Battle of Ksar el Kebir

Battle of Alcácer Quibir
Part of the Moroccan-Portuguese conflicts
Battle at Ksar el Kebir, depicting the encirclement of the Portuguese army on the left
Date 4 August 1578 Location Alcácer Quibir, Morocco Result Decisive Saadi Empire victory. 1580 Portuguese succession crisis. Rise of the Moroccan Saadi Empire
Belligerents
Portugal Papal States Castilian volunteers German mercenaries Moorish allies	Sultanate of Morocco Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sebastian I of Portugal  † Abu Abdallah Mohammed II  † Thomas Stukley  †	Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I  † Ahmad al-Mansur Rabadan Pacha
Strength
18,000-23,000 Europeans (including: 2,000 Castilian volunteers 600 Italian volunteers 3,000 mercenaries from Flanders and Germany) 6,000 Moors 40 cannons	60,000-100,000 men
Casualties and losses
8,000 dead 15,000 captured	Unknown

Sebastian I of Portugal  †
Abu Abdallah Mohammed II  †

Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I  †
Ahmad al-Mansur

The Battle of Alcazar (Portuguese: Batalha de Alcácer Quibir, also known as "Battle of Three Kings" (معركة الملوك الثلاثة) or "Battle of Oued al-Makhazin" (معركة وادي المخازن) in Morocco) was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir (variant spellings: Ksar El Kebir, Alcácer-Quivir, Alcazarquivir, Alcassar, etc.) and Larache, on 4 August 1578. The combatants were the army of the deposed Moroccan Sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammed II, with his ally, the King of Portugal Sebastian I, against a large Moroccan army nominally under the new Sultan of Morocco (and uncle of Abu Abdallah Mohammed II) Abd Al-Malik I.

The Christian king, Sebastian I, had planned a crusade after Abu Abdallah asked him to help recover his throne. Abu Abdallah's uncle, Abd Al-Malik, had taken it from him with Ottoman support. The defeat of Portugal and attendant death of the childless Sebastian led to the end of the Aviz dynasty, and the integration of the country in the Iberian Union for 60 years under the Philippine Dynasty in a dynastic union with Spain.

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