedia (Russian): Константинопольские союзные договоры
- Тарле Е. В. Адмирал Ушаков на Средиземном море (1798–1800). — М.: Воениздат, 1948.
- Wikidata: Q4120811