French conquest of Algeria The French conquest of Algeria took place between 1830 and 1847 . Using an 1827 diplomatic slight by Hussein Dey , the ruler of the Ottoman Regency of Algiers , against its consul as a pretext , France invaded and quickly seized Algiers in 1830 , and rapidly took control of other coastal communities . Amid internal political strife in France , decisions were repeatedly taken to retain control over the territory , and additional military forces were brought in over the following years to quell resistance in the interior of the country . Algerian resistance forces were divided between forces under Ahmed Bey at Constantine , primarily in the east , and nationalist forces in Kabylie and the west . Treaties with the nationalists under ` Abd al - Qādir enabled the French to first focus on the elimination of the remaining Ottoman threat , achieved with the 1837 capture of Constantine . Al - Qādir continued to give stiff resistance in the west . Finally driven into Morocco in 1842 by large - scale and heavy - handed French military action , he continued to wage a guerilla war until the Moroccan government , under French diplomatic pressure following its defeat in the First Franco - Moroccan War , drove him out of Morocco . He surrendered to French forces in 1847 . Background . The conquest of Algeria was initiated in the last days of the Bourbon Restoration by Charles X as an attempt to increase his popularity amongst the French people , particularly in Paris , where many veterans of the Napoleonic Wars lived . He believed he would bolster patriotic sentiment and turn eyes away from his domestic policies by " skirmishing against the dey " . The territory now known as Algeria was only partially under the Ottoman Empire ' s control in 1830 . The dey ruled the entire Regency of Algiers , but only exercised direct control in and around Algiers , with Bey liks established in a few outlying areas , including Oran and Constantine . The remainder of the territory ( including much of the interior ) , while nominally Ottoman , was effectively under the control of local Arab and Berber tribal leaders . The dey acted largely independently of the Ottoman Emperor , although he was supported by ( or controlled by , depending on historical perspective ) Turkish Janissary troops stationed in Algiers . The territory was bordered to the west by the Sultanate of Morocco and to the east by the Ottoman Regency of Tunis . The western border , nominally the Tafna River , was particularly porous since there were shared tribal connections that crossed it . The Fan Affair . In 1795 - 1796 , the French Republic had contracted to purchase wheat for the French army from two Jewish merchants in Algiers , and Charles X was apparently uninterested in paying off the Republic ' s debt . These merchants , who had debts to Hussein Dey , the Ottoman ruler of Algiers , claimed inability to pay those debts until France paid its debts to them . The dey had unsuccessfully negotiated with Pierre Deval , the French consul , to rectify this situation , and he suspected Deval of collaborating with the merchants against him , especially when the French government made no provisions for repaying the merchants in 1820 . Deval ' s nephew Alexandre , the consul in Bône , further angered the dey by fortifying French storehouses in Bône and La Calle against the terms of prior agreements . After a contentious meeting in which Deval refused to provide satisfactory answers on 29 April 1827 , the dey struck Deval with his fan . Charles X used this slight against his diplomatic representative to first demand an apology from the dey , and then to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers . The blockade lasted for three years , and was primarily to the detriment of French merchants who were unable to do business with Algiers , while Barbary pirates were still able to evade the blockade . When France in 1829 sent an ambassador to the dey with a proposal for negotiations , he responded with cannon fire directed toward one of the blockading ships . The French then determined that more forceful action was required . Following the failure of the ambassador ' s visit , Charles appointed as Prime Minister Jules , Prince de Polignac , a hardline conservative , an act that outraged the liberal French opposition , which was then in a majority in the Chamber of Deputies . Polignac opened negotiations with Muhammad Ali of Egypt to essentially divide up North Africa . Ali , who was strongly under British influence ( in spite of nominally being a vassal of the Ottomans ) , eventually rejected this idea . As popular opinion continued to rise against Polignac and the King , they came to the idea that a foreign policy victory such as the taking of Algiers would turn opinion in their favour again . Invasion of Algiers . Admiral Duperré took command in Toulon of an armada of 600 ships and then headed for Algiers . Following a plan for the invasion of Algeria originally developed under Napoleon in 1808 , General de Bourmont then landed 34 , 000 soldiers west of Algiers , at Sidi Ferruch , on 14 June 1830 . To face the French , the dey sent 7 , 000 janissaries , 19 , 000 troops from the beys of Constantine and Oran , and about 17 , 000 Kabyles . The French established a strong beachhead and pushed toward Algiers , thanks in part to superior artillery and better organization . On 19 June the French defeated the dey ' s army at the battle of Staouéli , and entered Algiers on 5 July after a three - week campaign . The dey accepted capitulation in exchange for his freedom and the offer to retain possession of his personal wealth . Five days later , he went into exile in Naples with his family . The Turkish Janissaries also quit the territory , leaving for Turkey . The dey ' s departure ended 313 years of Ottoman rule of the territory . While the French command had nominally agreed to preserve the liberties , properties , and religious freedoms of the inhabitants , French troops immediately began plundering the city , arresting and killing people for arbitrary reasons , seizing property , and desecrating religious sites . By mid - August , the last remnants of Turkish