Episodes

  • Algeria's 1958 Bombardment of Sakiet Sidi Youssef and the Internationalization of the War

    Algeria's 1958 Bombardment of Sakiet Sidi Youssef and the Internationalization of the War
    Jul 3 2026
    In February 1958, French aircraft bombed the Tunisian village of Sakiet Sidi Youssef, killing dozens of civilians and wounding hundreds. The attack was a turning point in the Algerian War, transforming a colonial conflict into an international crisis. Lucas and Luna explore the events leading up to the bombardment, the role of the FLN's sanctuaries in Tunisia, the international fallout including UN debates and US mediation, and how the incident triggered the fall of the French Fourth Republic and de Gaulle's return to power. They discuss key figures like French commander Paul Aussaresses, Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, and FLN leader Lakhdar Bentobbal, as well as the broader implications for superpower involvement in decolonization conflicts. This episode provides a concrete look at how one brutal act shifted the course of the war and global opinion. #AlgerianWar #SakietSidiYoussef #Tunisia #FLN #Bourguiba #PaulAussaresses #FrenchFourthRepublic #DeGaulle #UnitedNations #Decolonization #ColdWar #Bombardment #1958 #NorthAfrica #LakhdarBentobbal #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 mins
  • Algeria 1834: How Emir Abd el-Kader Built a Desert State

    Algeria 1834: How Emir Abd el-Kader Built a Desert State
    Jul 3 2026
    In the years after France's 1830 invasion of Algiers, a young religious scholar named Emir Abd el-Kader emerged from the plains of Mascara to unite warring tribes and build a proto-state that stymied the French army for nearly two decades. This episode focuses on the early 1830s — how Abd el-Kader, barely 25, leveraged his spiritual lineage from the Qadiriyya Sufi order, his strategic marriages, and a remarkable network of fortified towns (zemala) to create a mobile capital that housed 30,000 people. We explore the zawiya system of religious lodges that served as his administrative backbone, the Treaty of Desmichels (1834) that gave him de facto sovereignty over western Algeria, and the pivotal Battle of Macta (1835) where his horsemen routed a French column. Lucas and Luna also examine his code of military conduct — a surprising set of humanitarian rules forbidding torture and demanding fair treatment of prisoners — and the limits of his desert state when faced with General Bugeaud's scorched-earth tactics. A story of statecraft, faith, and resistance before the war turned total. #EmirAbdelKader #Qadiriyya #FrenchAlgeria #Zemala #TreatyOfDesmichels #BattleOfMacta #Bugeaud #Zawiya #1830sAlgeria #DesertState #AlgerianResistance #SufiOrders #ColonialAlgeria #19thCenturyHistory #NorthAfrica #History #FexingoHistory #Algeria Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 mins
  • Algeria's 1946–54: From Sétif to Toussaint Rouge

    Algeria's 1946–54: From Sétif to Toussaint Rouge
    Jul 2 2026
    In the years between the 1945 Sétif massacre and the 1954 Toussaint Rouge attacks that launched the Algerian War, a clandestine revolutionary movement took shape. This episode traces the formation of the Special Organisation (OS), the break with Messali Hadj, the rise of the nine historical leaders (neuf historiques), and the decision to launch armed struggle. We discuss the OS's 1949 attack on the Oran post office, the arrest and escape of Ahmed Ben Bella, and the split that created the FLN. Specific names, dates, and places anchor the narrative: Mostefa Ben Boulaïd, Larbi Ben M'Hidi, Rabah Bitat, the Aurès mountains, and the secret Soummam valley meeting that would follow years later. No broad strokes—just the gritty details of a revolution in waiting. #Algeria #FLN #ToussaintRouge #OS #MessaliHadj #AhmedBenBella #MostefaBenBoulaid #LarbiBenMHidi #Sétif #Aurès #Oran #AlgerianWar #decolonization #Maghreb #neufhistoriques #history #FexingoHistory #NorthAfrica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 mins
  • Algeria's 1965 Coup: Boumediene's Rise and the End of Ben Bella

    Algeria's 1965 Coup: Boumediene's Rise and the End of Ben Bella
    Jul 2 2026
    In June 1965, less than three years after independence, Algeria's first president Ahmed Ben Bella was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by his own defense minister, Houari Boumediene. This episode explores the tensions that led to the coup: Ben Bella's increasingly autocratic rule, his rivalry with Boumediene, the role of the ALN (Armée de Libération Nationale) versus the FLN party, and the Oujda group of military commanders who had fought together during the war of independence. We discuss the coup itself on June 19, 1965, how it unfolded with almost no resistance, and the subsequent consolidation of power by Boumediene's Conseil de la Révolution. We also look at the broader context of Cold War alignments, Ben Bella's tilt toward Nasser and the Soviets, and the internal divisions within the FLN that made the coup possible. The episode touches on key figures like Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who served as foreign minister under Boumediene and later became president himself, and the legacy of the coup in shaping Algeria's military-dominated political system for decades to come. #Algeria #1965Coup #HouariBoumediene #AhmedBenBella #FLN #ALN #OujdaGroup #ConseilDeLaRevolution #ColdWar #Nasser #Bouteflika #AlgerianHistory #NorthAfrica #PostIndependence #FexingoHistory #HistoryPodcast #Coup #Maghreb Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 mins
  • Abd el-Kader's 1832 Jihad Against French Algeria

