Paul Flatters (16 September 1832 – 16 February 1881) was a French soldier who spent a long period as a military administrator in Algeria.

He is known as leader of the Flatters expedition, an ill-fated attempt to explore the route of a proposed Trans-Saharan railway from Algeria to the Sudan.

[2] During the Bourbon Restoration Jean-Jacques Flatters earned a living by making busts of famous people such as Goethe and Byron.

Paul Flatters' maternal grandfather, Simon Lebon, joined the National Guard in 1792 during the French Revolution and served in the army until retiring as a colonel on half pay in December 1815.

[4] Due to the rough conditions in Algeria his wife could not accompany him when he returned there, so for the next fifteen years they spent time together only when he was on leave or during the short periods when he was stationed in France.

[6] In 1871 responsibility for administration in the departments of Constantine, Algiers and Oran was transferred to civilians, but the army continued to administer the interior of Algeria.

[7] In 1876 and 1877 Flatters wrote three reports on the caravan trade between the Sudan and the Mediterranean, blaming some of the problems on the Senussi Sufi order and tribe.

The reports show that Flatters was fully aware that any European who ventured into the desert without strong protection would almost inevitably be killed.

[8] He also observed that the Turks and the merchants of Tripoli, Ghadames, Ghat and Murzuk would be opposed to a Trans-Saharan railway that would divert trade to Algeria.

Flatters argued that the French should therefore tolerate and regulate the trade in slaves, which was inevitable, so as to gain access to the interior.

[10] In 1879 he published a long article in the Revue historique titled Étude sur l'Afrique septentrionale des origines à l'invasion arabe.

[4] The Trans-Saharan expedition was appointed in 1879 by Charles de Freycinet, Minister of Public Works, to investigate construction of a railway across the Sahara.

[13] Flatters originally proposed a major expedition with more than 200 tirailleurs to provide strong protection, and was supported in this by the military members of the commission.

He was opposed by Henri Duveyrier, who had experience of army blundering and was convinced that only small and unobtrusive expeditions whose members adapted to local customs could succeed.

From Timassinin the expedition headed southeast along the Igharghar valley, and on 16 April 1880 encamped on shores of Lake Menghough on the fringe of the Tuareg of the Ajjer country.

With provisions running short and the local people showing hostility, Flatters decided to return by the same route.

[17] Pressed by Masson, who thought it necessary to save the expedition, on 27 April 1880 Flatters sent a letter to the Amenoukal of the Ahaggar Tuareg in which he promised to return the next winter.

There were also two French staff soldiers, Brame and Marjollet, 47 Algerian sharpshooters, 31 Arab volunteers who had formerly served in the army, 7 Chaamba guides and a Muslim mullah of the Tedjini order.

[18] This is the most southern point reached by the Romans, and the expedition saw the ruins of a monument raised by General Cornelius Balbo in 44 BC.

[19] The expedition went on from Sebkha, heading towards Asiou, an important point in the central Sahara from which Flatters hoped to reach the Sudan without difficulty.

[20] Before the expedition left Ouargla plans had been made to destroy it by the Kel Ahaggar Tuaregs of the Hoggar Mountains, the Awlad Sidi Shaykh confederation and the Senussi.

[19] However Flatters considered that Ahitagel ag Muhammad Biska, the Amenukal of the Kel Ahaggar, completely controlled the area and would ensure that no French were harmed in his land.

Half an hour after they found the well, Flatters and his men were surrounded by a large force of Tuaregs armed with lances and muzzle-loading muskets.

[22] Flatters, Masson, Beringer, Roche, Guiard and the expedition's commissary Deverny were killed, as were 30 camel drivers.

When they had lost all hope, a group of Tuaregs approached and offered to sell them milk, meat and dates at a high price.

[23] The wells at Amguid were guarded by a strong force of Tuaregs who were driven away after a fight in which de Dianous, Santin, Brame, Marjolet and 12 tirailleurs were killed.

[24] The first response when the news reached France was shock, followed by calls to punish the Ahaggar Tuareg and make greater efforts to colonize the Sahara.

[7] Some of the newspapers held Duveyrier partly to blame for the disaster with his opposition to military force and utterly inaccurate depiction of the "vicious, cruel and barbaric" Tuareg.