History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12)Rappoport, A. S. (Angelo Solomon)
History
History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12)
Rappoport, A. S. (Angelo Solomon)
Egypt -- History
Immediately after the taking of St. Jean d'Acre Ibrahim Pasha, following
up his successes, had turned towards Damascus, which town he entered
without a blow being struck, the governor and the leading inhabitants
having taken flight. The commander-in-chief established his headquarters
under the walls of the conquered country, and then marched in three
columns on Horns. The battle of Horns (July 8, 1832) demonstrated the
vast superiority of the Egyptian troops. On both sides there were about
thirty thousand regular soldiers, but the Egyptians were the better
organised, the better disciplined, and the more practised in the arts of
war. When it is remembered that at Horns the Turks lost two thousand men
killed, and 2,500 taken prisoners, while the Egyptian casualties were
only 102 killed and 162 wounded, one is not astonished at the enthusiasm
with which Ibrahim Pasha wrote after the battle: "I do not hesitate to
say that two or three hundred thousand of such troops would cause me no
anxiety."
It is not surprising that the beaten pashas were so struck with terror
that in their flight they abandoned sixteen more pieces of artillery and
all the ammunition they had managed to save from their defeat. They
fled as if they could not put sufficient distance between themselves and
their redoubtable enemy.
This battle foretold the result of the Syrian campaign. The population
of Syria seemed to call for the domination of the conqueror; the viceroy
protested his submission to the Porte and his desire for peace, and
meanwhile Ibrahim Pasha marched forward.
The Porte counted on its fleet to guard the Dardanelles, but it needed
an army and a commander to oppose Ibrahim Pasha, who again defeated the
Turks at Oulon-Kislak. He then advanced towards the plains of Anatolia,
where he met Rashid Pasha.
It was now December, 1830, and the atmosphere was heavy with a thick
fog. The armies opened fire on each other on December 21st, with the
town of Koniah in the background. The grand vizier was at the head of
close on sixty thousand men, while the Egyptian army only comprised
thirty thousand, including the Bedouins. The fighting had continued for
about six hours when Rashid Pasha was taken prisoner; the news of his
capture spread along the Turkish lines and threw them into disorder,
and the Egyptians remained masters of the field, with twenty pieces of
mounted cannon and some baggage: the Turks had lost only five hundred
men, while the Egyptian losses were but two hundred.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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