Battle of Sidi Brahim

Battle of Sidi Brahim
Part of the French conquest of Algeria

Battle of Sidi Brahim by Louis-Théodore Devilly.
Date23–25 September 1845
Location
Souahlia, Algeria
Result Algerian victory
Belligerents
 Kingdom of France Emirate of Mascara
Commanders and leaders
Colonel Montagnac †
Major Cognord 
Captain Dutertre  
Captain de Géreaux †		 Emir Abdelkader
Strength
c. 500 1,000 to 1,200
Casualties and losses
7 to 12 survivors
400 killed
or
300+ killed, 100 prisoners 		Unknown

The Battle of Sidi Brahim, 23 to 25 September 1845, took place during the French conquest of Algeria, near Souahlia in Tlemcen Province. Between 1,000 and 1,200 Algerian irregulars under Emir Abdelkader ambushed a French detachment of around 500 led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lucien de Montagnac. Most of the latter were killed or captured in the initial fighting, and only a handful were reported to have ultimately survived the encounter.

Despite their defeat, the French used the battle as a symbol of the price paid to acquire French Algeria, and in 1898, a monument to the "martyrs of Sidi-Brahim" was installed in Oran. After Algerian independence in 1962, the monument was transformed into one commemorating Emir Abdelkader, and anti-colonial resistance in general.

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