The Battle of Isly was fought on August 14, 1844 between France and Morocco, near the Isly River. French forces under Marshal Thomas Robert Bugeaud routed a much larger, but poorly organized, Moroccan force, mainly fighters from the tribes of Beni Snassen, but also from the Beni Angad and Beni Oukil; under Muhammad, son of the Sultan of Morocco, Abd al-Rahman. Bugeaud, attempting to complete the French conquest of Algeria, instigated the battle without a declaration of war in order to force negotiations concerning Moroccan support for the Algerian resistance leader Abd el-Kader to conclude on terms favorable to the French who demanded the Sultan of Morocco to withdraw support for Abd el-Kader.
Battle of Isly, oil painting by Horace Vernet.
Thomas Robert Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie, duc d'Isly was a Marshal of France and Governor-General of Algeria during the French colonization.
Thomas Robert Bugeaud
Civilians suffocating by smoke into the cave of Dahra, method ordered by Bugeaud
Battle of Isly, propaganda oil painting by Horace Vernet.
Bugeaud died at 1 Quai Voltaire in Paris (commemorative plate).