Siege of Laghouat

The Siege of Laghouat was an episode of the French Pacification of Algeria. General Aimable Pélissier commanding an army of 6000, besieged the city of Laghouat in November 21, 1852. The decisive storming of the city occurred in December 4 and the French captured the city after bloody fighting. It is reported that a chemical weapon in the form of chlorine gas had been used against the Algerian resistance, causing the death of 2000 to 3000 inhabitants. French archives indicate indiscriminate retaliation against the town's civilian inhabitants, after the town was taken by the French. The storming of Laghouat coincides with the release of Emir Abdel Kader from French jail. Some historians see in the date chosen to storm the town of Laghouat, and in the brutality of the attack, a show of power, and a message to the resistance leader: Abdel Kader, to not attempt to return to Algeria after his release. The use of chemical weapons in the shelling could be one, if not the first, early examples of the uses of chemical weapons.