Hussein Dey

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For other meanings, see Hussein Dey (disambiguation).

Hussein Dey (also spelled Husayn Dey; 1765 - 1838) (Arabic: حسين داي), was the last of the Ottoman provincial rulers of Algiers (or Deys). He is most well known for sparking the war that led to decades of French rule over the country of Algeria.

Hussein hit the French consul with a fly-whisk as an expression of his anger over France's large (and growing) unpaid debt to Algeria.

France, whose Minister of War had already written off plans to conquer Algeria as a means of employing Napoleon-era veterans, used this offence as a pretext for an invasion of Algeria, which began three years later.

The French army landed on July 5, 1830, near the capital Algiers, and they beat the Ottoman forces in short order. Hussein Dey accepted a French offer for exile, and with it France seized and looted the country, ending the three-century rule of the Ottomans.