Battle of Sikkak

{{Short description|Battle in the French Conquests of Algeria}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| image =

| caption =

| conflict = Battle of Sikkak

| partof = the French conquest of Algeria

| date = 6 July 1836

| place = near the Sikkak River, French Algeria

| result = French victory

| combatant1 = {{flag|July Monarchy|name=Kingdom of France}}

| combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Emirate of Mascara.svg}} Emirate of Mascara

| commander1 = {{flagicon|FRA|1794}} General Thomas-Robert Bugeaud
{{flagicon|FRA|1794}} Governor Bertrand Clauzel

| commander2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Emirate of Mascara.svg}} Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri

| strength1 = Roughly a brigade-sized force ~2,000–3,000 men

| strength2 = ~10,000 (a mix of regular soldiers and tribal warriors)

| casualties1 = Less than 50

| casualties2 = ~1,000

| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox French conquest of Algeria}}

}}

The Battle of Sikkak was fought on 6 July 1836{{Cite book |last=McDougall |first=James |title=A History of Algeria |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-02923-0 |edition=1 |location=Cambridge}} at the Sikkak river in western Algeria between French forces under General Thomas Robert Bugeaud,and a coalition of Algerian tribes of western Algeria under Emir Abd al-Qadir, who had in the previous year defeated the French at the Battle of Macta.

The result was a French victory, this accomplished French aims of weakening Abd al-Qadirs state to force a peace. The Treaty of Tafna was later negotiated between the two commanders of this battle.

France used the peace brought about by the victory to concentrate their limited forces against the Beylik of Constantine, winning the 1837 Siege of Constantine.{{Cite journal |last=Roughton |first=Richard A. |date=1985-05-01 |title=Economic Motives and French Imperialism: The 1837 Tafna Treaty as a Case Study |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1540-6563.1985.tb00667.x |journal=The Historian |language=en |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=360–381 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.1985.tb00667.x |issn=0018-2370|url-access=subscription }}

The battle represents the last large clash of forces between France and the forces of Abd al-Qadir, though with intermittent peace agreements he would continue to wage a low intensity conflict against French rule until his surrender in 1847.{{Cite journal |last=Thoral |first=Marie-Cecile |title=French Colonial Counter-Insurgency: General Bugeaud and the Conquest of Algeria, 1840-47 |url=https://journals.gold.ac.uk/index.php/bjmh/article/view/608 |journal=British Journal for Military History |volume=1 |issue=2}}