Battle of Moulouya

The Battle of Moulouya took place in may 1692^[6][7] at a ford on the Moulouya river in Morocco. It was fought between the armies of the Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail and those of the Dey of Algiers Hadj Chabane.

Battle of Moulouya
Part of Conflicts between the Regency of Algiers and Morocco
Date May–June 1692 Location Moulouya River Coordinates: 34°14′0″N 3°22′0″W / 34.23333°N 3.36667°W / 34.23333; -3.36667 Result Algerian victory^[1]^[2] Territorial changes The territory until the right bank of the Moulouya River experiences more than 100 years of Algerian rule^[3]^[4]
Belligerents
Regency of Algiers	Sultanate of Morocco
Commanders and leaders
Hadj Chabane	Ismail Ibn Sharif
Strength
10,000 Janissaries 3,000 Spahis 1 contingent of Igawawen Kabyles Or 12,000^[5]	14,000 Infantrymen 8,000 Horses Or 60,000^[5]
Casualties and losses
~100 men	5,000 men
Battle of Moulouya class=notpageimage| Location of the Battle of Moulouya

Background

Hadj Chabane had just been elected Dey by the Taifa of the Raïs.^[8] He decided to declare war on the Sultan of Morocco as a result of continued efforts to ravage his territory. The borders between Ottoman Algeria and Morocco was first fixed at the Moulouya upon the Tlemcen War in 1551.^[9][10][11] This was the fixed border until the city of Oujda was temporarily conquered by the Alaouite Sultan Sidi Mohammed in 1647.^[12][7][13] A peace treaty between the two parties then delimited the border below the Tafna (upstream of Moulouya river).^[14][15][16]

Moulay Ismail had led expeditions in Algeria twice in his early reign, he was defeated on both occasions, in 1672 at Tlemcen and 1678 at Oued Za.^[17][18] The Moroccan incursions to the east of the Moulouya upstream, then Algerian territory, prompted Hadj Chabane to declare war on Sultan Moulay Ismail.^[19][20]

Moulay Ismaïl learned of his arrival to Oujda and attempted to retrace his steps, however the Algerian army reached him at a ford of the Moulouïa which lead to clashes with the Algerians.^[21] These tensions at the Algerian border occurred because Moulay Ismail wanted to have his "religious equality" with the Sultan of Istanbul recognized in the eyes of the Europeans. The alliance of France and the Ottomans intrigued him as he believed it could be an opportunity to counter Spain; or in case of war against the Algerians, an opportunity to bring an agreement between the Sultan of Istanbul and Fez.^[22] Mouley Ismail even proposed making an alliance with the bey of Tunis.^[22]

Battle

The dey marched against Mouley Ismail with 10,000 Janissaries and 3,000 spahis, as well as a contingent of Igawawen Kabyles. The Algerians encountered the enemy, composed of 14,000 infantrymen and 8,000 cavalrymen. Despite the numerical inferiority, they vigorously attacked the Moroccans and killed 5,000 of their men^[20][2] while the Algerians suffered casualties of only a hundred.^[2]

Léon Galibert gives the following account:

It was to the king of Morocco, who sometimes came to ravage his territory, that the new dey Chaaban declared war: he went to the western border with 10,000 janissaries and 3,000 spahis. There the Algerians met the enemy army, which was 14,000 infantrymen and 8,000 horses; despite the inferiority of their numbers, they attacked the Moroccans vigorously and killed 5,000 men; the Algerians lost only a hundred.

— Léon Galibert

Aftermath

The dey pursued the fugitives to the wall of Fez,^[23] which was protected by an army of 24,000 foot soldiers and 20,000 horses. The Sultan of Morocco, Moulay Ismail commanded it in person, but was reluctant to engage in combat knowing the earlier victory that the Algerians had spread terror among his soldiers. Despite their numerical superiority they forced him to make peace proposals. The two commanders went to a tent erected between the two camps and a peace agreement was signed. Allegedly Moulay Ismail came to the conference with his hands bound in a sign of submission. Kissing the ground three times, he appealed to the protection of the padichah of Constantinople and then said to the Algerian Dey: "You are the knife and I am the flesh that you can cut".^[24][20][25]

Moulay Ismael and the Moroccan army, terrified by this hard failure, are forced to ask for peace by granting in a treaty the sovereignty of the regency of Algiers on the territories going up to Moulouya.^[7] Jean-Baptiste Estelle, the French consul in Salé from 1689-1698, commented on the defeat of Moulay Ismail, meanwhile a 1692 report from consul Baker highlighted that the French and English counterparts of Estelle in Algiers rejoiced in gleeful fellowship with the Algerians.^[26]

The continued Moroccan offensives against Algiers in 1693, 1694, 1696, 1700, 1701, 1703 and 1707 ended in defeat.^[18] The territory until the Moulouya river remained under Algiers for more than 100 years.^{[3][4][27][28][26]}

