Algiers expedition (1519)

In 1519, a joint Spanish-Italian attack on Algiers was ordered by Charles V and commanded by Hugo of Moncada. This expedition ended in disaster.

Charles V ordered Viceroy of Sicily Hugo of Moncada to organise an expedition to conquer Algiers. This attack took place in August 1519. A previous Spanish attack had been defeated in 1516 by Oruç Reis, the brother of Hayreddin Barbarossa.

Hayreddin was ready to oppose this expedition with his army. He successfully routed the Spanish-Italian attack, resulting in shipwreck and massacre. Hugo de Moncada, managed to escape by hiding among the corpses ashore and 3,036 Spaniards were captured.

When Charles V offered ransom for the captured officers, Barbarossa had all of them executed. When Barbarossa was offered another sum of money for the return of the bodies, he had them thrown into the sea so that “If the relatives of any of the dead came to Algiers, they would not know the burial place of their father or brother, nor be able to see the ashes, but only the waves.”