After Algeria recognized Ottoman suzerainty, Morocco remained the last independent Islamic state in North Africa. It did not at all seek to fall under the rule of Istanbul, for which it established allied relations with the Portuguese.
In the middle of the 16th century, the Portuguese and Moroccans jointly and quite successfully resisted common opponents – the Spaniards and Turks. But then there was a coup in the last African sultanate, and the new ruler enlisted the support of the Ottomans.
And then the famous battle of El Ksar el Kebir took place in 1578, better known as the «battle of the three kings», in which each of them laid down his head. The army of the deposed Sultan Abu Abdullah Mohammed II and his ally, King Sebastian I of Portugal, opposed the main Moroccan army of Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I, reinforced by a contingent of Ottoman gunners and janissaries.
The opponents converged at the first major city on the way from Gibraltar to the center of the country. The Portuguese counted on the power of their muskets. They had little cavalry, but the main force was a large infantry square. In the confrontation with the Eastern horsemen, such tactics promised to be successful.
Sebastian and Ahmad al-Mansour are the Sultan’s younger brother, who eventually got everything
Knowing that his people were superior to the enemy in mobility, the new sultan decided to try to take the enemy in a pincer grip. He operated with large masses of Bedouin cavalry, and in the center he put Turks and detachments from those Moors whose ancestors were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula about a hundred years ago. They were eager to fight out of a desire to get even with their abusers for their own «happy childhood.»
Before the battle began, the sides exchanged volleys from their guns. And the first shot killed the commander of one of the battles, an Englishman in the Portuguese service, Thomas Stukeley, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII Tudor. However, there is a version that he was hacked down by his own Italian soldiers – in any case, the Portuguese mercenaries were disorganized.
After that, hand–to-hand fighting began, and the Moroccans managed to arrange a «second Cannes» for the Europeans — that is, they surrounded them and deprived them of maneuver. It no longer mattered who would perform better in a fiery battle, everything was decided by quantity and personal courage. Four hours later, it was all over.
The main problem turned out to be that during this time the water level in the river behind the Christian army rose significantly. More experienced officers warned the Portuguese king about this in advance, but he did not take their opinions into account. As a result, both Sebastian and his Moroccan ally went to the bottom. But Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I also died right during the battle – he was already very ill at that time.
Nevertheless, his younger brother managed to bring the matter to victory, who became the new sultan. He enslaved the captured Europeans, but promised to give them freedom if they agreed to fight for the benefit of their masters. The result was the subsequent invasion of Timbuktu by the Sultanate, when the Moors plundered this gold-mining city.
This led to a rapid increase in the power and wealth of the rulers of Morocco, who, however, were forced to recognize the nominal power of the Ottomans. They began to print the face of the Turkish sultans on their coins, which traditionally meant political subordination in the Islamic world. However, the dependence on Istanbul was limited to this.
But for Portugal, everything ended even more disastrously – the battle of the three kings led not only to the collapse of their colonial empire, but also to the disappearance of the country from the political map. Since Sebastian I did not have time to have children because of his youth, his great-uncle Enrique, who was a Catholic cardinal at that time, was recognized as the new king.
But the pope did not release him from his monastic vows, and his grandfather was not capable of reproduction due to his advanced age. As a result, Portugal was forced to submit to the Spanish crown for 60 years – the Castilian monarchs were the most likely candidates for the throne due to numerous marriages with the Aviz dynasty. This led to unnecessary wars for the country and the fall of Portuguese naval power.