Campaign of Tlemcen (1551)

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Campaign of Tlemcen (1551)
Algiers Army.jpg
The troops of the regency of Algiers allied to the kingdom of Beni Abbes marching towards Oranie (19th century engraving)
Location
Tlemcen
Coordinates: 34°52′58″N 01°19′00″W / 34.88278°N 1.31667°W / 34.88278; -1.31667
Result Algerian victory
Territorial
changes		 Affirmation of the Algerian authority on Oranie.
Belligerents
Flag of Ottoman Algiers.svg Regency of Algiers
Flag of Kingdom of ait abbas Kingdom of Beni Abbas		 Flag of Morocco (1258-1659).svg
Flag of Spanish Empire Spanish Empire
Commanders and leaders
Flag of Ottoman Algiers.svg Hasan Pasha
Flag of Kingdom of ait abbas Abdelaziz El Abbes		 Flag of Morocco (1258-1659).svg ash-Sheikh
Flag of Spanish Empire Count of Alcuadète
Units involved
Algerian forces:
10,000 men
Abelaziz's forces:
10,000 men
Total: 20,000		 Saadian force: 10,000 infantry Saadian Prince Abd el Kader’s reinforcements: 22,000 mounted lancers
Total: 32,000 or 40,000[1]
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown
Battle of Tlemcen (1551) is located in Algeria
Battle of Tlemcen (1551)
Battle of Tlemcen (1551)
Location of the battle of Tlemcen (1551) in Algeria.

The Campaign of Tlemcen (1551) was a military operation led by the Regency of Algiers under Hasan Pasha and his ally Abdelaziz, following the capture of Tlemcen by the Saadi sultanate, who were supported by the Spaniards in june 1550.

Background[]

In 1545, the Saadians allied themselves with the Spaniards. In 1547 the Janissaries lost Tlemcen to the Spanish after Count Alcuadete entered the city and installed a puppet ruler. [2][3][4] The Saadians took Tlemcen without a battle in 1550 and decided to march from there on Algiers. The beylerbeys of Algiers and the sultan of Beni Abbas concluded at the same time the "pact of Aguemoun Ath Khiar".[5]

The Saadian army immediately marched on Tlemcen, which surrendered without a fight on 9 June 1550. It occupied it until the end of January 1551. This episode marks the beginning of the hostility between the regency of Algiers and the saadian sultanate, which will cease only in 1585 with the intervention of the Ottoman Empire.[6]

Battle[]

The campaign began in January 1551. The troops of Hassan Pasha were worried about a Saadian offensive towards Algiers since the battle of Tlemcen in 1518. Indeed the Saadian troops described as considerable; according to Haedo they consisted of 12,000 horsemen and 10,000 infantrymen (including 5,000 renegades).[1] But according to Ernest Mercier it is even more important because composed of 21 000 horsemen. Finally, according to a Spanish document, the Moroccan army had a total of 40,000 men.[7]

The expedition was to include two main offensive movements. An army of 10,000 men, including 5,000 renegades and 2,000 Berbers from Little Kabylia, commanded by Abdelaziz, took charge of protecting Mostaganem from the Saadians, who were supported by the Spaniards.[8] They also had to swell their ranks by rallying the local Arab tribe of Beni Amer.[7] They had to defeat the Saadian troop on its way from Tlemcen to Mostaganem. This first operation aims at preventing any backward movement on the part of the latter and at protecting the reconquest movement towards Tlemcen.[9]

Faced with the advance of the troops coming from Algiers, the saadian troops retreated while they were in campaign in the Algerian west.[7] However, they were overtaken by the troops of Hassan Corso.

The Saadian troops were surprised and defeated at the place called Abu Azoun river (or Rio Salado)[7] by the Turkish contingents of Hassan Pacha. The booty of this surprise attack was important, and favorable to Hassan Pasha.[10]

Mohamed el Harran, leader of the expedition and son of the Saadian Sultan, was killed in the fighting and Moulay Abdallah, his younger brother who had remained in garrison in the city of Tlemcen, fled upon hearing of this rout. Moulay Abdallah's troops were pursued as far as the Moulouya, but the Algerian troops did not carry their success any further.[7]

The Regency of Algiers established direct rule over the city of Tlemcen.[11]

Aftermath[]

Despite this defeat ash-Sheikh organised another expedition with his three sons in command of an army of 17,000 men to again attempt to annex the territory of the Regency of Algiers. ash-Sheikh had believed that the conditions were favourable for him to expand his territory at the expense of the Regency because the Ottomans were fighting on two fronts. This did not go to plan and the expedition sent by ash-Sheikh was severely defeated and pursued as far as the Moulouya.[12] After his defeat he welcomed with respect the ambassador of Salah Reis, Muhammad al - Kharrûbî, who negotiated the end of the conflict and confirmation of the border.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Ruff, Paul (1998). La domination espagnole à Oran sous le gouvernement du comte d'Alcaudete 1534-1558 [Spanish domination in Oran under the government of the Count of Alcaudete, 1534-1558]. Histoire du Mahgreb (in French). Éditions Bouchène. p. 143. ISBN 9782912946034.(paywall)
  2. ^ History of Islam: Classical period, 1206-1900 C.E Masudul Hasan
  3. ^ The Emperor Roger Bigelow Merriman
  4. ^ History of North Africa: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, from the Arab Conquest to 1830, Volume 2 Charles André Julien Routledge & K. Paul
  5. ^ Aissani, Djamil (2015). La Qal'at n'Ath Abbas. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263948345_La_Qalat_n'Ath_Abbas: University of Béjaïa.CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. ^ Boyer, Pierre (1966). "Contribution à l'étude de la politique religieuse des Turcs dans la Régence d'Alger (XVIe-XIXe siècles)". Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée. 1 (1): 11–49. doi:10.3406/remmm.1966.910.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Ruff, Paul (1900). La domination espagnole à Oran sous le gouvernement du comte d'Alcaudete 1534-1558: avec un appendice contenant six documents inédits (in French). E. Leroux. pp. 143–144.
  8. ^ Gaïd, Mouloud (1975). L'Algérie sous les Turcs (in French). Maison tunisienne de l'édition.
  9. ^ Roberts, Hugh (2014-08-19). Berber Government: The Kabyle Polity in Pre-colonial Algeria. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0-85773-689-5.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Abun-Nasr, Jamil M.; al-Naṣr, Ǧamīl M. Abū; Abun-Nasr, Abun-Nasr, Jamil Mirʻi (1987-08-20). A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33767-0.
  12. ^ Recherches sur l'Algérie à l'époque ottomane: La course, mythes et réalités Lemnouar Merouche Bouchene,
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