Algerian War of Independence
I | INTRODUCTION |
Algerian War of
Independence, liberation conflict of Algeria against France, which took
place over eight years between 1954 and 1962, culminating in the independence of
Algeria from French colonial rule in July 1962. It was the longest and most
bitter colonial war fought by a European power which, at its height, raised
passions that threatened the stability of France itself. The fighting was
characterized by the Algerian use of urban and rural guerrilla warfare,
coordinated by the Front de Libération Nationale (Algerian National Liberation
Front; FLN).
II | BACKGROUND TO WAR |
At the end of World War II, the V-E (Victory
in Europe) Day celebrations of May 8, 1945, were marred in Algeria by violent
demonstrations in the town of Sétif and the first Algerian attacks against
European settlers (or colons), of whom around 100 died. French
retributions for this uprising, resulting in the deaths of several thousand
Algerians, radicalized the approach of many Algerian nationalists towards
gaining independence from France. Attempts by Paris to implement more liberal
reforms were thwarted by the colons’ resistance and by Algerian
dissatisfaction.
The main Algerian political parties under
Messali Hadj and Ferhat Abbas had participated in French-organized elections
from the late 1940s. Pressures for more direct action, however, led to the
creation of a clandestine revolutionary group, the Organization Speciale (OS),
uncovered by the French in 1950. In March 1954, to plan for revolutionary
action, nine of the younger radical nationalists (later known as the historic
chiefs) formed the basic structures of what became the FLN.
III | THE OUTBREAK OF WAR |
On November 1, 1954, FLN committees
coordinated bomb attacks and assaults throughout Algeria. Almost immediately,
Paris sent military reinforcements to track down suspects in rural areas. Under
FLN command Algeria was divided into military zones, or wilayat, each
headed by a colonel. These were Wilaya I: the Aurès Mountains in northeastern
Algeria; II: the city of Constantine and the northeastern coastline; III: the
Berber region of Kabylia; IV: the capital Algiers; and V: the city of Oran and
western Algeria.
The first problem the FLN experienced in its
expansion was a shortage of arms. Additionally, in the harsh winter of 1954 to
1955, the leader of Wilaya II was killed and the Wilaya IV commanders were
imprisoned. In March 1956 another FLN colonel was killed by a booby-trapped
radio. During 1954 to 1956 the French strengthened security forces throughout
Algeria. Retaliations against Algerian villages were waged by both French
paratroop regiments and colons and were often indiscriminate. The FLN in turn
staged counterattacks, creating a climate of terror to pressure Algerians into
joining them. The French government, under intensified pressure from
colons, repeated assurances that Algeria would never be abandoned.
Nevertheless, a new French representative, Jacques Soustelle, was sent to
negotiate reforms with Algerian political moderates.
IV | 1955: THE PHILIPPEVILLE MASSACRES |
Until the summer of 1955, European civilians
had not been direct victims of the guerrillas, the main targets being
communications networks, public buildings, and Algerian officials working for
the French. On August 20, 1955, 80 FLN guerrillas of Wilaya II descended on a
suburb of the town of Philippeville (now Skikda) and killed an estimated 123
people, including women and children.
The French responded to the attack on a
civilian population by tracking down and killing up to 12,000 Algerians in the
Wilaya II region. The massacres polarized the European and Algerian communities.
Reformist Algerian politicians like Abbas, and Soustelle himself, thenceforth
renounced negotiations in favor of full confrontation.
V | 1956: THE SOUMMAM CONGRESS |
By 1956 the French military effort had become
more concentrated, following the French army’s withdrawal from Indochina and the
independence of Algeria’s neighbors Morocco and Tunisia from France. The FLN,
meanwhile, sought international support for its struggle, using Moroccan and
Tunisian territory from which to attack French positions.
