Siege of Laghouat

Taking of Laghouat by Jean-Adolphe Beaucé.

Date	21 November–4 December 1852
Location	Laghouat, Algeria
Result	French victory

Belligerents

France

Algerian resistance

Commanders and leaders

Aimable Pélissier

Strength

6000

The Siege of Laghouat was an episode of the French Pacification of Algeria. General Aimable Pélissier commanding a 6000 strong army, besieged the city of Laghouat in November 21 1852. The decisive storming of the city occurred in December 4 and the French captured the city after bloody fighting. It is reported that chemical weapon in the form of chlorine gas has been used against the Algerian resistance, causing the death of 2000 to 3000 inhabitant. French archive indicates indiscriminate retaliation against the town's civilian inhabitants, after the town was taken by the French. The storming of Laghouat coincides with the release of Emir Abdel Kader from French jail. Some historian see in the date chosen to storm the town of Laghouat, and in the brutality of the attack, a show of power, and a message to the resistance leader: Abdel Kader, not attempt a return to Algerian after his release. The use of chemical weapons in the shelling could be if not the first, one he early examples of uses of chemical weapons.