The Algerian popular resistance against French invasion is the historic process that the
Algerian people undertook to counter the invasion of French
colonial troops on Algerian soil.
French-Algerian War 1681–88
The French-Algerian War (1681-1688) was part of a wider campaign by France against the
Barbary Pirates
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...
in the 1680s.
Resistance movements during the French conquest of Algeria
The ''French conquest of Algeria'' took place between 1830 and 1903. In 1827, an argument between
Hussein Dey
Hussein Dey (real name Hüseyin bin Hüseyin; 1765 – 1838; ar, حسين داي) was the last Dey of the Deylik of Algiers.
Early life
He was born either in İzmir or Urla in the Ottoman Empire. He went to Istanbul and joined the Canoneers ( ...
, the ruler of the
Deylik of Algiers
The Regency of Algiers ( ar, دولة الجزائر, translit=Dawlat al-Jaza'ir) was a state in North Africa lasting from 1516 to 1830, until it was conquered by the French. Situated between the regency of Tunis in the east, the Sultanate o ...
, and the French
consul escalated into a
naval blockade
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...
, following which
France invaded and quickly seized
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
in 1830, and seized other coastal communities. Amid internal political strife in France, decisions were repeatedly taken to retain control of the territory, and additional military forces were brought in over the following years to quell resistance in the interior of the country.
Mitidja Resistance
When the Algerian capital fell to the French army on 7 June 1830, a new phase of modern Algerian history began, the period of French colonialism.
This is because the fall of the Deylical rule led to a political vacuum and as a result, both political and military leaders appeared in the countryside of the Mitidja region and took upon themselves the task of confronting the French occupation.
The
Mitidja
Mitidja, (Arabic: , Berber: Mettijet ⵎⴻⵜⵙⵉⵛⵝ) is a plain stretching along the outskirts of Algiers in northern Algeria. It is about long, with a width of . Traditionally devoted largely to agriculture and serving as the breadbasket ...
is a large plain surrounding the Algerian capital of Algiers. The prospects of French occupation relied on the control of this area as it was a strategic entry into the Algerian interior.
The was the first armed popular resistance of Algerians against the French presence, which was generalized throughout the country and continued until the beginning of the 20th century.
Abdelkader Resistance
Emir Abdelkader was an ideal nominee for Algerian resistance against the French. He was a man committed to his
Shari’a faith and conduct of the jihad, and soon into his rise and maintenance of power as a figure head of the resistance he coined the nickname
Amir al-Mu’minin (Commander of the Believers).
Initially, the young Abdelkader took over from his father who was leading the Algerian opposition against the newly arrived French troops in the Oran province. Shortly after his succession to power, the Desmichels Treaty of 1834 was signed between Abdelkader and the French occupiers. The treaty was composed of two parts; one being the official content consisting of the French conditions, and the second consisting of Abdelkader’s demands from the French. The result of this was granting official permission and recognition of Abdelkaders sovereignty over the Oran province, in the northwest of Algeria. This gave Abdelkader a good foundation of expanding his sphere of control, as following this he created his own state in opposition to the French rule.
In this new state, Abdelkader was the sole leader and organised an army of around 2,000 men.
Whilst in power, Abdelkader made it a goal of his to attempt at resisting French occupation in other provinces, such as Algiers. However, the French showed no desire to back down from this fight. Abdelkader saw these actions as a cause for war. Consequently, in July 1839 he assembled the principal chiefs of all of the ethnic groups in the country and declared a conditional jihad. He toured the country calling for a jihad and advancing the need for preparation for war – commanding money, men and arms. By the end of 1839, Abdelkader had made an official declaration of jihad. A war of eight years followed.
Between 1832-1839 Abdelkader successfully created a state, which occupied almost two-thirds of the country at its peak, and limited the French occupancy in the three coastal regions which held much importance to both the French and the Algerians.
Ahmed Bey Resistance
Ahmed Bey
Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet.
Etymology
The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...
, the last
Bey of Constantine, led the Algerian popular resistance against the French in the east of Algeria with the aid of
Hussein Pasha. As the head of state, he modernised the army which aided in his fierce defense of
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
* Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...
against the French army. In 1837,
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
* Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...
was besieged by the French, forcing Ahmed Bey to flee to the
Aures Mountains where he continued to direct the resistance until 1848 when he captured by the colonisers.
Mokrani Kabyle Revolt
The
Kabylia region had always been highly independent, able to maintain their own institutions under
Ottoman rule. However, by 1830 the French had successfully infiltrated the region and its peoples, despite heavy resistance by locals. The dire conditions in the region, such as famine and the French pitting different ethnic groups against each other by treating some better than others, led to the Kabyle uprisings. The unrest continued in the region as late as the
Mokrani Revolt in 1971.
The Mokrani Revolt was led by
Cheikh Mokrani
Sheikh Mohamed El-Mokrani ( ar, الشيخ محمد المقراني; ; d. 1871) was one of the principal leaders of the popular uprising of 1871 against the French occupation of Algeria.
Early life
Mohamed was a descendant of the rulers of t ...
, a Kabyle dignitary. The catalyst for the revolt was the mutiny of a
Spahi – a member of the Algerian cavalry under French rule – in 1871, after his refusal to be deported to France to fight in the
Franco-Prussian War. Mokrani also wanted to assert autonomy from the French and decided to gather a war council in order to achieve this. The revolt began in April 1871 with approximately 150,000 Kabyles joining the rebellion, severely threatening the colonial operation. It ended in June 1872 when the leading figure of the revolt by that time, Boumezrag, was captured by the French. The rebellion extended through most of Algeria and was the last major revolt prior to the start of the War of Liberation, which led to independence.
