The invasion of Isle Bonaparte was an amphibious operation in 1810 that formed an important part of the British campaign to blockade and capture the French Indian Ocean colonies of Isle Bonaparte (now Réunion) and Isle de France (now Mauritius) during the Napoleonic Wars. These islands formed a fortified base for a French frigate squadron under Commodore Jacques Hamelin to raid British convoys of East Indiamen travelling between Britain and British India. Hamelin's ships had destroyed two convoys the previous year despite the attention of a squadron of Royal Navy ships under Commodore Josias Rowley. Rowley had responded by raiding the fortified anchorage of Saint Paul on Isle Bonaparte, capturing one of Hamelin's frigates and recapturing two British East Indiamen.

The raid had an unforeseen consequence, when the commander of Isle Bonaparte General Nicolas Des Bruslys, committed suicide rather than lead the garrison against the British landing parties. This encouraged Rowley to consider a larger operation to seize the whole island. Using the small British-held island of Rodriguez as a base, Rowley and his British Army counterpart Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Sheehy Keating planned to land two forces either side of the island's capital Saint Denis and force the governor to capitulate before the island's militia could be mobilised against them.

The plan was launched on 7 July 1810 as two combined forces of British sailors, soldiers, sepoys and Royal Marines landed at separate beaches. Although a number of men were drowned in the heavy surf, the majority of the invasion force reached the beaches safely and marched inland, attacking French outposts as they approached the capital. Recognising that his demoralised garrison would be unable to defend Saint Denis and that the militia would take too long to mobilise, the French commander Colonel Chrysostôme de Sainte-Suzanne surrendered the island, its garrison and its stores to Rowley.

France's Indian Ocean colonies of Isle Bonaparte and Isle de France had provided a secure base for French privateers and French Navy frigates to operate against British shipping in the region for the entire French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In 1808, determined to capitalise on this poorly defended region of British trade, the French government ordered Commodore Jacques Hamelin in Vénus to sail to Isle de France where he would be joined by three other large and powerful frigates with specific orders to target British trade. Dispersing his frigates into the Bay of Bengal, Hamelin had some success during 1809: Caroline capturing two East Indiamen at the action of 31 May 1809 and Hamelin himself seizing three at the action of 18 November 1809. The French squadron also captured a number of smaller British warships and the large Portuguese frigate Minerve.

To counteract Hamelin's ships, the British commander in the region Admiral Albemarle Bertie had ordered Commodore Josias Rowley to operate off the islands with a squadron of Royal Navy frigates, with instructions to disrupt French movements and prepare for future invasion attempts. Rowley's ships had some successes: one of the East Indiamen captured by Hamelin was retaken by a blockading frigate in December 1809, but he was largely powerless to prevent the large French ships leaving their fortified anchorages at will. Rowley's first action to address this problem was to request a British Army force from the government in Madras. This force, made up of British soldiers and Honourable East India Company (HEIC) sepoys, was used to capture the tiny island of Rodriguez.

Rodriguez provided a secure harbour, at which Rowley's ships could collect supplies and repair minor damage within a short sailing distance of the French islands: previously the British ships had been forced to return to Madras or the Cape of Good Hope, decreasing the time available for operations against the islands. Rodriguez also provided Rowley with a staging post from which he could prepare the planned invasions and, in September 1809, he led an amphibious operation against the defences of the harbour of Saint Paul on Isle Bonaparte.

The Raid on Saint Paul was an important demonstration of Rowley's ability to strike at the French anchorages directly. Landing men at unwatched beaches, the British soldiers, sailors and Royal Marines of the landing party were able to storm the defences from the landward side and rout the defenders. This allowed Rowley's squadron to enter the harbour and capture Caroline and a number of smaller ships that were docked there. The attack caused consternation on the island and its commander, Nicolas Des Bruslys, committed suicide rather than order his troops to attack the British positions. Unopposed, Rowley was able to destroy the defences and public works in the town before leaving with large quantities of captured supplies and ships. Colonel Chrysostome Sainte-Suzanne replaced Des Bruslys but was unable to effectively defend the island with the remaining garrison in the event of a concerted invasion.

In early 1810, as the cyclone season came to an end, Hamelin ordered a squadron of frigates under Captain Guy-Victor Duperré to attack British convoys in the Bay of Bengal. Duperré was initially unsuccessful, but after sailing to Madagascar for a brief refit he encountered and defeated a convoy in the action of 3 July 1810. The British response to the French depredations was already in progress: in late June, Rowley sailed with two frigates to Rodriguez, leaving Captain Samuel Pym off Isle de France with the remainder. On Rodriguez, Rowley and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Keating conferred on the best method of invading and rapidly subduing the island, determining that the best plan was to land soldiers either side of the island's capital Saint Denis and defeat the garrison outside the town, forcing the new governor to surrender.