During the scramble for Africa in the 1800's, France forcefully colonized Algeria. Algeria, formerly known as, Algiers was a part of the Ottoman Empire ruled over by Husayn Dey. The French blockaded Algeria in 1827 for three years to show their anger towards Husayn Dey. Husayn had insulted the French ambassador because he failed to pay a debt to Algiers and he also hit the ambassador three times with a fly whisk during a meeting. When the blockade failed, Marshal Thomas Bugeaud came with his French troops and invaded Algeria in order to calm domestic political pressure, to open Algiers to European settlers and foreign trade, and to exploit the region of their raw materials and resources. Finally in 1847, after more than forty years of fighting for control over the territory, the Algerian military leader Emir 'Abd al-Qadir surrendered to the French. A French military government was put in charge after they colonized Algiers in 1848. After one hundred and thirty-two years of living under harsh French military rule, Algerians finally won their independence in 1962, but not without much loss and many hardships. The Algerians fought for their independence using violent means because their failed attempts at peaceful movements did not work against the aggressive attacks from the French. Algeria's strategies to gain their rights and independence from the French included non-violent political protests, effective Algerian national groups, and finally fighting back by force. They had to turn to violent actions because of the harsh French military rule established when the French first colonized and also because the French brutally attacked Muslim Algerians for protesting and wanting political reform.
When the French first colonized Algiers, the French military treated the Muslim Algerians unfairly and harshly. After the French captured Algiers and General Bugeaud established a military government, he treated the native Algerians horribly; his troops would torture them, remove them from their homes, and kill them.