Raid on Cherchell (1531)

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Raid on Cherchell (1531)
Part of Spanish–Ottoman wars
DateJuly 1531
Location
Cherchell
Result Algerian victory [1]
Belligerents
Charles V Arms-personal.svg Empire of Charles V:

Pavillon royal de la France.svg  France [2]

Flag of Algiers.jpg Regency of Algiers
Commanders and leaders
Andrea Doria Ali Caramani
Strength
1,500 men
32 galleys
8 galleons
5 brigantines
2 lateen sails
3 ships		 25 galleys and galiots
Casualties and losses
400-600 killed or captured All vessels scuttled
Unknown number of dead

The raid on Cherchell occurred in July 1531, when Genoese admiral Andrea Doria attacked the Algerian fortress of Cherchell as part of a campaign against Barbary corsairs

Contents

Background

In 1530, Ottoman privateer Hayreddin Barbarossa called Sinan Reis from Djerba and Ali Caramani from near Tunis to gather their respective fleets in Cherchell with plans to attack Cádiz, collecting 10 galleys and 60 galiots. Barbarossa send Caramani with 25 of them to supply in the neighboring port of Cherchell, controlled by the Regency of Algiers. [3] [4]

Meanwhile, Genoese admiral Andrea Doria sailed off Genoa with a multi-national fleet, formed by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in a rare and tenuous alliance with King Francis I of France. [3] [4] Francis actually entertained treats with Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and therefore with Barbarossa, but participated in the operation with 13 galleys in an attempt to prove that such alliance did not exist. [5]

After finding out in Mallorca that Barbarossa had divided his forces between Algiers and Cherchell, Doria chose the latter as their target for being the weaker link. [4] Some authors believe the invasion might also serve as bridgehead in North Africa. [6] His fleet contained 32 galleys, eight galleons, five brigantines, two lateen sails, and three ships, [7] as well as 13 French galleys. [2]

Battle

Upon sighting the Christian fleet, Caramani initially believed it to be the rest of Barbarossa's fleet, but after realizing his mistake he raised the alarm. He disembarked his galley slaves, numbering around 800, and had his own ships scuttled in the port to avoid their capture. He then imprisoned the slaves in the city, hoping to use them to negotiate, and sent messengers for relief forces. [4]

Doria bombarded the port with his artillery and assaulted it, capturing the only two local galleys and seven fustas which remained in the port. He disembarked three companies of soldiers freshly recruited in Italy under the command of Giorgio Pallavicino, 1,500 in total, [1] who entered the city, forced open the fortress' gates and liberated the galley slaves. [1] The slaves immediately embarked in the imperial galleys, not wanting to waste time to return to their homelands, while the rest of the contingent sacked Cherchell. Only the citadel with Caraman on it resisted by that point. [3]

Doria then made the signal for the army to return to the ships, but the soldiers disobeyed him and continued scattered while sacking the place, a chance the Ottomans capitalized on to attack them infantry and cavalry. Chaos ensued, with around 400-600 Christian soldiers who failed to reach the galleys being killed or captured, among them Pallavicino himself. [8] [9] [1] [6] Doria ordered to play the signal to sail off in an attempt to motivate the soldiers in land to recover the discipline or being abandoned, but when it proved useless, he gave actual orders to sail off leaving them to their fate. [3] He also expected the arrival of the rest of Barbarossa's fleet and might have wanted to avoid being caught between two fires. [10] [11] [12]

Aftermath

Barbarossa's expedition to Cádiz had to be cancelled due to the loss of Caraman's fleet. [13] [14] The imperial raid on Cherchell was similarly considered botched due to their own rout and casualties. [15] The liberated slaves were disembarked in Málaga shortly after. [16] In retaliation for the attack, Barbarossa sent out 35 corsair ships to attack the coast of Genoa, capturing two ships [14] or 22 ships [17] depending on the source. He also executed several Christian prisoners who refused to convert to Islam, among them Martín de Vargas and Domingo de Portuondo. At the same time, Barbarossa found out other captives planned a rebellion in Algiers, which he crushed. [14]

In 1534, Barbarossa captured Tunis, a highly strategical port in the Mediterranean, which he turned into his new home base. [18] However, another Christian fleet commanded by Doria and Álvaro de Bazán the Elder, now with France absent due to their renewed alliance with the Ottoman Empire, conquered it two years later. [19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 MERCIER, Ernest. "L’AFRIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE." I888, I (1888): 182. Page 33.
  2. 1 2 "VI. Relations with France to 1536" In Suleiman the Magnificent, 1520-1566, 126-144. Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Ochoa de la Salde (1585), p. 173.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Sandoval (1614), p. 87.
  5. ↑ Merriman (1944), p. 137.
  6. 1 2 Ring, Trudy, and Noelle Watson. Middle East and Africa: International Dictionary of Historic Places. Routledge, 2014.
  7. ↑ Espinosa, Aurelio. "The Grand Strategy of Charles V (1500-1558): Castile, War, and Dynastic Priority in the Mediterranean", Journal of Early Modern History 9, 3 (2005): 239-283, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157006505775008446
  8. ↑ Sandoval (1614), p. 87-88.
  9. ↑ Moliner-Violle, Michel Francois Auguste, and Michel-F-A. Moliner-Violle. Précis de géographie historique de l'Algérie. A. Jourdan, 1877.
  10. ↑ Jamieson (2013), p. 35.
  11. ↑ Lane-Pool (1890), p. 78.
  12. ↑ de Haëdo, Diego, and Henri-Delmas de Grammont. "Kheir-ed-Din Barberousse, second roi." Histoire du Maghreb (1998): 50-75.
  13. ↑ Concepción (1690), p. 395.
  14. 1 2 3 Sandoval (1614), p. 88.
  15. ↑ Fernández Duro (1895), p. 162.
  16. ↑ Ochoa de la Salde (1585), p. 174.
  17. ↑ Servantie, Alain. "The Mediterranean Policy of Charles V." A New World: Emperor Charles V and the Beginnings of Globalisation (2021): 83.
  18. ↑ Merriman (1944), p. 214.
  19. ↑ Merriman (1944), p. 142.

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