Battle of Macta

Coordinates: 35°47′21″N 0°09′12″W / 35.7892°N 0.1533°W / 35.7892; -0.1533
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Battle of Macta
Part of 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

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

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 throughout Algeria.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ Emerit 2010, pp. 18–19.
  2. .
  3. ^ général Grisot - Lieutenant Coulombon, La Légion étrangère de 1831 à 1887, 1888, p.20
  4. .
  5. .
  6. .
  7. .
  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.

References

Further reading

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