Le conflit des années 1769-1772 entre le Danemark et l’Algérie: une guerre oubliée

Abstract

The punitive expedition that Denmark sent to Algiers in 1770 was the climax of a simmering conflict between the Scandinavian kingdom and the Ottoman province of the Maghrib. Relations between the two States had been stormy in the past. In 1746, a timely treaty put an end to the capture of Danish ships by Algerian privateers and the enslavement of their crews. This treaty, which guaranteed the safety of Danish maritime trade in the Mediterranean in return for the payment of tribute to Algiers, lapsed shortly after the dey Muhammad b. ‘Uthmân came to power in 1766. The new dey was impatient with the arrival of the Danish tribute. The Danish-Russian rapprochement was an additional source of annoyance. Denmark responded clumsily and undiplomatically to the dey's demands, and in 1769 he declared war. The capture of Danish ships and crews resumed. It is partly through the testimonies of a Norwegian sailor who became a slave and a Danish naval chaplain that we can understand the extent of the fiasco that was the military expedition organised to retaliate against Algiers, as well as its consequences, which were heavy on the economic and human level, but limited on the political level.