authority were summarily deported without opportunity to liquidate significant assets . One estimate indicates that more than fifty million francs of assets were diverted into private hands during the plunder . This activity had a profound effect on future relations between the French occupiers and the natives . A French commission in 1833 wrote that " 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 " . One important side effect of the expulsion of the Turks was that it created a power vacuum in significant parts of the territory , from which resistance to French occupation immediately began to arise . Hardly had the news of the capture of Algiers reached Paris than Charles X was deposed during the Three Glorious Days of July 1830 , and his cousin Louis - Philippe , the " citizen king " , was named to preside over a constitutional monarchy . The new government , composed of liberal opponents of the Algiers expedition , was reluctant to pursue the conquest begun by the old regime . However , the victory was enormously popular , and the new government of Louis - Philippe only withdrew a portion of the invasion force . General Bourmont , who had sent troops to occupy Bône and Oran , withdrew them from those places with the idea of returning to France to restore Charles to the throne . When it was clear that his troops were not supportive of this effort , he resigned and went into exile in Spain . Louis - Philippe replaced him with Bertrand Clauzel in September 1830 . The bey of Titteri , who had participated in the battle at Staouéli , attempted to coordinate resistance against the French with the beys of Oran and Constantine , but they were unable to agree on leadership . Clauzel in November led a French column of 8 , 000 to Médéa , Titteri ' s capital , losing 200 men in skirmishes . After leaving 500 men at Blida he occupied Médéa without resistance , as the bey had retreated . After installing a supportive bey and a garrison , he returned toward Algiers . On arrival at Blida , he learned that the garrison there had been attacked by the Kabyles , and in resisting them , had killed some women and children , causing the town ' s population to rise against them . Clauzel decided to withdraw that garrison as the force returned to Algiers . Colonization begins . Clauzel introduced a formal civil administration in Algiers , and began recruiting zouave s , or native auxiliaries to the French forces , with the goal of establishing a proper colonial presence . He and others formed a company to acquire agricultural land and to subsidize its settlement by European farmers , triggering a land rush . Clauzel recognized the farming potential of the Mitidja Plain and envisioned the production there of cotton on a large scale . During his second term as governor general ( 1835 – 36 ) , he used his office to make private investments in land and encouraged army officers and bureaucrats in his administration to do the same . This development created a vested interest among government officials in greater French involvement in Algeria . Commercial interests with influence in the government also began to recognize the prospects for profitable land speculation in expanding the French zone of occupation . Over a ten - year period they created large agricultural tracts , built factories and businesses , and bought cheap local labor . Clauzel also attempted to extend French influence into Oran and Constantine by negotiating with the bey of Tunis to supply " local " rulers that would operate under French administration . The bey refused , seeing the obvious conflicts inherent in the idea . The French foreign ministry objected to negotiations Clauzel conducted with Morocco over the establishment of a Moroccan bey in Oran , and in early 1831 replaced him with Baron Berthezène . Berthezène was a weak administrator opposed to colonisation . His worst military failure came when he was called to support the bey at Médéa , whose support for the French and corruption had turned the population there against him . Berthezène led troops to Médéa in June 1831 to extract the bey and the French garrison . On their way back to Algiers they were continually harassed by Kabyle resistance , and driven into a panicked retreat that Berthezène failed to control . French casualties during this retreat were significant ( nearly 300 ) , and the victory fanned the flames of resistance , leading to attacks on colonial settlements . The growing colonial financial interests began insisting on a stronger hand , which Louis - Philippe provided in Duke Rovigo at the end of 1831 . Rogivo regained control of Bône and Bougie ( present - day Béjaïa ) , cities that Clauzel had taken and then lost due to resistance by the Kabyle people . He continued policies of colonisation of the land and expropriation of properties . His suppression of resistance in Algiers was brutal , with the military presence extended into its neighborhoods . He was recalled in 1833 due to the overtly violent nature of the repression , and replaced by Baron Voirol . Voirol successfully established French occupation in Oran , and another French general , Louis Alexis Desmichels , was given an independent command that gained control over Arzew and Mostaganem . On 22 June 1834 , France formally annexed the occupied areas of Algeria , which had an estimated Muslim population of about two million , as a military colony . The colony was run by a military governor who had both civilian and military authority , including the power of executive decree . His authority was nominally over an area of " limited occupation " near the coast , but the realities of French colonial expansion beyond those areas ensured continued resistance from the local population . The policy of limited occupation was formally abandoned in 1840 for one of complete control . Voirol was replaced in 1834 by Jean - Baptiste Drouet , Comte d ' Erlon , who became the first governor of the colony , and who was given the task of dealing with the rising threat of ` Abd al - Qādir and continuing French failures to subdue Ahmed Bey , Constantine ' s ruler . The rise of ` Abd al - Qādir . The superior of a religious brotherhood , Muhyi ad Din , who