Djidjelli expedition explained

Date:22 July - 30 October 1664
Place:Djidjelli, Algeria
Result:Algerian Victory
Combatant1: Regency of Algiers
Combatant2: Kingdom of France
Knights Hospitaller
Commander1: Mohammed Bey
Commander2:Louis XIV
François de Vendôme, Duc de Beaufort
Charles-Félix de Galéan, Count of Gadagne
Strength1:Unknown
Strength2:Kingdom of France :
5,650 men[1]
14 vessels[2]
8 galleys
Knights Hospitaller :
1 battalion[3]
7 galleys
Casualties1:500 dead
200 wounded
Casualties2:2,000 killed
30 cast-iron cannon
15 iron cannon
50 mortars

The Djidjelli expedition[4] was a 1664 military expedition by Louis XIV to seize the port of Djidjelli and establish a naval base against the Barbary corsairs. There was a disagreement among the leaders of the expedition as to what its objectives should be. Ultimately the town of Djidjelli was taken easily, but after three months, heavily besieged and deprived of reinforcements by an outbreak of plague, the French abandoned the city and returned home.

Background

The young king Louis XIV wanted to safeguard trade by the French merchant navy, which was continually being attacked by Barbary Coast pirates coming from the regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, under Ottoman administration and protection.[5]

The expedition chose to attack a city halfway between Algiers and Tunis. The plan was to seize and fortify it, using it as an advance post for attacks against the corsairs, as the English were then doing from Tangier. They considered Bougie, Bône and Stora, near a French commercial outpost known as the Bastion de France, but eventually chose Djidjelli. This choice led to conflict between the commander of the expedition, his second in command, and the engineer in charge of fortifications. Even before the expedition embarked there was a disagreement between the Duke of Beaufort and the Count of Gadagne who wished to disembark at Bougie "then abandoned, better situated and more within reach of help than Djidjelli".

Expedition

Taking of Djidjelli

The fleet mustered in Toulon on 2 July 1664 and made anchor at Bougie on 21 July after stopping in Menorca, where it was joined by Maltese galleys.

On the morning of 23 July 1664, the galleys advanced to shore and threatened the forces defending Djidjelli with their artillery, providing cover for the longboats (chaloupes) to ferry troops to shore near a landmark called le Marabout.[6] The choice of this landing place, which contained a shrine and a cemetery, prompted increased resistance from the inhabitants.

The disembarking army consisted of about 4000 men, and the Maltese battalion 1200 men. The order was as follows: first the Picardy regiment commanded by M. de Vivonne disembarked, and then the Count of Gadagne at the head of the Maltese battalion, then the Duke of Beaufort and Maréchal de camp La Guillotiere.[7] The royal troops took Djidjelli the same day without much difficulty. The Count of Vivonne met with stiffer resistance at Le Marabout, but the Kabyles soon abandoned their positions to retreat into the mountains and the expeditionary force set up camp for the night.

Heavy fighting took place the next day. The Moors were seen waving a white flag, so the order was given to cease fire. The French seized this opportunity to parley and establish friendly relations, but the Kabyles ambushed the expedition and caused serious casualties.[8] The intervention of the Maltese battalion under Charles-Félix de Galéan counterattacked and drove off the raiders. The expedition lost 400 men and the Moors lost as many on their own side.

The forces opposing the expedition were the Kabyles of the kingdom of Koukou and of Béni Abbès. Because they were opposed to the Regency of Algiers, they at first refused its offer of military assistance against the Europeans. However, after failing to retake Djidjelli themselves they eventually allowed the troops of the bey of Constantine and of the Regency of Algiers to pass through their territories to reinforce them. However an attack on the city by Kabyles was repulsed by the French on 6 October 1664.

Reinforcement and retreat

On 20 September, to reinforce the initial expedition, a convoy of six vessels and six barques laden with foodstuffs left France for Africa. Military reinforcements followed shortly afterwards: left Toulon on 18 October with a squadron consisting of the Dauphin (flagship), the Soleil, La Lune, the Notre-Dame, the Espérance (flûte) and the Triton (fireboat). He arrived in Djidjelli on 22 October carrying two cavalry companies from the regiment of Conti.[9] The convoy also brought a message from the king, who had been informed of the discord between the heads of the expedition. It commanded the Duke of Beaufort to leave command of operations to de Gadagne. Beaufort and his fleet therefore left Djidjelli for good on 22 October.

