Battle of Macta

Battle of Macta
Part of the French conquest of Algeria
Date 28 June 1835 Location near the Macta River, French Algeria Result Algerian victory[1]
Belligerents
Kingdom of France	Emirate of Mascara
Commanders and leaders
Camille Alphonse Trézel	Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri
Strength
2,500 men[2] (French claim) A Battalion of the 66th Infantry Regiment A Light Infantry battalion The 5th battalion 3 companies of the 4th Battalion of the Foreign Legion 4 squadrons of Chasseurs d'Afrique [3]	15,000 cavalrymen[4] (French claim)
Casualties and losses
300[5]-2,000[6]	500[7]

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French conquest of Algeria

• War against the Deylik (1830–1837)

• Pre-invasion

• Bay of Algiers (1827)
• Dellys (1830)

• Invasion of Algiers

• Sidi Fredj (1830)
• Staouéli (1830)
• 
  Sidi Khalef (1830)
• Bordj Moulay Hassan (1830)

• Mitidja (Beylik of Titteri)

• 1st Blida (1830)
• Médéa (1830)
• Médéa (1831)
• El Harrach (1831)
• El Harrach (1832)
• Hadjout (1834)

• Beylik of Oran

• Oran (1831)

• Beylik of Constantine

• Annaba (1832)
• 1st Béjaia (1831)
• 2nd Béjaia (1833)
• 3rd Béjaia (1835)
• 1st Constantine (1836)
• 2nd Constantine (1837)

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• War against Abdelkader (1832–1847)

• First Kaderian war (1832–1834)

• Kheng-Nettah (1832)

• Second Kaderian war (1835–1838)

• Sig (1835)
• Macta (1835)
• Habrah (1835)
• Mascara (1835)
• Tlemcen (1836)
• Sikkak (1836)
• Reghaia (1837)
• Beni Aicha (1837)
• Boudouaou (1837)
• Issers (1837)
• Somah (1837)

• Third Kaderian war (1839–1847)

• Mitidja (1839)
• Ammal (1840)
• Beni Mered (1842)
• Smala (1843)
• Tadmaït (1844)
• Dellys (1844)
• Sidi Brahim (1845)
• Issers (1846)
• Oued Aslaf (1847)
• Agueddin (1847)

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Pacification of Algeria

• Zaatcha (1849)
• Laghouat (1852)
• Sebaou River (1854)
• Tachekkrit (1854)
• Mokrani Revolt
  • Palestro (1871)
  • Touggourt (1871)
• Flatters expeditions
• Battle of Tit

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 throughout Algeria.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

References

• Emerit, Marcel (2010), "Abdelkader", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. I: A-Ak - Bayes (15th ed.), Chicago, IL: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., pp. 18-19, ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8
• Sanderson, Edgar (1898), Africa in the Nineteenth Century, Seeley and Company, p. 107
• Wagner, Moritz; Pulszky, Ferencz Aurelius (1854), The Tricolor on the Atlas: Or, Algeria and the French Conquest, T. Nelson and sons, p. 274

Further reading

• Gibson, Walcot (1911). "Algeria" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 642–653.

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

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