An outline, era by era

Algerian War of Independence

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

The Algerian War of Independence (1954 to 1962) was fought between France and the Algerian nationalist National Liberation Front (FLN) for control of Algeria, which France had conquered from 1830 and ruled as part of its national territory. Around a million European settlers lived beside a Muslim Arab and Berber majority that had far fewer political and economic rights.

The war began on 1 November 1954 with coordinated FLN attacks. It combined guerrilla fighting, urban terrorism, mass French military operations, torture, forced resettlement and a bitter conflict among Algerians themselves. It ended with the Evian Accords of March 1962 and independence on 5 July 1962. The war brought down the French Fourth Republic, shaped the Fifth, caused very heavy Algerian losses and led to the departure of most European settlers and the exile or killing of many Algerians who had served France. It became a model for anticolonial struggle elsewhere.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The French conquest and the colonial order

    Event

    What happened

    In 1830 France lands an army at Sidi Fredj and takes Algiers. Resistance, notably under Emir Abd al-Qadir, lasts until 1847, and fighting in some regions continues for decades. In 1848 northern Algeria is declared part of France and organised into departments, and European settlement is encouraged.

    The rest is history

    Land was taken for settlers, and most Muslims were subjects under a separate legal code. Only a few gained French citizenship, and the Crémieux decree of 1870 granted it collectively to Algerian Jews. This unequal system produced the grievances that nationalists later cited. By 1954 Algeria was legally French but politically divided between citizens and subjects.

    Sources

    1. BookRuedy, John. Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.
    2. BookHorne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. London: Macmillan, 1977.

  2. The Sétif and Guelma massacres of 1945

    Event

    What happened

    On 8 May 1945, as Europe celebrates victory, nationalist marches at Sétif and nearby towns turn violent. Attackers kill around a hundred Europeans. French troops, police and settler militias respond with widespread reprisals in Sétif, Guelma and the countryside.

    The rest is history

    Estimates of Algerian deaths vary widely, from official French figures of a few thousand to Algerian claims of tens of thousands, and historians generally say many thousands. The repression convinced many nationalists that reform was futile and that armed struggle was necessary. It is widely seen as an important step toward the 1954 uprising. France has acknowledged the events with official statements of regret.

    Sources

    1. BookHorne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. London: Macmillan, 1977.
    2. BookEvans, Martin, and John Phillips. Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

  3. The rise of Algerian nationalism and the FLN

    Event

    What happened

    Between the wars, movements such as Messali Hadj's Étoile Nord-Africaine, Ferhat Abbas's reformists and the Muslim religious scholars of Ben Badis press for rights or independence. After the 1947 Statute of Algeria proves ineffective, younger militants of the Organisation Spéciale form the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action in 1954. In October 1954 it becomes the National Liberation Front.

    The rest is history

    On 1 November 1954, the FLN launched attacks across Algeria and issued a proclamation calling for independence. At first it had few fighters and weapons. It later absorbed or crushed rival movements, notably Messali Hadj's followers, in a bloody internal conflict. This struggle for leadership shaped the later Algerian state.

    Sources

    1. BookStora, Benjamin. Algeria, 1830-2000: A Short History. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
    2. PrimaryProclamation of the National Liberation Front (FLN). Issued 1 November 1954.

  4. The Battle of Algiers, 1956 to 1957

    Event

    What happened

    In 1956 and 1957 the FLN carries out bombings and shootings in Algiers, including attacks on cafés. In January 1957 the government gives General Jacques Massu's paratroopers police powers in the city. They dismantle the FLN network by arrests, interrogation and systematic torture.

    The rest is history

    The French won the battle militarily by late 1957, but at a heavy moral and political cost. Revelations of torture, publicised by figures such as Henri Alleg in La Question (1958), turned opinion in France and abroad against the war. The FLN's leadership moved outside Algeria. The battle became a symbol of the dilemmas of counterinsurgency.

    Sources

    1. BookAlleg, Henri. La Question. Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1958.
    2. BookHorne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. London: Macmillan, 1977.

