Lesson 27: European Colonialism in the Arabian Gulf, South Arabia and Algeria

01The Arab world in the nineteenth century

• When Egypt fell under British occupation in September 1882 and Sudan followed, other Arab lands had already been under the control of England and France since the beginning of the nineteenth century.
• When the First World War broke out (summer 1914), all the Arab lands from the Ocean to the Gulf were in the grip of colonialism, except the heart of the Arabian Peninsula and the Hejaz, and except Greater Syria and Iraq, which were still provinces under direct Ottoman rule.

02The Gulf and South Arabia (1798 - 1899)

Britain after the French Campaign

• The French Campaign on Egypt and the Levant drew England's attention to the importance of Egypt and the lands of the Eastern Arab world.
• It made a treaty with the Sultan of Oman (October 1798): he undertook not to allow a French or Dutch agency on his soil and to expel all French subjects, while a British garrison was stationed there.
• Britain occupied the island of Perim (Brim) at the entrance of the Red Sea by Bab el-Mandeb (May 1799), to cut the road to the French should they think of passing through the Red Sea to India — then the most important British colony.
• After the French left Egypt (1801) England withdrew from this island and made an agreement with the Sultan of Lahej and Aden in 1802 providing for a British garrison to secure the road to India.

Britain and Muhammad Ali

• England watched navigation in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, and was surprised by the appearance of Muhammad Ali, wali of Egypt, at the head of the Gulf from the north after he destroyed the First Saudi State in 1818.
• It began to suspect that he had plans of expansion in the Gulf that threatened its interests.
• So it supported its influence over every emirate of the Gulf and imposed (January 1820) agreements on all the sheikhs of the emirates under the name of the General Treaty of Peace (the Perpetual Maritime Truce), which forbade piracy and forbade the slave trade carried on by the Sultanate of Oman.
• The treaty was renewed over the following years, which in the end allowed Britain to act as arbiter in disputes between the sheikhs.
• The agreements took the form of a British protectorate over the region, the most important being the protection agreement with the Sultan of Muscat (1891) and with the Ruler of Kuwait (1899).
• In 1837 Muhammad Ali reached Yemen in the name of the Ottoman Sultan; fearing his presence, Britain hurried to occupy Aden (January 1839) and made an agreement in which the Sultan of Lahej undertook to secure the roads, watch his followers and prevent them from resisting the English.

03Causes of France's colonisation of Algeria (1830)

The story of the wheat debts

• France had kept good relations with Algeria because it imported wheat from it, owing to the economic blockade Britain imposed on France during the battles of the French Revolution against the monarchies of Europe.
• France did not pay for the wheat at once but took it as a loan, and so owed Algeria very large sums.
• The rulers of Algeria began demanding payment from 1800, but France kept postponing.
• It formed a financial committee in Paris which cut the debt from 24 million francs to only seven million, and in August 1826 the ruler of Algeria was told that the payment procedures would take a long time.

Exploiting the opportunity

• Clashes took place between Algerian ships and the ships of the Pope in the Mediterranean, within the mutual privateering carried on by the peoples of both shores. France seized the opportunity to delay payment further and demanded that Algeria compensate for the Pope's ships.
• France moved warships to blockade the coast of Algiers, and the blockade lasted more than two years (1827 – early 1830).
• It demanded that the Algerians stop sea privateering, return what had been taken from the Pope's ships, recognise France's right to most-favoured-nation status in Algeria, and renounce the debts.
• The ruler of Algeria refused these demands, so the French government ordered the fleet blockading Algiers to occupy the country. This happened in June 1830 after fierce resistance, and the Ottoman state made no move to help Algeria.

04The struggle of Emir Abdelkader al-Jazairi

• A few years afterwards Emir Abdelkader organised the resistance and formed an administration whose capital was Biskra, and the French were obliged to come to terms with him more than once.
• They concluded the convention of Michaud (1834), recognising the Emir as ruler over central and western Algeria; then they reorganised themselves and launched attacks, and preferred to make the treaty of Tafna (1835) — which they annulled by occupying Constantine (1837).
• The support of the Sultan of Morocco for the resistance was an essential factor in its endurance, so France bombarded Tangier heavily; Morocco did not continue its support, and the Emir was deprived of using Moroccan soil for the operations of the resistance.
• That, together with the superiority of French arms, weakened the resistance, and the Emir was at last obliged to surrender in 1847 and was exiled to the Levant (Sham).

05French policy in Algeria

• The French put down repeated uprisings and went on exploiting the country.
• They confiscated the land and granted the estates to Frenchmen, and their companies seized wide areas for planting vineyards to produce wine.
• They exploited the mines of iron, phosphates, copper and zinc, built factories and laid railway lines, so that Algeria became an important supplier of the French treasury.
• The French authorities encouraged the immigration of Frenchmen, Jews and other Europeans to Algeria, granted them French nationality, and confiscated land from its owners for the benefit of the settlers.
• The settlers enjoyed full French citizenship, while Muslims were treated as second-class citizens.

