Louis IX captures Damietta

1249

The crusader fleet disembarked in the teeth of Ayyubid cavalry and seized Damietta almost without a fight. The French king knelt in thanksgiving on the sand. Emboldened, he ordered a march on Cairo that would end catastrophically in the Delta's mud. The ease of Damietta's capture bred fatal overconfidence, and the decision to advance upriver against seasoned Egyptian defenders proved a strategic disaster.