References

1. Galibert, Léon (1854). L'Algérie ancienne et moderne: depuis les premiers établissements des carthaginois jusqu'a l'expédition du Général Randon en 1853 (in French). Furne. The unexpected victory that the Algerians had just obtained
2. Galibert, Léon (1844). L'Algérie: ancienne et moderne depuis les premiers éstablissements des Carthaginois jusqu'à la prise de la Smalah d'Abd-el-Kader (in French). Furne.
3. Oujda, une ville frontière du Maroc, 1907-1956: mutations, relations et ruptures de sociétés en milieu colonial. Yvette Katan. Editions La Porte. “Mais en 1692 Moulay Ismaël battu par les Turcs dut signer à Oujda un traité qui reconnaissait leur domination jusqu'à la Moulouya . Celle - ci devait durer plus de cent ans . En 1795 le Sultan Moulay Sliman envoya une expédition qui”
4. Le Maroc: ce qu'il faut en connaître. Ouvrage suivi d'un compte rendu de la conférence d'Algésiras. Publié sous le patronage du Comité du Maroc. Gustave Wolfrom. A. Challamel. “Enfin les Turcs , que les Français ont remplacés en Algérie , ont possédé la rive droite de la Moulouya et Oudjda jusqu'en 1795 , époque à laquelle ils n'ont fait aucune opposition à l'accaparement de cette région par Mouley Sliman”
5. Sale, George, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell, and John Swinton. An Universal History, from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time. Vol. 18. C. Bathurst, 1781.
6. Lakhssassi, Mohamed (2002). Des rapports franco-marocains pendant la conquête et l'occupation de l'Algérie, 1830-1851 (in French). Presses universitaires du Septentrion. ISBN 978-2-284-02768-3.
7. Martinière, Maximilien Antoine Cyprien Henri Poisson de La; Lacroix, Napoléon (1894). Documents pour servir à l'étude du Nord Ouest africain: réunis et rédigés par ordre de M. Jules Cambon (in French). Gouvernement général de l'Algérie, Service des affaires indigènes. p. 15.
8. Kaddache, Mahfoud. (2003). L'Algérie des Algériens : de la préhistoire à 1954. Paris: Paris-Méditerranée. ISBN 2-84272-166-7. OCLC 401759144.
9. Berthier, Pierre (1985). La bataille de l'Oued el-Makhâzen: dite bataille des Trois Rois (4 aout 1578) (in French). Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique. ISBN 978-2-222-03785-9.
10. Grammont, H.-D. de (2016-07-20). Histoire d'Alger sous la domination turque: 1515-1830 (in French). Collection XIX. ISBN 978-2-346-08756-3.
11. III, Comer Plummer (2015-09-09). Roads to Ruin: The War for Morocco In the Sixteenth Century. Lulu Press, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4834-3104-8.
12. Bellil, Rachid (1999). Les oasis du Gourara (Sahara algérien) (in French). Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-0721-8.
13. Charles-André Julien (1994). Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord : Des origines à 1830 (in French). Payot & Rivages. p. 595.
14. Al Zayani (1886). Le Maroc de 1631-1812 (in French). p. 33.
15. Al Naciri (1894). Kitab el Istiksa, Tome V (in French). p. 79.
16. Sayagh, Saïd (1986-01-01). La France et les frontières maroco-algériennes (1873-1902) (in French). CNRS Éditions (réédition numérique FeniXX). ISBN 978-2-271-10450-2.
17. Gheziel, Abla. "La politique des deys d'Alger à la veille de la conquête française (1730-1830)." Al-Mawaqif (Revue des études et des recherches sur la société et l'histoire) 6 (2011): 63-74. p.1. “1672, Moulay Ismā'il lance une expédition, espérant conquérir Tlemcen: il est battu.“
18. Les confins algéro-marocains Augustin Bernard É. Larose
19. Martinière, Maximilien Antoine Cyprien Henri Poisson de La; Lacroix, Napoléon (1894). Documents pour servir à l'étude du nord ouest africain (in French). Gouvernement général de l'Algérie, Service des affaires indigènes.
20. Grammont, H. D. de (1887). Histoire d'Alger sous la domination turque (1515-1830) (in French). E. Leroux. p. 262.
21. Cour, Auguste (2004-09-10). L'établissement des dynasties des Chérifs au Maroc et leur rivalité avec les Turcs de la Régence d'Alger, 1509-1830 (in French). Editions Bouchène. ISBN 978-2-35676-097-5.
22. Cour, Auguste (2004-09-10). L'établissement des dynasties des Chérifs au Maroc et leur rivalité avec les Turcs de la Régence d'Alger, 1509-1830 (in French). Editions Bouchène. ISBN 978-2-35676-097-5.
23. Société, Historique (1887). Revue africaine (in French). University of California. p. 186.
24. Galibert, Léon (1854). L'Algérie ancienne et moderne: depuis les premiers établissements des carthaginois jusqu'a l'expédition du Général Randon en 1853 (in French). Furne. p. 234.
25. Tableau de la situation des établissements Français dans l'Algérie: précédé de l'exposé des motifs et du projet de loi portant demande de crédits extraordinaires au titre de l'exercice 1838. ... en 1841 (in French). Impr. Royale. 1842.
26. Mercer, Patricia Ann. Political and military developments within Morocco during the early Alawi Period (1659-1727). University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (United Kingdom), 1974
27. Oujda au miroir des voyageurs franc̨ais: fin XIXème, début XXème siècles. Bouchra Benbella. Université Mohamed Premier. Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines.
28. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 1. BRILL. 1993.