France had been among the states that coveted Algeria since the Napoleonic period. Napoleon aspired to transform the western basin of the Mediterranean into a “French lake.” Throughout the Ottoman presence in Algeria, France sought to conclude agreements and treaties and to benefit from commercial privileges, eventually reaching the wheat question and the debts attached to it. These tensions led to the so-called fly-whisk incident, the naval blockade, and finally military intervention. When the circumstances of this occupation are examined, it becomes clear that most Western and Arab historians alike have affirmed that French interest in Algeria was not born in the nineteenth century. Rather, it was the outcome of a colonial political project that had matured in the minds of French kings and emperors. Its roots go back to King Louis IX of France, who formulated a project to eliminate Maghrebi corsair activity and occupy its principal centers: Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. For the French, this constituted the beginning of the idea of occupying Algeria. The acquisition of commercial privileges in certain Algerian ports intensified the French desire to obtain additional positions and resources. France therefore sent exploratory missions and concluded agreements and treaties in periods of both war and peace. Once the country’s strategic importance became evident, the desire to possess this rich territory was confirmed. France then began to fabricate numerous pretexts, driven by several motives, and did not refrain from the occasional use of force. It launched several campaigns that, after political and military interventions, culminated in a successful naval landing and then occupation. This research paper examines the political backgrounds of French colonialism in Algeria. The occupation emerged as the inevitable outcome of numerous causes, although it was outwardly reduced to a single political cause. Yet anyone who follows the history of the European presence in the western Mediterranean, the internal developments experienced by the French government, and France’s external international position will see that the occupation represented a logical progression of events experienced by both states during that period.