Mokrani revolt
The Mokrani Revolt was an uprising by Muslim Kabyle and Arabs against French colonial rule in French Algeria during the Franco-Prussian War . The uprising was largely organized by the Islamic Brotherhood of Rahmanija. The revolt began in 1871 and included large parts of the rural population of Kabylia and other areas of Algeria. The revolt was put down by French troops by 1872.
background
The colonization of Algeria took place gradually and with constant resistance from the local population. It went hand in hand with the pauperization of the destruction of the ancestral Algerian population and existing social and economic structures. The Kabylia was brought mid-1850s under French control and experienced during the 1860s poverty and famine. With the withdrawal of around 30,000 French soldiers to Europe, the Franco-Prussian War weakened the colonial power in the country, which was visible to the Algerian population. With the fall of the monarchy in the course of the war and the establishment of the Third Republic , the decrees of the Interior Minister Adolphe Crémieux ensured extensive reforms of the colony. The hitherto existing military administration was to be replaced by a civil administration as elected in France, in which, however, only French Algerians and not locals were represented. Through the civil administration, the French in Algeria hoped to accelerate the process of land seizure through confiscation, purchases and confiscation as part of debt servicing from the local population, which had been slowed down by the military administration up to now. Also included was the emancipation of the Algerian Jews, who moved from the role of a minority discriminated against in the Islamic legal framework to the upper class of the colony. This caused resentment among the local Muslim population.
The religious brotherhood of Rahmanija was founded in Ottoman times by Kabyle Abd-ar-Rahman al-Azhemi al-Qubrayn, who was trained at al-Azhar , and had a notable following in society in Kabylia, south-eastern Geria and parts of Algeria at the time of colonization rooted. After the occupation of Kabylia, their leader El-Hadj Ammar was expelled to Tunisia. The brotherhood was under observation by the colonial authorities. It also came more and more into competition with religious organizations supported by France. The brotherhood began at the beginning of the war in 1870 with the establishment of elected groups of local cadres of 10 to 12 men, who were responsible for the procurement of weapons, the organization of armed forces and the observation of the local notables cooperating with France.
Course of the uprising
At the head of the revolt was Mohammed Al-Mokrani, a local notable whose family had previously cooperated with France. Al-Mokrani was proclaimed Commander of the Faithful by the leader Amézianne Si Haddad of the Rahmanija Brotherhood . Amézianne Si Haddad called on 8 April at the headquarters of his Zawiya in Seddouk the holy war against the colonial power from.
The around 15,000 insurgents organized by the Rahmaniya at the beginning were able to take the bases of the colonial troops in Kabylia in a flash and controlled the Kabylia and parts of south-western Algeria a few weeks after the start of the uprising. On April 21, 1871, the locals penetrated until shortly before Algiers and were able to encircle the city of L'Alma and set it on fire. France increased its troops in Algeria to around 86,000 and the Algerian-French formed their own armed militias. On May 5, 1871, Mohammed al-Mokrani died in a battle with French troops. On June 30, 1871, the son of Rahmanija leader Si Aziz , who was the military commander, offered peace to the colonial troops. His father followed two weeks later. The numbers of insurgents who followed in the further course of the revolt are controversial. There are data for up to 150,000 armed insurgents, while the analysis of the population groups involved via clan structures suggests around 800,000 militant or logistical participants. This would correspond to around a third of the native population of the colony.
consequences
The colonial authorities counted 2,686 Europeans who had died in the revolt. The number of Algerian fatalities is unclear. Amézianne El-Haddad was sentenced to five years in prison, but died in French custody a few days after the verdict. His son and the brother of Mohammed al-Mokrani, who also fought in the uprising, were exiled to New Caledonia . The colonial government used the uprising to demand reparations from participating and non-participating tribes , in the course of which there were also land confiscations. The further impoverishment of the Kabyle tribes was seen by the colonial administration as a means of pacifying them.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Mohammed Brahim Salhi: L'Insurrection de 1871 in Abderrahmane Bouchène, Jean-Pierre Peyroulou, Ouanassa Siara Tengour, Sylvia Thênault: Histoire de l'Algérie à la Période Coloniale , Paris 2014, pp. 101-109
- ↑ John Ruedy: Modern Algeria - The Origins and Development of a Nation , 2nd edition, Bloomington 2005, p 29
- ↑ a b John Ruedy: Modern Algeria - The Origins and Development of a Nation , 2nd edition, Bloomington 2005, p 78f
- ↑ Vincent Joly: Les Résistances à la Conquête 1830 - 1880 in Abderrahmane Bouchène, Jean-Pierre Peyroulou, Ouanassa Siara Tengour, Sylvia Thênault: Histoire de l'Algérie à la Période Coloniale , Paris 2014, p. 101