Reinforcements pour into Algeria after 1840 until…

Reinforcements pour into Algeria after 1840 until Marshal Thomas Robert Bugeaud has at his disposal one hundred and eight thousand men, one-third of the French army.

Bugeaud's strategy is to destroy Abdelkader's bases, then to starve the population by destroying its means of subsistence—crops, orchards, and herds.

On several occasions, French troops burn or asphyxiated noncombatants hiding from the terror in caves.

One by one, the amir's strongholds fall to the French, and many of his ablest commanders are killed or captured so that by 1843 the Muslim state has collapsed.

Abdelkader takes refuge with his ally, the sultan of Morocco, Abd al-Rahman II, and launches raids into Algeria.

However, Abdelkader is obliged to surrender to the commander of Oran Province, General Louis de Lamoriciere, at the end of 1847.

Abdelkader is promised safe conduct to Egypt or Palestine if his followers lay down their arms and keep the peace.

He accepts these conditions, but the minister of war—who years earlier as general in Algeria had been badly defeated by Abdelkader—has him consigned to prison in France.