    Abd el-Kader's 1832 Jihad Against French Algeria
    Jul 1 2026
    In 1832, a 24-year-old religious scholar named Emir Abd el-Kader united warring tribes of western Algeria to launch a jihad against French occupation. This episode traces his rise from a quiet zawiya in the Guetna valley to leading a 17-year resistance that forced France to negotiate. We explore how Abd el-Kader leveraged Sufi networks, built a proto-state with its own currency and administrative councils, and enacted chivalric rules of war that even his French adversaries respected. His strategy of hit-and-run raids and fortified mobile camps (zemala) kept the French army off-balance for a decade. But internal tribal rivalries and General Bugeaud's scorched-earth tactics — including the infamous enfumades of caves — ultimately crushed his emirate. The siege of his capital, the smala, in 1843 marked the end. Abd el-Kader surrendered in 1847, but his legacy as a scholar-warrior and humanitarian endures, especially after he saved thousands of Christians from massacre in Damascus in 1860. This is the story of Algeria's first anti-colonial icon. #AbdElKader #EmirAbdElKader #FrenchAlgeria #AlgerianResistance #Jihad #Smala #Bugeaud #Zemala #Sufi #Qadiriyya #TreatyOfDesmichels #TreatyOfTafna #Oran #Mascara #Damascus1860 #19thCentury #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 mins
  • Algeria's 1916 Famine: Colonial Wheat and Starvation

    Algeria's 1916 Famine: Colonial Wheat and Starvation
    Jul 1 2026
    Long before the war of independence, Algeria endured a cataclysm that killed nearly a million people—the Great Famine of 1916-1917. Lucas and Luna explore how French colonial policy, wartime requisitions, and a plague of locusts converged to create a man-made disaster. They follow the story through the wheat fields of the Mitidja plain, the ration lines in Algiers, and the silent villages of the Kabylia mountains. Why did the colonial administration export grain to France while Algerians starved? What role did the Bureaux Arabes play in the distribution of relief? And how did the famine shape the rural exodus that transformed Algeria's demographics? This episode uncovers a tragedy that remains a raw wound in Algerian memory, drawing on recent scholarship by historians like Malika Rahal and Kamel Kateb. A story of extraction, indifference, and survival. #Algeria #GreatFamine #1916 #ColonialPolicy #Starvation #Mitidja #Kabylia #BureauxArabes #LocustPlague #WheatRequisition #WorldWarI #Algiers #MalikaRahal #KamelKateb #RuralExodus #Memory #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    12 mins
  • Algeria's 1830 Invasion: The Casbah Falls to France

    Algeria's 1830 Invasion: The Casbah Falls to France
    Jun 30 2026
    This episode goes back to the beginning — the 1830 French invasion of Algiers. We trace the events that led to the fall of the Casbah, from the diplomatic crisis over the fly-whisk incident to the landing at Sidi Ferruch and the Battle of Staouëli. Lucas and Luna discuss the role of the Dey Hussein, the controversial expedition launched by King Charles X to boost his popularity, and the brutal sack of Algiers that followed. They explore how the French navy's superior firepower and the Ottoman-Algerian Janissaries' disarray sealed the city's fate in just three weeks. The conversation also touches on the legacy of the invasion: the looting of priceless manuscripts and artifacts, and the seeds of 132 years of colonial rule. A pivotal moment that set the stage for everything from the barbary corsairs to the battle of algiers. #Algeria #FrenchInvasion1830 #Casbah #DeyHussein #CharlesX #SidiFerruch #Staouëli #Janissaries #NorthAfrica #OttomanAlgeria #ColonialHistory #FlyWhiskIncident #BattleOfAlgiers #PiedsNoirs #FexingoHistory #History #Empire #SackOfAlgiers Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 mins
  • The Barbary Corsairs: Why Algiers Ruled the Mediterranean

    The Barbary Corsairs: Why Algiers Ruled the Mediterranean
    Jun 30 2026
    Long before French colonization, Algiers was the capital of a maritime empire. This episode dives into the Barbary corsairs — the raïs who turned the city into the most feared port in the Mediterranean. We follow the rise of the legendary Hayreddin Barbarossa, who seized Algiers in 1516 and made it a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. We explore the corsair economy: how captured Europeans (and their ransoms) fueled the city's growth, and how the infamous 'Turkish quarter' — the Djenina — became the nerve center of a sprawling network of slave markets, shipyards, and fortifications. We also look at the decline: the 1816 Anglo-Dutch bombardment of Algiers, which shattered the Dey's navy and marked the end of corsair dominance. Along the way, we meet figures like the renegade Christian-turned-admiral Murad Rais, and we discuss the Barbary slave trade's scale — perhaps 1 million Europeans enslaved between 1500 and 1800. This is the Algiers the French found in 1830: a pirate republic, not a primitive outpost. #BarbaryCorsairs #HayreddinBarbarossa #Algiers #OttomanEmpire #BarbarySlaveTrade #MediterraneanHistory #MuradRais #Dey #Raïs #Djenina #Piracy #NorthAfrica #1516 #1816Bombardment #CorsairEconomy #Renegades #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 mins