The rapid expansion of the military wing of
the FLN made its coordination difficult. Disputes also arose between the
commanders in exile and new leaders, such as Ramdane Abane, emerging from FLN
ranks inside Algeria. On August 20, 1956, a secret congress of 20 FLN leaders
was convened in Soummam in Kabylia. This meeting restructured the military
forces as the National Liberation Army (ALN), and created the National Council
of the Algerian Revolution (CNRA) to represent broader FLN membership. More
controversially, it also accorded precedence to the “internal” FLN leadership
over the “externals.” In October 1956, however, five leaders-in-exile—including
Ahmed Ben Bella (later the first president of Algeria)—were captured and
imprisoned for the remainder of the war when the French hijacked their airplane
over northern Algeria.
VI | 1956-1957: THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS |
In September 1956 the ALN stepped up
guerrilla warfare within Algiers itself. Over the following months, Algerian
civilians planted bombs in French cafés and public places, which significantly
increased French civilian casualties. The French authorities arrested and
tortured large numbers of guerrilla suspects, many of whom died under
interrogation.
Ultimately, French forces tracked down most
of the guerrillas, ending the so-called Battle of Algiers in the summer of 1957.
The losses suffered by the FLN severely weakened the movement, but raised its
international profile. The main internal FLN leaders nevertheless fled to Tunis
to avoid arrest.
By September 1957, French construction of the
Morice Line sealed Algeria’s borders with Tunisia with an electric fence backed
up by artillery, isolating FLN guerrillas from their leaders. Before this, a
CNRA meeting in Cairo not only returned overall command to the external FLN
leaders, but also reorganized the FLN’s central committee to exclude
individualistic leaders like Abane, who was later killed in Morocco under
mysterious circumstances.
VII | 1958: DE GAULLE TAKES CONTROL |
The battles of 1958 shifted to the Morice
Line, while French reinforcements of 400,000 men gained the military upper hand
elsewhere. Politically, however, the cost of the war and its excesses were
losing popularity in France, where the Fourth Republic was in permanent
crisis.
In May 1958, French colons began their own
insurrection against weak French governments, creating a Committee of Public
Safety in Algiers, under a paratroop commander. In Paris, General Charles de
Gaulle was called to form a new government to save the situation.
In June 1958 in Algiers, de Gaulle reassured
the colons with the ambiguous phrase, “Je vous ai compris” (“I have understood
you”). His September 1958 proposals for greater Algerian integration into France
failed to address the colons’ fears. In September 1958 the FLN created its own
Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA), with Ferhat Abbas as
president. By 1959 de Gaulle realized the impossibility of a military solution.
He provoked colon anger by instead proposing a referendum for the
self-determination of Algerians.
VIII | 1960-1962: FROM POLITICAL CRISIS TO EVIAN ACCORDS |
With the tacit support of some paratroop
regiments, the colons attempted an uprising in Algiers in January 1960. It
failed when de Gaulle called the French army to order. Splits also appeared
again between FLN leaders. Some, like Abbas, were ready for the negotiations
offered by de Gaulle in June 1960. Unsuccessful talks took place in Paris,
followed by renewed attacks in Algiers which forced de Gaulle to state more
clearly in November 1960 his eventual intention to emancipate Algeria.
This proved too much for several French
generals. With hard-line colons, they formed the Secret Army Organization (OAS)
to mount a second rebellion in February 1961. This time, the rebels took hold of
Algiers and even threatened Paris. De Gaulle’s oratorical skills once again
quelled the dissidence, paving the way for a final political solution.
From late 1961, despite continuing
divisions, the FLN participated in secret negotiations with the French in Evian,
France, which culminated in a cease-fire agreement in March 1962. The Evian
Accords also provided for a referendum, held on July 1, 1962, in which the
majority of Algerians voted for independence. In the following months French
colons emigrated in large numbers, leaving Algeria under its first independent
president, Ahmed Ben Bella. On the Algerian side, the war had cost nearly
500,000 lives from a population of less than 9 million.
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