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. At the same time, Ali Pasha's army moved to capture Preveza to the south.[1][2]
- ^ Moschonas 1975, pp. 388–389.
- ^ Fleming 1999, pp. 70–73, 97–100.