The brutal treatment of the inhabitants was part of the scorched earth tactic of the French army and one of the first instances of recorded use of chemical weapon on civilians.

[citation needed] The level of brutality of the massacre of Laghouat was a show of force as well as part of the long scorched earth tactic of the three French generals that took the fortified city.

By ordering the massacre of the population,[citation needed] the French were eyeing all the remaining Saharian territories beyond Laghouat.

During the battle of Laghouat several tribes and other city republics and fortresses delivered help to try to stop the advance of the French, namely Ghardaïa (and therefore the whole of the Mozabite confederation), Metlili, and Ouargla.

A few months after Laghouat, on 29 April 1853, general Randon, the French governor of Algeria, signed a treaty of protectorate with the nobles of the cities of M'zab, known in France as the capitulation of the Mzab.