Bombardment of Algiers, 1683
Part ofFranco–Algerian war (1681–1688)
Augustin Burdet,Duquesne liberating the captives after the bombardment of Algiers in 1683, engraving afterFrançois-Auguste Biard.
Date June–July 1683 Location Algiers Result Inconclusive[1]
Belligerents
France	Regency of Algiers
Commanders and leaders
Abraham Duquesne	Baba Hassan Mezzo Morto
Units involved
17ships of the line 3frigates 16galleys 7bomb galiots 48longboats 18fluyts 8tartans	Unknown

Thebombardment of Algiers in 1683 was a French naval operation against theRegency of Algiers during theFranco–Algerian war (1681–1688). It led to the rescue of more than 100 French prisoners,^[2] in some cases after decades of captivity, but the great majority of Christian captives in Algiers were not liberated.

The previous year,Louis XIV had orderedDuquesne tobombard Algiers after the Dey declared war on France. At the head of a forty-strong fleet, Duquesne sailed to Algiers in July 1682, but bad weather delayed his attack. After several bombardments in August, the city suffered serious damage, but bad weather prevented the signing of a conclusive peace agreement, forcing Duquesne to return to France.

In the Spring of 1683, Duquesne set to sea once again with a fleet of 17ships of the line, 3frigates, 16galleys, 7bomb galiots, 48 longboats, 18fluyts and 8tartanes. This was a larger force than had been sent to Algiers the previous year. As well as being more numerous, the galiots were better equipped and manned by a special corps of bombardiers.^[3] The fleet set sail fromToulon on 23 May.

The bombardment began on the night of 26–27 June, and two hundred and twenty two bombs, launched in less than twenty four hours, started fires in Algiers and prompted general disorder as well as killing around 300 Algerians. Hassan Dey intended to resist nonetheless, but the population urged him to sue for peace. Duquesne agreed to a truce on condition that all Christian slaves were delivered to him. When the truce expired, Hassan Dey asked for, and received, an extension. Duquesne meanwhile set out his terms for agreeing a peace:

• freeing all Christian slaves
• an indemnity equal to the value of all the goods seized from France by pirates
• a solemn embassy to be sent to Louis XIV to ask his forgiveness for the hostile acts committed against his navy.

These terms resolved the Dey to continue resistance.^[3]

Despite the fierce resistance of the Algerians, the city was engulfed by an enormous fire which consumed palaces, mosques, and many other buildings across the city; the wounded could not find any refuge; and ammunition ran low. Algiers would have been reduced to ruins had not Duquesne himself run out of missiles. The bombardment ended on 29 July.

Louis XIV was frustrated by his failure to either destroy Algiers or force the Algerians to make peace on his terms.^[4]

One of the Algerian commanders,Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha, then seized command and denounced the cowardice of the Dey, who had agreed to treat with the French. He had him put to death and was acclaimed as his successor by thejanissaries. Before long a red flag, raised from the heights of theCasbah, announced to Duquesne that combat was resumed.^[3] The Algerians replied to the bombs hurled at their city by tying the French consul,Jean Le Vacher to the mouth of a cannon.^[5] On 28 July pieces of his shattered limbs fell on the decks of the French vessels, along with those of other French prisoners blown to pieces.^[2] Mezzo Morto opened fire on the French fleet, forcing it to withdraw.^[6]

In 1684, Louis XIV sent an envoy,Tourville, to Algiers. A peace treaty that retained the provisions of earlier treaties was signed.^[5] Five years later, after Algiers violated the treaty, the French again bombarded the city.Admiral d'Estrées obliged the Dey to seek a new peace agreement, signed on 27 September 1688, which the Algerians respected. Thereafter the corsair captains, though they avoided the coasts of France, continued their raids elsewhere, causing considerable damage to the coastal regions of Spain.^[7]

• Bombardment of Algiers (1682)
• Bombardment of Algiers (1688)

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• 17th century in Algiers
• Battles involving the Regency of Algiers
• Louis XIV
• Navy of the ancien régime
• Conflicts in 1683
• Bombardments of Algiers
• Algeria–France military relations
• Fires in Algeria
• Urban fires
• Mosque fires
• Residential building fires in Africa
• 17th-century fires
• 1680s in Africa
• 1683 in France
• Building bombings in Algeria

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• CS1 errors: periodical ignored
• CS1 French-language sources (fr)