The Battle of the Nile was fought between the British and French navies at Aboukir Bay on the Egyptian coast from 1 to 3 August 1798. It ended in victory for the British under Horatio Nelson (pictured). It was the climax of a Mediterranean naval campaign during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under Napoleon Bonaparte, pursued by Nelson and his fleet. After the French army had landed in Egypt, the French fleet anchored in what its commander believed was a formidable defensive position. When the British fleet arrived, Nelson ordered an immediate attack on both sides of the French position simultaneously. Trapped in a crossfire, the leading French warships were battered into surrender. The centre initially repelled the attack but was defeated after renewed assault from British reinforcements. The battle reversed the strategic situation in the Mediterranean and encouraged other European countries to turn against France. Bonaparte's army was trapped and was later defeated at the Siege of Acre. Nelson was made Baron Nelson and proclaimed a hero across Europe, and his captains were also highly praised.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1096:

The Seljuk forces of Kilij Arslan destroyed the army of the People's Crusade as it marched toward Nicaea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Crusade

1600:

Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated the leaders of rival Japanese clans at the Battle of Sekigahara in what is now Sekigahara, Gifu, clearing the path for him to form the Tokugawa shogunate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sekigahara

1858:

French composer Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, featuring music most associated with the can-can (audio featured), was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_in_the_Underworld

1921:

George Melford's wildly successful silent film The Sheik, which would propel its leading actor Rudolph Valentino to stardom, premiered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Valentino

1983:

At the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures, the length of a metre was redefined as the distance light travels in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

gleek: 1. (archaic) To jest, ridicule, or mock; to make sport of. 2. (informal) To discharge a thin stream of liquid through the teeth or from under the tongue. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gleek

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.   --Ursula K. Le Guin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin