In 1519, a joint Spanish-Italian attack on Algiers was ordered by Charles V and commanded by Hugo of Moncada.Istanbul, Rome and Jerusalem: Titans of the Holy Cities Simon Sebag Montefiore Hachette UK The attack was repelled by the Algerians led by Hayreddin Barbarossa. Expedition In 1519, the Habsburg emperor, Charles V, ordered an attack on the city of Algiers. The city served as a base for the Ottoman Corsair, Hayreddin Barbarossa. A Spanish expedition was launched from Sicily. The expedition was led by the Admiral of Naples and Hospitaller Knight, Hugo de Moncada, and Don Martin d'Argote.
In mid August the Spanish-Sicilian fleet disembarked by the Oued-El-Harrach. On August 24, the Spanish arrived on the coast of Algiers. They met resistance from the Algerians as they disembarked. After a battle for four or five days, the Spanish managed to occupy a hillock adjacent to the city, the Kudyat al-Sabun, gaining an important position.Gordon Ellyson AbercrombieR. B. Merriman, p. 293
The Spanish had a problem. They stayed on the hill for seven days, waiting for reinforcements from their Algerian allies of Tlemcen. The Spanish began harassing Ottoman and Algerian troops with sorties and sniper fire from their high position. The Spanish officers hesitated to attack the city without their allies. They began retreating. However, the retreat ended disastrously. The Algerians began chasing the Spanish and put them on route, massacring them in great numbers before they could re-embark. A furious storm suddenly complicated the retreat. The storm sank many ships and threw their crews on shores, leaving them to be massacred or captured by the Algerians.Gordon Ellyson AbercrombieR. B. Merriman, p. 294
Moncada was able to reembark after hiding among the corpses on the shore,Roger Crowley, p. 42 leaving the shipwreck survivors to their enemies. The expedition ended on September 3.Gordon Ellyson Abercrombie At the end, the Spanish have lost 20 ships, 4,000 men killed, and 3,000 captured.Si Sheppard, p. 295 Among the captured were 36 high-ranking officers.
Aftermath Barbarossa was furious after his brother's death in 1518 and had little intent to ransom the prisoners. When Charles V offered ransom for the captured prisoners, Barbarossa had all of them executed. When Barbarossa was offered another sum of money for the return of the bodies, he had them thrown into the sea so that “if the relatives of any of the dead came to Algiers, they would not know the burial place of their father or brother, nor be able to see the ashes, but only the waves.”Roger Crowley, p. 42Si Sheppard, p. 295 See also Algiers expedition (1516) Algiers expedition (1541)
References
Sources
R. B. Merriman (1925), The rise of the Spanish empire in the old world and in the new, Vol. III, The Emperor.
Gordon Ellyson Abercrombie (2025), The Hospitaller Knights of Saint John at Rhodes 1306-1522.
Roger Crowley (2009), Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580.
Si Sheppard (2025), Crescent Dawn: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age.