During the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century (1830-1903) the French conquered Algeria, which was marked by the resistance against the French colonialist occupation, as well as by the genocide perpetrated by France against the Algerian population, which in turn, killed around 500 thousand to 1 million inhabitants.

The history of French colonization in Algeria begins a few years before the invasion of the country. In 1827, there was the curious case called the “fly-whisk incident”, in which Hussein Dey1, Ottoman governor of Algeria, would hit Pierre Deval, French consul, three times in the face with an object formerly called “fan”, but with the purpose of killing flies, similar to a whip.

The disagreement arose because of a an “indirect” debt that the French had with the Ottoman government in Algeria. It turns out that around 1795-1796 France had bought wheat from two jewish merchants, who in turn had debts with Hussein Dey. Thus, the merchants would not pay the debt to the Ottoman ruler until the French paid what they owed. Hussein even tried to negotiate with Pierre Deval, an attempt that was unsuccessful, even suspecting a plot between the Frenchman and the merchants. Nevertheless, Dey would still end up being angry with Pierre’s nephew, Alexandre, who had fortificated the warehouses in the cities of El Kale (formerly known as La Calle) and Bone.

Because of this, Charles X of France took advantage of the diplomatic disagreement to mandatorily demand an apology from Hussein Dey, and then carried out a blockade against the port of Algeria, which would last for about three years and to some extent would not be very favorable to the French, as French merchants would not be able to trade with the city, while Berber pirates could pass through the blockade.

In 1829 France would attempt a diplomatic approach with Hussein, sending an ambassador to Algeria. However, the response of the Ottoman governor would come through cannon shots towards one of the ships in the French blockade. After this unsuccessful attempt to establish diplomacy with Ottoman Algeria, Charles X appointed the “conservative” Jules, Prince of Polignac as president, resulting in indignation and oposition from the liberals, who were the majority in the French Chamber of Deputies. It is interesting to note that Jules attempted relations with Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who was nominally a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, so that they could divide North Africa, something that was readily rejected by Muhammad. In this sense, as the opinion of the liberals who formed the majority of the Chamber, as well as popular opinion were unfavorable to the Prince of Polignac and also to the King, the two monarchs decided that an external victory, such as the capture of Ottoman Algeria, could change the fortune of the two.

THE INVASION

Two names of the French army that played a key role in the French colonization of Algeria were Admiral Duperré and General de Bourmont. The first took over an armada of 600 ships in Toulon and from there went straight to Algeria; de Bormount would be responsible for 17,000 soldiers, who would land less than 30 km from Algiers. The numbers are expressive, but they will also be on the Algerian side: the dey would send 7 thousand janissaries; 19 thousand troops from the neighboring beys of Constantine and Oran, as well as about 17 thousand kabyles, a Berber tribe that live in the northeastern region of Algeria.

Despite the bulky army of the Algerian dey, his fleets still lost the battle of Staouéli on June 19, 1830, and the french entering the city of Algiers three weeks later on July 5. The Algerian bey would surrender, making an agreement with the French so that he could leave the place peacefully with his wealth, taking refuge in Naples (Italy) with his family. The Janissaries would also return to Turkey, thus marking the end of more than three centuries of Turkish-Ottoman rule in Algeria, now moving to French ruling.

Colonization and Massacres

Algeria had barely been conquered and the news had barely reached France when the July Revolution took place, deposing King Charles X from the throne, replacing him by his nephew Louis Philippe, also called “Citizen King” or “Bourgeois King”. It turns out that the aforementioned liberal opposition was also opposed to the invasion of Algeria, reluctant to continue a process that had begun under Charles’ ancient regime. However, the conquest of Algeria had been a great triumph for France, proving to be a very popular endeavour at the time.

Louis then replaced General Bourmont, who was thinking of returning with his army to restore the throne of Charles X2, by marshal Bertrand Clauzel in September 1830.

Clauzel would initiate French colonization in Algeria, as he formally introduced a civil administration there, also recruiting soldiers (including natives) for the French auxiliary forces, thereby establishing a colonizing presence in Algeria, strengthening the French in the region. Clauzel would also invest in Algerian agriculture, acquiring land and subsidizing the allocation of European farmers there.

He would later try to negotiate with Morocco to establish a Moroccan bey in the city of Oran, however this would be disapproved by the French minister who would replace Clauzel with Baron Barthezène in early 1831, a few months after the French conquest of Algeria and its inevitable process of colonization.

However, Berthezène was an opponent of the colonialist policies in Algeria, showing up as a weak ruler, causing military losses in his administration, such as in an attempt to help the bey of Medea, which fought against popular revolts for supporting French colonialists. The campaign was disastrous, suffering constant attacks by the kabyle militias, which caused a disorderly retreat impossible to be controlled, with about 300 French soldiers killed in the undertaking. Due to the victory of the Algerian resistance against French imperialism, the morale of the natives rose to the point that attacks against French colonialist bases took place.

As can be seen, the French presence was not accepted peacefully by the Algerians, who from the beginning raised resistance against the invading European power. The opposition to the French was not without a reason, since they agreed to preserve and maintain the natives’ liberties, as well as their properties and religiosity. However the French soon began plundering the cities, killing and arresting the inhabitants for the most arbitrary possible reasons, as well as confiscating property and destroying religious monuments.

Thus, the French looted, massacred and destroyed entire villages, also bringing down many mosques and cemeteries. In 1857 the Berber hut communities would be suppressed by the French. Algeria would be declared territory of the French state. A French commission wrote in 1833:

We have sent to their deaths on simple suspicion and without trial people whose guilt was always doubtful … we massacred people carrying safe conducts … we have outdone in barbarity the barbarians (RUEDY, 2005, p. 50).

In the period between 1830 and 1862, in the initial phase of French occupation, mosques and other Islamic religious buildings went from 172 to 47, expropriated or transformed into Christian churches. Just in Algiers, at least three of its great cathedrals were mosques taken by French colonialists. It is estimated that about 500 thousand to 1 million4 people were killed in a population of about 3 million, being considered a real genocide.

Notas:

[1] Dey literally means “uncle”, na Ottoman honorific title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis under the Ottoman Empire dominions from the period of 1671 onwards;

[2] The general would give up of his ideas because he did not have enough support, going into exile in Spain later;

[3] A safe conduct is a document that allows someone to transit/travel free through some a territory without any harassments;

[4] For more details, see KIERNAN, 2007, p. 364.

Bibliografia:

Kiernan, Ben. Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. Yale University Press. 2007.

SESSIONS, Jennifer. France & Algeria: Origins and Legacies. Ottoman History Podcast. 2019.

PRIESTLEY, Herbert Ingram. France Overseas: a Study of Modern Imperialism. Routledge. 1966.

RUEDY, John Douglas. Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation. Indiana University Press. 2005.

BLOXHAM, Donald; MOSES, A. Dirk. The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies. Oxford University Press. 2010.