Battle of Macta

Battle of Macta
Part of the French conquest of Algeria
Date28 June 1835
Location
near the Macta River, French Algeria
Result Algerian victory[1]
Belligerents
 Kingdom of France Emirate of Mascara
Commanders and leaders
France Camille Alphonse Trézel Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri
Strength

2,500 men[2] (French claim)

15,000 cavalrymen[4] (French claim)
Casualties and losses
300[5]–2,000[6] 500[7]

The Battle of Macta was fought on 28 June 1835 between French forces under General Camille Alphonse Trézel and a coalition of Algerian tribes of western Algeria under Emir Abd al-Qadir, who, at the age of 26, waged one of his most famous battles against a superior force.

The French column, which had fought an inconclusive but somewhat bloody battle with Abdul-Qadir a few days earlier, was retreating toward Arzew to resupply when Abdul-Qadir attacked in the marshes on the banks of the Macta River in what is now western Algeria. The French panicked and fled to Arzew in a disorganized rout. The Algerians piled the heads of their defeated French enemies in a pyramid, allegedly hundreds in total.[8]

The disaster led to the recall to France of Trézel and the comte d'Erlon, the first military governor-general of the French possessions in Africa, and helped Abdul-Qadir gain influence over tribes in Western Algeria.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ Emerit 2010, pp. 18–19.
  2. ^ Garnier, Jacques (2004). Dictionnaire Perrin des guerres et des batailles de l'histoire de France. Perrin. p. 35. ISBN 9782262008291.
  3. ^ général Grisot - Lieutenant Coulombon, La Légion étrangère de 1831 à 1887, 1888, p.20
  4. ^ Garnier, Jacques (2004). Dictionnaire Perrin des guerres et des batailles de l'histoire de France. Perrin. p. 35. ISBN 9782262008291.
  5. ^ Garnier, Jacques (2004). Dictionnaire Perrin des guerres et des batailles de l'histoire de France. Perrin. p. 35. ISBN 9782262008291.
  6. ^ The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Rowman Altamira. 2003. ISBN 9780759101906.
  7. ^ The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Rowman Altamira. 2003. ISBN 9780759101906.
  8. ^ Churchill, Charles Henry (1867). The life of Abdel Kader, ex-sultan of the Arabs of Algeria; written from his own dictation, and comp. from other authentic sources. By Colonel Churchill. London Chapman and Hall. p. 77.
  9. ^ McDougall, James (2017). A History of Algeria (1 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-02923-0.

References

Further reading

35°47′21″N 0°09′12″W / 35.7892°N 0.1533°W / 35.7892; -0.1533


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