June 14, 1830 began a massive landing of French troops in Algeria. Three weeks later, the central authorities capitulated. However, in order to subjugate the entire territory of the North African country, the French took several decades.

Reason for war

As the head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at G.V. Plekhanova Andrey Koshkin, in the nineteenth century, Algeria had "complex and ambiguous" relations with official Paris. The French fought for centuries and at the same time traded with North Africa. In addition, since the end of the 18th century, Algeria on credit has supplied bread, corned beef and leather to revolutionary and Napoleonic France. As a result, Paris had huge debts. However, after the Napoleonic authorities refused to give them away. In response, Algeria raised taxes for a French company operating on its territory. Relations between France and Algeria have escalated.

During the next showdown in 1827, the ruler of Algeria Hussein III, in response to the incorrect words of the French consul Pierre Deval, hit him in the face with a fan. The French authorities took this as an insult and sent a fleet to the shores of Algeria, which established a three-year sea blockade. However, Hussein III did not become more compliant, and official Paris took even tougher measures.

  • Ruler of Algeria fanning the French Consul
  • © Wikimedia Commons

French Algeria

“In 1830, France sent to Algeria a very large-scale military expedition for its time on one hundred military and several hundred transport ships. It was led by Count Louis de Bourmont. Under his command were about 37 thousand military. This is more than twice the size of the regular Algerian army, excluding tribal militias, ”said Andrei Koshkin.

On June 14, 1830, the landing of French troops began on the west coast of the Sidi Ferruh peninsula, about 20 km from the capital. According to experts, the Algerian army and the quickly assembled militia twice tried to dislodge the French from their positions, but failed. On July 4, French troops stormed the fort covering Algeria. The whole city was under the gun of their artillery. This made further resistance pointless. On July 5, 1830, Hussein III surrendered, transferring the artillery, navy and treasury to the French, and was expelled from the country.

As the oriental historian Robert Landa wrote in his book “The History of Algeria”, “since the French army entered the capital of Algeria, a completely different era has opened in the life of the country - the era of accelerated modernization and“ Europeanization ”of society, but at the same time also of fierce resistance colonial expansion. "

According to Koshkin, the French occupiers extremely brutally behaved towards the local population and very quickly turned it against themselves. Only in order to take control of the vicinity of the capital, the French troops took about three years. However, with further advancement, they encountered even greater problems.

By the end of the 1840s, the French were persuaded to betray many local feudal lords.

“As a result, almost the entire territory of Algeria fell under the relative control of Paris. It was even officially divided into departments. And then declared the eternal possession of France, ”said Koshkin.

  • Horace Vernet. Capture of Bon March 27, 1832
  • © Wikimedia Commons

According to the expert, the 1850s were a successful time for the French colonialists of Algeria, who created the necessary infrastructure for themselves and conquered the border tribes with military force or with the help of diplomacy. 

“But in 1864, the French themselves created a big problem: they sentenced an Arab employee to punishment with sticks, which was considered shameful in Algeria. From this event, folklore began, giving rise to a cascade of uprisings, which continued until the early 1880s, ”said Koshkin.

According to him, a huge role in the conquest of Algeria and the long-term suppression of the local national liberation movement was played by a special unit created by the French authorities in 1831 - the Foreign Legion. In the XIX century, immigrants from foreign countries were massively recruited into it, without being interested in their past. Legionnaires were prepared to carry out any tasks in difficult climatic conditions.

“The experience gained in the Algerian deserts and hard training methods led to the fact that the Foreign Legion, in the opinion of many historians, played a key role in the success of France during the Crimean War of 1853-1856,” the expert emphasized.

The period 1885-1930 was relatively calm for the French administration. A tough policy towards the local population temporarily reduced the protest activity of Arabs and Berbers.

“In most of its colonies, Paris was limited to the creation of the French administration. Algeria was a completely different matter. This was not only the largest of the overseas possessions of France in the 19th – 20th centuries, but also the territory that the French were actively developing on the economic plan, into which they were moving en masse, ”said Yuri Rubinsky, head of the Center for French Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT.

  • French Algeria
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Sepia Times / Universal Images Group

Under various legal reasons, the land was taken from the local population and transferred to the European colonists. From 1850 to 1934, the area of ​​land that became the property of Europeans (both French and immigrants from Spain, Italy and other countries) increased from 115 thousand to 2 million 463 thousand hectares.

The path to independence

At the beginning of World War II, Algeria was under the control of the pro-Nazi regime of Vichy established in southern France, led by Marshal Henri Pétain.

“Algeria was in the center of the North African French possessions and had an advantageous strategic position - through it passed the shortest communications connecting France with the colonies in West and Equatorial Africa. In November 1942, Allied forces landed in North Africa and launched a victorious offensive. Against the background of the spread of information about the victory of the Red Army near Stalingrad, the French troops in the colonies began to move en masse to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. Algeria came under the control of “Free France,” Andrei Kuparev, methodologist at the Victory Museum science department, said in an interview with RT.

According to him, anti-imperialist ideas began to spread among the indigenous population of Algeria along with anti-fascist ideas. Many locals gained military experience in the ranks of the French army. All this contributed to the growth of national identity and the popularity of ideas of independence.

“On May 8, 1945, against the backdrop of news of the defeat of Nazism, Algerians massively went to solemn demonstrations, where slogans began to sound in support of Algeria's sovereignty. The French security forces began to use weapons, dispersing people. As a result, the demonstrations grew into a spontaneous uprising. Official Paris threw an army against the rebels. Tens of thousands of people were killed without trial, many settlements were destroyed, several dozen local politicians were sentenced to demonstrative death penalty. The uprising was crushed, ”said Andrey Koshkin.

However, the success of the French was situational. In Algeria, clandestine and partisan organizations began to appear in support of independence. In 1954, they massively attacked French targets, thereby laying the foundation for the war of independence, which lasted until 1962.

  • Protests in Algeria
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Keystone

According to Andrei Koshkin, the exact number of victims of the Algerian war is still the subject of debate.

The losses of the French are estimated at about 25 thousand military and 30 thousand civilians, and the loss of Algerians, according to some reports, reached 150 thousand combatants and 1.5 million civilians.

“France actually won a military victory in Algeria, but suffered a fierce reputation and political defeat. Official Paris has been widely criticized by the world community and its own citizens, ”said the expert.

In 1962, following negotiations and a referendum, Algeria gained independence. Europeans and local residents sympathizing with the colonialists were forced to leave the country.

“For them, it was a heavy blow. After all, the colonization of Algeria was a cost-effective enterprise for the French and France as a whole. And, as we know, the problems of relations between official Algeria and Paris, and between ordinary Algerians and the French are still not completely resolved, ”Andrei Koshkin summed up.