Algiers Expedition (1516)

City of Algiers in the 16th century, by Georg Braun
DateSeptember/October 1516[1]
Location
Algiers
Result Algerian victory
Belligerents
Sultanate of Algiers
Flag of Kingdom of Kuku Kingdom of Kuku[1]		 Flag of Spanish Empire Spanish Empire
Sheikh of Ténès
Commanders and leaders
Oruç Reis
Sidi Ahmed[1]
Hayreddin Barbarossa		 Diego de Vera
Sheikh of Ténès
Units involved
1,500 Men[2][3] 10,000[4] or 15,000[5] Men under Diego de Vera
10,000 Moors under the Sheikh of Ténès[6][7]
Total: 20-25,000 Men
Casualties and losses
Very few 3,000 killed or wounded[8]
400 captured[9]
8,000 men lost in total[10]

The Capture of Algiers in 1516 was accomplished by the brothers Aruj and Kheireddin Barbarossa against Sālim al-Tūmī, the ruler of the city of Algiers, which was followed by an unsuccessful military campaign by the Spanish Empire and the Sheikh of Ténès to overthrow the newly formed Sultanate of Algiers.

Background

In 1510, the Spaniards had established themselves on a small island in front of Algiers, and forced the local ruler Sālim al-Tūmī (Selim-bin-Teumi) to accept their presence through a treaty and pay tribute.[11][12] Fortifications were built on the islet, and a garrison of 200 men was established.[12] Sālim al-Tūmī had to go to Spain to take an oath of obedience to Ferdinand of Aragon.[12]

In 1516, the Emir of Algiers, Sālim Al-Tūmī, invited the corsair brothers Oruç and Hayreddin to expel the Spaniards. Oruç, with the help of local troops,[11] came to Algiers with his ally Ahmad al-Kadi of the Kingdom of Kuku and an army composed of 800 Turks and 5,000 Kabyle auxiliaries.[13][14] The Moors have done a huge triumph to Oruç,[15] but after failing to take the Peñón of Algiers from the Spanish, he ordered the assassination of Sālim, because Salim was conspiring with the Spaniards against the pirates and Oruç.[16]

Sālim Al-Tūmī, the former possessor of Algiers, whom Oruç had strangled, had a son who had managed to escape the massacre of his family and to take refuge in Spain. Charles V reigned there then. So he welcomed the son of Al-Tūmī with favour, since the Spanish, along with the Sheikh of Ténès, wanted to drive out Oruç Barbarossa, who took power in Algiers, and replace him with the son of the previous prince.

Spanish expedition to Algiers

The Spanish expedition included 10,000 or 15,000 men along with 10,000 Moors from Ténès.

Barbarossa's forces included only 1,500 men.[17][18] It was composed of:[19]

  • The Turkish companions of Oruç in the vanguard, and they were very few, leading the teams
  • The immigrants of Andalusia, called “Fauquefels” by the King of Spain PhilipII, according to what the latter narrated: "There are 15,000 people in the city of Algiers who are good at using firearms, including ten thousand Arab men who were displaced from Spain. In recent years, they are among the best soldiers"
  • The inhabitants of the city, whom the Spaniards believed will be their assistants in the expedition.

Battle plans

Oruç's plan was the following:[19]

  1. Allowing the enemy to descend, without much resistance, on land.
  2. Leaving most of the muslim forces within the forts and walls of the city, in order to use them when needed.
  3. Engaging with the enemy in battles similar to ambush warfare, around the city, until he becomes exhausted, and then the leadership would bring most of its striking power to the field.
Spanish footman with a spear (16th century)

As for the Spanish plan, it required:

  1. to go down to the coast and set up a camp that includes men and equipment.
  2. Climbing the heights surrounding Algeria, including the walls, and occupying the Kasbah Heights, overlooking the city from it, and bombarding it with cannons.
  3. Waiting for the army coming from the “Sultan” of Tennis, and attacking the city violently, while the agents inside planned the plot with which they would strike the muslim army from behind.

The Battle

On September 30, 1516, the Spaniards landed on the coast of Algiers and started to climb the hights around the city divided into four small corps while the rest of the army advanced towards the main gate. It was a fault. Oruç left few soldiers in the hights which were harassing the invaders.

