Bombardment of Casablanca
The Bombardment of Casablanca (Arabic: قصف الدار البيضاء; French: Le bombardement de Casablanca) was a French naval attack taking place from August 5 to 7 in 1907 that destroyed the Moroccan city of Casablanca.[1] France used mainly artillery fire from armored cruisers to bomb the city and targets in the surrounding area, which caused an estimated 1,500 to 7,000 Moroccan deaths.[1] The bombardment of Casablanca opened a western front to the French conquest of Morocco after Hubert Lyautey's occupation of Oujda in the east earlier that year.
The bombardment came after an attack of tribesmen of the Shawiya opposed to the terms of the Treaty of Algeciras of 1906 to the French presence in the customs house and to the construction of a railroad over a sanctuary, specifically on European employees of the Compagnie Marocaine operating a Decauville train from a quarry in Roches Noires to the Port of Casablanca on July 30, 1907.[2] When the French cruiser Galilée disembarked a landing party of 75 soldiers on August 5, an insurrection broke out in the city.[2]
The Galilée and the Du Chayla bombarded the city with mélinite, an explosive substance containing picric acid that struck residential neighborhouods, particularly the Tnaker.[1][3][4]
Photograph of Galilée, a Linois-class cruiser.
The Sqala of Casablanca after the bombardment.
Moroccan artillery destroyed by French artillery shells
![The qasbah destroyed by artillery shells[12]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/B_8_001.jpg/120px-B_8_001.jpg)
Nive on the rocks near Casablanca 31 December 1907