06The struggle of the Algerian people after the First World War

Political and cultural resistance

• Some leaders, such as Emir Khaled, grandson of Emir Abdelkader, tried to benefit from Wilson's fourteen points, especially the right of self-determination, but his attempt failed, like the similar attempts in Egypt and Tunisia.
• French settlement and cultural policy aimed at destroying the Arab-Islamic Algerian identity, so a national Islamic movement appeared to preserve it, known as the Association of the Ulema of Algeria (Jam'iyat al-Ulama).
• It was led by Sheikh Abdelhamid Ben Badis, a graduate of the University of ez-Zitouna (Tunisia), and by Sheikh Bachir el-Ibrahimi, who was influenced by Imam Muhammad Abduh and Sheikh Rashid Rida.

The political currents

• After the Second World War a current grew which held that independence could only be achieved by revolution, and these feelings rose after the success of the July 1952 revolution in Egypt, its leadership of Arab nationalism and of the movement to liberate the Arab lands.

07The Algerian revolution and Egypt's stand

• The Algerian revolution was declared from Cairo in November 1954 and lasted about eight years.
• Egypt was the main state that supported it — with money, weapons and its media resources — until the French government of Guy Mollet decided that France could not defeat the Algerian revolution except by pushing Egypt out of the battle, and so France took part in the Tripartite Aggression against Egypt (October 1956).
• France tried to come to an understanding with the Algerians while keeping the final say for itself, including a project of a federal union between France and Algeria (1957).
• Egypt and the Arab states worked in the international conferences and at the United Nations in defence of Algeria's right to independence, and succeeded in obtaining a resolution of the General Assembly granting Algeria the right to self-determination in 1960.

08The independence of Algeria

• The French government was shaken by the diplomatic victories abroad and by the firmness of the Algerian resistance: the Fourth Republic fell and Charles de Gaulle took power, hoping to rescue France from its slump while keeping Algeria part of it.
• In 1959 de Gaulle offered three choices: assimilation into France, or independence with ties to France, or full independence.
• The settlers revolted against de Gaulle's rule and were backed by a number of extreme officers; from them came the Secret Army Organisation (OAS), responsible for the massacre of several thousands of unarmed Muslims.
• De Gaulle held firm and so did the Algerians; the negotiations succeeded, a ceasefire was agreed and the Evian Accords were signed (1962), and Algeria obtained its independence.

09Exam traps and key takeaways

• At the outbreak of WWI the exceptions to colonial control were the heart of the Peninsula and the Hejaz; Greater Syria and Iraq were under direct Ottoman rule — "independent" is wrong for them.
• British presence in the Gulf began because of the French Campaign: Oman October 1798 (target: French/Dutch agencies), Perim May 1799 (target: the road to India), Lahej–Aden 1802 — and Perim was abandoned after 1801.
• The General Treaty of Peace (January 1820) banned piracy and the slave trade of the Sultanate of Oman; its renewals gave Britain the role of arbiter among the sheikhs — the protectorate came later: Muscat 1891, Kuwait 1899.
• Aden was occupied January 1839, and the fear that triggered it was Muhammad Ali's arrival in Yemen in 1837 in the Ottoman Sultan's name — not the wheat debts.
• The wheat debt: France owed Algeria (not the reverse); the Paris committee cut 24 million francs to 7 million; Algeria began demanding payment from 1800 and was told the delay would be long in August 1826.
• The pretext was the Papal (Pope's) ships; the blockade lasted more than two years (1827 – early 1830); occupation came June 1830; the demand included most-favoured-nation status and cancelling the debt. The Ottoman state did not help.
• Emir Abdelkader: capital Biskra; Michaud 1834 (central and western Algeria) → Tafna 1835 → broken by Constantine 1837 → surrender 1847, exiled to the Levant.
• Morocco's support ended after France bombarded Tangier — a cause of the Emir's weakness, alongside superior French arms.
• French policy: vineyards for wine, mines of iron, phosphates, copper and zinc; settlers had full citizenship, Muslims second-class.
• Cultural movement = Association of the Ulema: Ben Badis (ez-Zitouna graduate) and el-Ibrahimi (influenced by Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida). Assimilation = Abbas Farhat; independence = Messali Haj / North African Star.
• The revolution was declared from Cairo in November 1954 and lasted about eight years; France joined the Tripartite Aggression of October 1956 to force Egypt out of the battle. UN General Assembly resolution on Algeria's self-determination: 1960.
• Independence: Fourth Republic fell · de Gaulle's three choices 1959 · OAS massacres · Evian Accords 1962. The OAS was formed from settlers and extreme officers, not from the Algerian resistance.