With the outbreak of plague in Toulon, the departure of any further reinforcements or supplies was cancelled.[10] Still besieged and judging Djidjelli too difficult to hold, the French demolished it’s fortifications and abandoned it, taking ship during the night of 30–31 October 1664.[11] First to be taken aboard were the unreliable elements among the troops, who were "saying out loud that they were going to become Turks".[12] The retreat was carried out using Martel’s vessels, which arrived in France on 22 October.

Wreck of La Lune

On its return to France, the fleet was sent into quarantine at île de Porquerolles by the Parlement de Provence because of the plague. La Lune, an old three-master, was already in pitiful condition and poorly-repaired. It broke in two and sank near Toulon, before the Îles d'Hyères, with ten companies of the Picardy regiment aboard. More than 700 men drowned, among them General de la Guillotière, one of the two maréchaux de camp of the Count de Gadagne.[13] [14] A hundred or so survivors managed to reach Port-Cros, but, abandoned on this desert island 7 km2, they all starved. The captain of the ship,, and Antoine Boësset de La Villedieu (aide de camp of General de la Guillotière) both managed to escape by swimming. There were only 24 survivors.[15]

Aftermath

On 25 August 1665, the Duke of Beaufort destroyed two Algerian corsair ships and captured three others. On one of the latter he found the artillery that had been abandoned at Djidjelli in October 1664.

A peace treaty was signed between the Duke of Beaufort and the Regency of Tunis on 25 November 1665. A second treaty was concluded with the Regency of Algiers on 17 May 1666. However, it was not until after the bombardment of Algiers by Admiral Duquesne in 1682 that the comptoir français of the Bastion de France re-opened.

Documentaries

See also

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Revue de l'Orient, de l'Algërie et des colonies, (Review of the Orient, of Algeria and the Colonies), Volume 2 (1843); p. 204. read online
  2. Gérard Poumarède, La France et les Barbaresques (France and the Barbary Coast) in Étienne Taillemite, Denis Lieppe, Rivalités maritimes européennes: xvie – xixe siècles, (European Naval Rivalries: 16th - 19th Centuries), Revue d'histoire maritime no 4 PUPS, PUF, Presses Paris Sorbonne, 2005, p. 133
  3. Louis XIV 1806, p. 198, note
  4. also called "expédition de Gigéri ", "expédition de Gigery ", "expédition de Gigelly", "Gergily affair", "Djidjelli affair" or "campaign of Africa"
  5. Book: french. Joëlle Chevé. Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche: Epouse de Louis XIV. Marie-Thérèse of Austria: Wife of Louis XIV. Pygmalion. 2015. 568. 9782756417516.
  6. "marabout" translates as "hermit"
  7. Book: . Histoire De La Ville D'Aix, Capitale De La Provence. Contenant Tovt Ce Qui S'Y Est Passé De Plvs mémorable dans son Estat Politique, dépuis sa Fondation jusques en l'année mil six cens soixante-cinq. Recveillie Des Avthevrs Grecs, Latins, François, Prouençaus, Espagnols, Italiens et surtout des Chartes tirées des Archiues du Roy, de l'Eglise, de la Maison de Ville, et des Notaires. 1666. Par Charles David Imprimeur du Roy, du Clergé, et de la Ville. 495–.
  8. Revue de l'Orient, de l'Algërie et des colonies, Volume 2 (1843); p. 205. url
  9. Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson, Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson: et extraits des mémoires d'André Lefèvre d'Ormesson, (Journal of Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson: and Extracts from the Memoirs of André Lefèvre d'Ormesson), vol. 2, Imprimerie impériale, 1861, p.246
  10. Duc Paul de Noailles, Histoire de Madame de Maintenon et des principaux événements du règne de Louis XIV, (History of Madame de Maintenon and of the Primary Events of the Reign of Louis XIV), Volume 3, Comptoir des imprimeurs-unis, Lacroix-Comon, 1857, p.666
  11. Isaac de Larrey, Histoire de France sous le règne de Louis XIV, (History of France in the Reign of Louis XIV), vol. 1, Michel Bohm & Cie., Rotterdam 1734, p.464
  12. Jal, 1873, p. 320
  13. Book: Yves Durand . Jean-Pierre Bardet. État et société en France aux XVII - VIIIe siecles. Society and the State in France During the 17th-18th Centuries I . Presses Paris Sorbonne. 2000 . 514.
  14. Auguste Jal & Abraham Duquesne, Abraham Du Quesne et la marine de son temps, Plon, 1873, .
  15. Book: Bernard Bachelot . Raison d'État . L'Harmattan. 2009 . 30.