months (March–May) was repulsed by the Turks, aided by Sir Sidney Smith and a force of British sailors. Having lost his siege cannons to Smith, Napoleon attempted to lay siege to the walled city defended by Ottoman troops on March 20, 1799, using only his infantry and small-calibre cannons, a strategy which failed, leading to his retreat two months later on May 21.
Jezzar was succeeded on his death by his son Suleiman Pasha, under whose milder rule the town advanced in prosperity till his death in 1819. After his death, Haim Farhi, who was his adviser, paid a huge sum in bribes to assure that Abdullah Pasha (son of Ali Pasha, the deputy of Suleiman Pasha), whom he had known from youth, will be appointed as ruler. Abdullah Pasha ruled Acre until 1831, when Ibrahim Pasha besieged and reduced the town and destroyed its buildings. During the Oriental Crisis of 1840 it was bombarded on November 4, 1840 by the allied British, Austrian and French squadrons, and in the following year restored to Turkish rule. It regained some of former prosperity after linking with Hejaz Railway by a branch line from Haifa in 1913. It was a sanjak centre (Sanjak of Acre) in Beyrut Eyalet until English occupation in 23 September 1918 during World War I.
British Mandate
At the beginning of the Mandate period, in 1922, Acre had about 6,500 residents: 4,883 of whom Muslim, 1,344 Christian, 115 Baha’i, and 78 Jewish. The British Mandate government reconstructed Acre and its economic situation improved. The 1931 Mandate census counted 7,897 people in Acre. In 1946 Acre’s population numbered around 13,000.
During the pogrom of 1929, Arabs, led by As'ad Shukeiri, demolished the ancient synagogue in Acre’s old city. During the Arab revolt in 1936–1939, Acre’s Arab residents were very active against the British and the Jewish settlements in Western Galilee. This caused the Jews to leave Acre.
Acre’s fort was converted into a jail, where members
