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Abdelkader resistance
Emir Abdelkader was an ideal nominee for Algerian resistance against the French. He was a man committed to his Shari’a faith and conduct of the jihad, and soon into his rise and maintenance of power as a figure head of the resistance he coined the nickname Amir al-Mu’minin (Commander of the Believers).

Initially, the young Abdelkader took over from his father who was leading the Algerian opposition against the newly arrived French troops in the Oran province. Shortly after his succession to power, the Desmichels Treaty of 1834 was signed between Abdelkader and the French occupiers. The treaty was composed of two parts; one being the official content consisting of the French conditions, and the second consisting of Abdelkader’s demands from the French. The result of this was granting official permission and recognition of Abdelkaders sovereignty over the Oran province, in the northwest of Algeria. This gave Abdelkader a good foundation of expanding his sphere of control, as following this he created his own state in opposition to the French rule. In this new state, Abdelkader was the sole leader and organised an army of around 2,000 men.

Whilst in power, Abdelkader made it a goal of his to attempt at resisting French occupation in other provinces, such as Algiers. However, the French showed no desire to back down from this fight. Abdelkader saw these actions as a cause for war. Consequently, in July of 1839 he assembled the principal chiefs of all of the ethnic groups in the country and declared a conditional jihad. He toured the country calling for a jihad and advancing the need for preparation for war – commanding money, men and arms. By the end of 1839, Abdelkader had made an official declaration of jihad. A war of eight years followed.

Between 1832-1839 Abdelkader successfully created a state, which occupied almost two-thirds of the country at its peak, and limited the French occupancy in the three coastal regions which held much importance to both the French and the Algerians.

Ahmed Bey resistance
Ahmed Bey, the last Bey of Constantine, led the Algerian popular resistance against the French in the east of Algeria with the aid of Hussein Pasha. As the head of state, he modernised the army which aided in his fierce defense of Constantine against the French army. In 1837, Constantine was besieged by the French, forcing Ahmed Bey to flee to the Aures Mountains where he continued to direct the resistance until 1848 when he captured by the colonisers.

Mokrani Kabyle resistance
The Kabylia region had always been highly independent, able to maintain their own institutions under Ottoman rule. However, by 1830 the French had successfully infiltrated the region and its peoples, despite heavy resistance by locals. The dire conditions in the region, such as famine and the French pitting different ethnic groups against each other by treating some better than others, led to the Kabyle uprisings. The unrest continued in the region as late as the Mokrani Revolt in 1971.

The Mokrani Revolt was led by Cheikh Mokrani, a Kabyle dignitary. The catalyst for the revolt was the mutiny of a Spahi – a member of the Algerian cavalry under French rule – in 1871, after his refusal to be deported to France to fight in the Franco-Prussian War. Mokrani also wanted to assert autonomy from the French and decided to gather a war council in order to achieve this. The revolt began in April of 1871 with approximately 150,000 Kabyles joining the rebellion, severely threatening the colonial operation. It ended in June of 1872 when the leading figure of the revolt by that time, Bu Mazraq, was captured by the French. The rebellion extended through most of Algeria and was the last major revolt prior to the start of the War of Liberation, which led to independence.