Despite the advice of the governor of Peñon, Nicolas de Quint, the general Diego de Vera imprudently committed all his people, without ensuring his retreat, and occupied a much too extensive line, from the shore, to the place where the Casbah would be later built. His troops, composed of hastily raised and poorly trained recruits, offered little strength.[20]

To make matters worse, the Sultan of Tenes never arrived with his army in the battlefield, which caused the Spanish forces to become shaken, then they started falling back slowly to their ships, this was the opportunity Oruç was waiting for; he ordered the troops inside the city to sally out and then he attacked the spanish corps separately with all his might and overthrew them.[19]

The Arab and Bedouin horsemen who, from the beginning of the action had remained posted in compact masses on the neighboring heights, to plunder, according to their custom, the vanquished, rushed like a hurricane on the Spaniards as soon as they saw them shaken. In a few moments the rout became complete: Diego de Vera was barely able to rally half his army on his ships, and just as the fleet was about to set sail, a terrible storm assailed it, shattered most of its his ships and scattered the others; not even a quarter of the expeditionary army returned to Spain.[21]

Aftermath

The Spaniards suffered casualties of 3,000 killed or wounded and 400 captured.[22] In total 8,000 men were lost,[23] and the Algerian forces had few casualties.[12] This defeat increased Oruç's power in Africa, and in Europe the terror he inspired, yet Hayreddin succeeded Aruj after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards at the fall of Tlemcen, as well as inheriting his nickname "Barbarossa". The capture of Algiers in 1516 had been made possible with the support of the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. This support was discontinued with Sultan Selim's death in 1520, causing Barbarossa to lose the city to a local kabyle chieftain in 1524,[12] and to retreat to his fief of Djidjelli.[24]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Berber Government: The Kabyle Polity in Pre-colonial Algeria By Hugh Roberts “in late September/early October 1516, a Spanish expeditionary force commanded by Diego de Vera transported by a fleet of some 30 vessels came to the support of the beleaguered garrison on the Peñon by mounting a concerted attack on Algiers, only to be routed by a fierce counter-attack led by Aruj, supported by Ou l-Qadi’s forces”
  2. ↑ World: Comprising a General History, Both Ancient and Modern, of All the Principal Nations of the Globe, Their Rise, Progress, Present Condition, Etc, Volume 2
  3. ↑ Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed.
  4. ↑ World: Comprising a General History, Both Ancient and Modern, of All the Principal Nations of the Globe, Their Rise, Progress, Present Condition, Etc, Volume 2
  5. ↑ Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed.
  6. ↑ World: Comprising a General History, Both Ancient and Modern, of All the Principal Nations of the Globe, Their Rise, Progress, Present Condition, Etc, Volume 2
  7. ↑ The History of the World: Comprising a General History, Both Ancient and Modern, of All the Principal Nations of the Globe, Their Rise, Progress, Present Condition, Etc, Volume 2
  8. ↑ Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed.
  9. ↑ Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed.
  10. ↑ The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt., Now First Collected: Miscellaneous works
  11. 1 2 International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa Trudy Ring p.54
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 by Martijn Theodoor Houtsma p.258
  13. ↑ Gürkan, Emrah Safa. "Ottoman Corsairs in The Western Mediterranean and their Place in The Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry (1505-1535)." PhD diss., Bilkent Universitesi (Turkey), 2005.
  14. ↑ BIBESCO, Nicolas. "LES KABYLES DU DJURDJURA: IV. LA GRANDE-KABYLIE AU TEMPS DE LA RÉGENCE D'ALGER.—IMPORTANCE DE LA NATIONALITÉ KABYLE." Revue des Deux Mondes (1829-1971) 62, no. 1 (1866): 113-149. p.115.
  15. ↑ Kaddache, Mahfoud (1992). L'Algérie durant la période ottomane. Alger: Alger : O.P.U. p. 8.
  16. ↑ Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L’Algérie, cœur du Maghreb classique. Paris: La Découverte. p. 313. ISBN 9782707152312.
  17. ↑ Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed.
  18. ↑ The History of the World: Comprising a General History, Both Ancient and Modern, of All the Principal Nations of the Globe, Their Rise, Progress, Present Condition, Etc, Volume 2
  19. 1 2 3 Al-Madani. كتاب حرب الثلاثمائة سنة بين الجزائر واسبانيا 1492 – 1792 (in Arabic). 1965. pp. 181–182.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  20. ↑ Grammont, Henri Delmas de (1887). Histoire d'Alger sous la domination turque, 1515-1830. Robarts - University of Toronto. Paris E. Leroux. p. 23.
  21. ↑ The History of the World: Comprising a General History, Both Ancient and Modern, of All the Principal Nations of the Globe, Their Rise, Progress, Present Condition, Etc, Volume 2
  22. ↑ Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed.
  23. ↑ The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt., Now First Collected: Miscellaneous works
  24. ↑ Garnier, p.20

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