from Part VII - AFRICA AND THE MUSLIM WEST
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Algeria (1830–1962)
The occupation of Algiers (1830) led at first to the conquest of Algeria and then to that of the whole of the Maghrib by the French; the conquest was limited until 1834 to a few points on the coast but progressively extended towards the interior in spite of some spectacular reverses. The treaties which were concluded in 1834 and 1837 with the most representative chief of western and central Algeria, the Amīr ‘Abd al-Qādir, seem to have left the French freedom of action in the east. Thus they occupied Constantine in October 1837. The expedition of the Duc d'Orléans which linked Constantine to Algiers without any armed opposition, far from indicating the pacification of Algeria, as the French government maintained, was the beginning of a period of ruthless conflict. On the one side there was General Bugeaud, governor-general from the end of 1840, who obtained from the government men, supplies, credit, and above all complete freedom of movement; on the other, ’Abd al-Qādir, whose authority was based on his personality, his readiness to use force to reduce opposition, his desire to create, in imitation of Muhammad ‘Alī, if not an Algerian nation at least an Algerian state, and finally his good relations with Mawlāy ’Abd al-Rahmān of Morocco. The latter gave him substantial help until his defeat at Isly (1844). Bugeaud hounded ‘Abd al-Qādir and his partisans. Everywhere where the amīr could offer resistance, the general used the methods of total war; devastating the country, and massacring or carrying off women and children.
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