Bombardment of Tripoli (1728)
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| Bombardment of Tripoli (1728) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) The bombardment of Tripoli in 1728 by the French squadron of Grandpré. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 France |
 Tripolitania | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Étienne Nicolas de Grandpré |
Ahmed Karamanli | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The Bombardment of Tripoli is a military operation of the Kingdom of France which took place between July 20 and July 27, 1728 against the current city of Tripoli, in Libya.[1]
After appearing before Tunis which immediately submitted, a French fleet commanded by the squad leader Étienne Nicolas de Grandpré presents himself in front of Tripoli of Barbary Coast. Faced with the Pasha's refusal to submit in turn, the French fleet bombarded the city for six nights, causing great destruction. However, this French victory was not exploited due to the lack of troops landing on land.[2]
In 1685, an expedition had already taken place against Tunis and Tripoli; its object was then to force these two cities to respect the commitments concluded with the King by making them feel the superiority of the French forces.
After the peace treaties they had concluded with Austria, the Barbary Pirate of Tripoli and Tunis left the Italian commercial vessels in relative tranquility and turned towards French ships, in contravention of the terms of the treaty of 1720. In 1725 and 1727, French squadrons made two naval demonstrations, but the Tripolitan pasha was known for not keeping his word. It was the same with Tunis.[3]
Reynaud, a French naval officer, who had been captive in Tunis and had been assigned to the service of the Bey of Tunis, managed to escape and return to France . Learning that the government was preparing to act, he sent from Toulon on September 23, 1727, a plan to bombard the Tunisian ports: Bizerte, Porto Farina, Sousse and Sfax.[4]
The Jean Frédéric Phélypeaux de Maurepas, Secretary of State of the Navy orders the arming of a new squadron of which he entrusts command to the squad commander, Étienne Nicolas de Grandpré.[5]