  5. Resettlement camps and the Challe offensive

    Event

    What happened

    From 1955 the French army moves rural populations into camps de regroupement, and builds electrified frontier barriers, the Morice Line, along the Tunisian and Moroccan borders. In 1959 and 1960 General Maurice Challe launches large offensives against FLN units inside Algeria.

    The rest is history

    Millions of Algerians were displaced, with severe hardship in the camps. The barriers and offensives badly weakened the FLN's internal fighters. Yet the army's military success did not produce a political solution. The FLN's diplomacy and its provisional government, formed in 1958, kept the cause alive internationally.

    Sources

    1. BookHorne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. London: Macmillan, 1977.
    2. BookMacMaster, Neil. Colonial Migrants and Racism: Algerians in France, 1900-62. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997.

  6. The crisis of May 1958 and de Gaulle's return

    Event

    What happened

    On 13 May 1958, settlers and army officers in Algiers seize government buildings and demand a government committed to keeping Algeria French. Fearing a coup, French politicians turn to Charles de Gaulle. He becomes prime minister in June and, under a new constitution, president of the Fifth Republic in December 1958.

    The rest is history

    De Gaulle visited Algeria and said 'Je vous ai compris' to the crowd at Algiers. In September 1959 he offered self-determination. This offended settlers and parts of the army, leading to the barricades week of January 1960 and the failed generals' putsch of April 1961. The collapse of the Fourth Republic is closely tied to the war.

    Sources

    1. BookJackson, Julian. De Gaulle. London: Haus, 2003.
    2. BookHorne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. London: Macmillan, 1977.

  7. The Evian Accords and independence

    Event

    What happened

    After secret and public talks, France and the FLN's provisional government sign the Evian Accords on 18 March 1962, and a ceasefire follows the next day. In the referendum in France in April, voters approve the accords overwhelmingly. In a vote in Algeria on 1 July 1962, voters choose independence, and it is proclaimed on 5 July.

    The rest is history

    The settler and army underground OAS carried out terror attacks in a last effort to block the settlement. Most of about a million Europeans left in 1962, and tens of thousands of harkis, Algerians who served France, were killed or abandoned, with many others resettled in France. Total war deaths remain debated, with Algerian figures far higher than French ones, and historians usually say several hundred thousand. Ahmed Ben Bella became the first prime minister and then president.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryEvian Accords. Agreement between France and the FLN, 18 March 1962.
    2. BookEvans, Martin. Algeria: France's Undeclared War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

  8. Algeria as a French 'internal affair'

    Event

    What happened

    In November 1954 the French government answers the first attacks by stating that Algeria is France and that the matter is internal. Interior Minister François Mitterrand says the only negotiation is war. The government avoids calling the conflict a war, and in 1956 conscripts and reservists are sent to Algeria.

    The rest is history

    French law described the conflict as 'operations to maintain order' until 1999, when the National Assembly officially recognised the 'guerre d'Algérie'. Around two million French conscripts served. The long silence about the war, especially on torture, shaped French memory and politics. Debate over its legacy continues in both countries.

    Sources

    1. BookEvans, Martin. Algeria: France's Undeclared War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
    2. BookStora, Benjamin. La gangrène et l'oubli: la mémoire de la guerre d'Algérie. Paris: La Découverte, 1991.

  9. The belief that France fought a clean war it simply lost

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Some tell the war as one the French army won on the ground, and that politicians in Paris threw away a military victory. In this account the army's success in Algiers and against the FLN's internal units was undone by weak leaders.

    The rest is history

    The army did defeat much of the FLN's armed force inside Algeria by 1959 to 1960. But the war was also political, diplomatic and moral. International pressure at the United Nations, divisions in France, the cost of the conflict and the FLN's survival abroad mattered. The use of torture and mass displacement also damaged French legitimacy. Most historians conclude that military success could not secure a lasting political outcome against a mobilised majority.

    Sources

    1. BookHorne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. London: Macmillan, 1977.
    2. BookEvans, Martin. Algeria: France's Undeclared War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

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