Hussein Dey

In the 1790s, France had contracted to purchase wheat for the French army from two Jewish merchants in Algiers, Messrs. Bakri-Busnach, and was in arrears paying them. These merchants had themselves debts to the dey and claimed inability to pay those debts until France paid its debts to them. The dey had unsuccessfully negotiated with Pierre Deval, the French consul, to rectify this situation, and he suspected Deval of collaborating with the merchants against him, especially when the French government made no provisions for repaying the merchants in 1820. Deval's nephew Alexandre, the consul in Annaba, further angered the dey by fortifying French storehouses in Annaba and El Kala against the terms of prior agreements.[3]

After a contentious meeting in which Deval refused to provide satisfactory answers on 29 April 1827, the dey struck Deval with his fly whisk. Charles X used this slight against his diplomatic representative to first demand an apology from the dey, and then to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers. When the dey responded to a demand to send an ambassador to France to resolve the incident by firing cannons toward one of the blockading ships, the French determined that more forceful action was required.[4]

34 000 French soldiers landed at Sidi Fredj 27 kilometres (17 mi) west of Algiers on June 14, 1830 and entered Algiers on 5 July after a three-week campaign against the Ottoman forces. Hussein Dey agreed to surrender in exchange for his freedom and the offer to retain possession of his personal wealth. This marked the end of 313 years of Ottoman rule of the territory and the start of French rule in Algeria.