had spent time in Ottoman jails for opposing the bey ' s rule , launched attacks against the French and their makhzen allies at Oran in 1832 . In the same year , tribal elders in the territories near Mascara chose Muhyi ad Din ' s son , twenty - five - year - old ` Abd al - Qādir , to take his place leading the jihad . Abd al - Qādir , who was recognized as Amir al - Muminin ( commander of the faithful ) , quickly gained the support of tribes in the western territories . In 1834 he concluded a treaty with General Desmichels , who was then military commander of the province of Oran . In the treaty , which was reluctantly accepted by the French administration , France recognized Abd al - Qādir as the sovereign of territories in Oran province not under French control , and authorized Abd al - Qādir to send consuls to French - held cities . The treaty did not require Abd al - Qādir to recognize French rule , something glossed over in its French text . Abd al - Qādir used the peace provided by this treaty to widen his influence with tribes throughout western and central Algeria . While d ' Erlon was apparently unaware of the danger posed by Abd al - Qādir ' s activities , General Camille Alphonse Trézel , then in command at Oran , did see it , and attempted to separate some of the tribes from Abd al - Qādir . When he succeeded in convincing two tribes near Oran to acknowledge French supremacy , Abd al - Qādir dispatched troops to move those tribes to the interior , away from French influence . Trézel countered by marching a column of troops out from Oran to protect the territory of those tribes on 16 June 1835 . After exchanging threats , Abd al - Qādir withdrew his consul from Oran and ejected the French consul from Mascara , a " de facto " declaration of war . The two forces clashed in a bloody but inconclusive engagement near the Sig River . However , when the French , who were short on provisions , began withdrawing toward Arzew , al - Qādir led 20 , 000 men against the beleaguered column , and in the Battle of Macta routed the force , killing 500 men . The debacle led to the recall of Comte d ' Erlon . General Clausel was appointed a second time to replace d ' Erlon . He led an attack against Mascara in December of that year , which Abd al - Qādir , with advance warning , had evacuated . In January 1836 he occupied Tlemcen , and established a garrison there before return to Algiers to plan an attack against Constantine . Abd al - Qādir continued to harry the French at Tlemcen , so additional troops under Thomas Robert Bugeaud , a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars experienced in irregular warfare were sent from Oran to secure control up to the Tafna River and to resupply the garrison . Abd al - Qādir retreated before Bugeaud , but decided to make a stand on the banks of the Sikkak River . On July 6 , 1836 , Bugeaud decisively defeated al - Qādir in the Battle of Sikkak , losing less than fifty men to more than 1 , 000 casualties suffered by Abd al - Qādir . The battle was one of the few formal battles al - Qādir engaged in ; after the loss he restricted his actions as much as possible to guerilla - style attacks . Constantine . Ahmed Bey had continuously resisted any attempts by the French or others to subjugate Constantine , and continued to play a role in resistance against French rule , in part because he hoped to eventually become the next dey . Clausel and Ahmed had tangled diplomatically over Ahmed ' s refusal to recognize French authority over Bône , which he considered to still be Ottoman territory , and Clausel decided to move against him . In November 1836 Clausel led 8 , 700 men into the Constantine beylik , but was repulsed in the Battle of Constantine ; the failure led to Clausel ' s recall . He was replaced by the Comte de Damrémont , who led an expedition that successfully captured Constantine the following year , although he was killed during the siege and replaced by Sylvain Charles , comte Valée . Al - Qādir ' s resistance renewed . In May 1837 , General Thomas Robert Bugeaud , then in command of Oran , negotiated the Treaty of Tafna with al - Qādir , in which he effectively recognized al - Qādir ' s control over much of the interior of what is now Algeria . Al - Qādir used the treaty to consolidate his power over tribes throughout the interior , establishing new cities far from French control . He worked to motivate the population under French control to resist by peaceful and military means . Seeking to again face the French , he laid claim under the treaty to territory that included the main route between Algiers and Constantine . When French troops contested this claim in late 1839 by marching through a mountain defile known as the Iron Gates , al - Qādir claimed a breach of the treaty , and renewed calls for jihad . Throughout 1840 he waged guerilla war against the French in the provinces of Algiers and Oran , which Valée ' s failures to adequately deal with led to his replacement in December 1840 by General Bugeaud . Bugeaud instituted a strategy of scorched earth , combined with fast - moving cavalry columns not unlike those used by al - Qādir to progressively take territory from al - Qādir . The troops ' tactics were heavy - handed , and the population suffered significantly . Al - Qādir was eventually forced to establish a mobile headquarters that was known as a " smala " or " zmelah " . In 1843 French forces successfully raided this camp while he was away from it , capturing more than 5 , 000 fighters and al - Qādir ' s warchest . Al - Qādir was forced to retreat into Morocco , from which he had been receiving some support , especially from tribes in the border areas . When French diplomatic efforts to convince Morocco to expel al - Qādir failed , the French resorted to military means with the First Franco - Moroccan War in 1844 to compel the sultan to change his policy . Eventually hemmed between French and Moroccan troops on the border in December 1847 , al - Qādir chose to surrender to the French , under terms that he be allowed to enter exile in the Middle East . The French violated these terms , holding him in France until 1852 , when he was allowed to go to Damascus .