Algerian Resistance during the French Algeria
''French Algeria'' refers to the colonial rule of
France over
Algeria, which began in 1830 with the
invasion of Algiers and lasted until the
Algerian War of Independence concluded in 1962. While the administration of Algeria changed significantly over the 132 years of French rule, the Mediterranean coastal region of Algeria, housing the vast majority of its population, was administered as an integral part of France from 1848 until independence.
Everyday nonviolent forms of resistance (1830s-1950s)
Nonviolent forms of resistance regarding the everyday life were a constant in the Algerian popular struggle against the French occupation.
Right after the
French invasion in 1830, a form of collective resistance was the Algerian mass emigration to other Muslim countries. This migration, which was connected to the Muslim ''
hijrah'', was clearly recognized as resistance against the imposition of a non-Muslim authority and, later on, of military conscription.
Opposition to take part in social programs imposed by the French, refusal to send the children to French schools and boycotts were among the non-violent actions adopted by the population to contrast French domination.
While in the public sphere Algerian culture was oppressed, houses and religious sites became the new places of resistance as spaces where cultural identities and practices were protected and reinforces.
Algerian nationalism
''Algerian nationalism'' has been shaped by Algerian-French dichotomies; tensions between the French and Algerian language and culture. It was inspired by people such as
Ben Badis and
Djamila Bouhired
Djamila Bouhired ( ar, جميلة بوحيرد, born c. 1935) is an Algerian militant. Bouhired is a nationalist who opposed the French colonial rule of Algeria. She was raised in a middle-class family by a Tunisian mother and an Algerian father ...
, who were two of the many opposing French colonial rule in Algeria.
Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties
When the
Algerian People's Party The Algerian People's Party (in French, Parti du Peuple Algerien PPA), was a successor organization of the North African Star (''Étoile Nord-Africaine''), led by veteran Algerian nationalist Messali Hadj. It was formed on March 11, 1937. In 1936, ...
(Parti du Peuple Algerien, PPA) was declared outlawed after the
Sétif protests, the
Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTDL) was created in October 1946 to replace it.
This new nationalist party was still led by
Messali Hadj, who initially asked for an election boycott.
However, after Messali Hadj was released from prison in 1946, MTDL candidates participated in the first elections for the
National Assembly of the newly constituted
French Fourth Republic and obtained a third of the 15 seats designated for Muslim Algerians.
This move was criticized by nationalist members and in 1947 along with the official MTDL, still fitting into the existing political colonial framework, a secret paramilitary group, the
Special Organisation (OS), was created to pursue the fight for independence.
However, internal fractures and contradictions were emerging. Many young people joined the OS to fight colonialism, and at the same time Arabism and Messali’s leadership was increasingly questioned, especially by Berber members.
This led to the split in 1953, between “Centralists”, urging for revolution, and Messalists, refusing to start an armed action in the short term.
Special Organisation
After the
Sétif massacre, many Algerians realized the impossibility of a peaceful change and transition of power.
“
Self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
” became the common goal of
Algerian nationalism, with many calling for confrontations with the French, recognizing the need for
guerrilla warfare to achieve independence.
At the end of the year, the MTDL leadership agreed on creating the
Special Organisation.
The
Special Organisation (''Organisation Special'', OS) was a secret
paramilitary
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
organisation, founded by
Mohamed Belouizdad of the
Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties in 1947.
In the following years, they prepared for armed insurrection against
France with armed attacks, like the one to the Oran Post Office in 1949, to fund their operations.
National Liberation Front (FNL)
With
Messali losing his prominent role as Algeria nationalist leader and tension growing in the
MTDL, the “Centralists” faction of the movement formed the
Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action (in French: ''Comité Révolutionnaire d'Unité et d'Action'') was a militant group in Algeria formed in order to fight French rule. CRUA regrouped former elements of the OS and radical members of the ...
(Comité Révolutionnaire d’Unité et d’Action, CRUA). The movement then became the
National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale, FNL), which launched the
War of Independence in 1954.
Algerian Revolution
The ''Algerian War'' was fought between
France and the Algerian
National Liberation Front from 1954 to 1962, which led to
Algeria winning its independence from France. An important
decolonization war
Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...
, it was a complex conflict characterized by
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
and the use of
torture.
Women's resistance
Approximately 11,000 Algerian women participated in the
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, especially joining the
FNL.
In particular, during the
Battle of Algiers (1956-1957), women would dress up as European and unhindered place bombs in sites frequented by European colons. One of them was
Djamila Bouhired
Djamila Bouhired ( ar, جميلة بوحيرد, born c. 1935) is an Algerian militant. Bouhired is a nationalist who opposed the French colonial rule of Algeria. She was raised in a middle-class family by a Tunisian mother and an Algerian father ...
(1935- ), who became a symbol of the Algerian struggle for liberation from the French when she was arrested and tortured under terrorism charges.
See also
*
History of Algeria
*
Deylik of Algeria
*
*
*
*
French Algeria
French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
*
Declaration of 1 November 1954
The Declaration of 1 November 1954 is the first independentist appeal addressed by the National Liberation Front (FLN) to the Algerian people, marking the start of the Algerian Revolution and the armed action of the National Liberation Army (A ...
*
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
References
{{Algerian resistance against French invasion
Battles involving Algeria
Battles involving France
French colonial empire
Battles involving Ottoman Algeria
Barbary pirates
History of Algiers
Imperialism
French Algeria
Sieges involving France
Sieges involving the Ottoman Empire
Invasions by France
19th century in Algiers
Invasions of the Ottoman Empire
Algerian War
Rebellions in Africa
Separatism in Algeria
Wars involving the states and peoples of Africa
Wars of independence
African resistance to colonialism