ALGERIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

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).

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 n

ationalists 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.