Prof. Greg Jackson

Well, the ploy fails.

The French people want representation, not conquest.

But even as France's second, or rather, July Revolution rips up the cobblestones of Paris and sweeps Charles X out to usher the liberal-minded citizen king, Louis-Philippe, in, the 37,000-strong French force sent to Algeria's shores have already done the job.

As of July 1830, France, not the Ottoman Empire, rules Algiers.

This French foothold in North Africa only grows.

In a little less than two decades, France takes the whole of Algeria.

As France's third revolution, the Revolution of 1848, gives rise to the Second Republic, this new government also designates Algeria's coastal regions as départements, or departments.

This means that, at least on paper, Algeria isn't a colony anymore.

It's an integral part of France, known as French Algeria.

Citizens here vote and send representatives to the French legislature in Paris.

But wait, who gets to be a citizen?

European settlers known as Pieds-Noirs certainly are, but most others, predominantly Muslims and Jews, are not.

Well, until 1870, that is.

As Napoleon III's Second Empire falls and the Third Republic begins, I know, the French changed governments a lot, but this Third Republic is it for a while, I promise.

The Camille Decree grants Algerian Jews citizenship, but just them, not Algerian Muslims.

The Arabs and Berbers in these départements who want to vote, or rather vote fully, will have to renounce their status under Islamic law.

Effectively, this means abandoning their faith, their identity.

Few will.

French rule also spreads east and west from French Algeria.

To the east, the French use a Tunisian tribe raiding over the border as pretext to wrest Tunisia from Ottoman rule in 1881.