The Algerian War

Just like English settlers in East and Southern Africa, French settlers in Algeria behaved as if they could do anything they wanted. They controlled the government; thus, they held all the social, political, and economic privileges. By 1940, settlers had expropriated almost a third of the fertile land, even though they only made up 2 percent of the population.

Algerians experienced extreme deprivation under colonial rule. They starved; were denied education, political power or voice; and they were forced to speak French and legally denied the right to speak their native Arabic. (The issue of language became a particular sore point among Africans in all the colonies. In later years, African writers produced novels in their own language, a distinct form of protest against colonialism.)

For years, leaders of Algerian nationalism strove peacefully for independence, which led simply to greater repression. In 1954, a new generation of nationalists chose to react violently by forming the secret Front of National Liberation (FLN) and beginning a war for independence.

Though small initially, the FLN gradually gained popular support, defeating French troops for two years. However, when the French reinforced its troops and adopted anti-guerrilla tactics in late 1956, the war turned in France's favor.

Algerian nationalist leaders fled to Tunisia while the French tried to break all contact between leaders inside the country and those outside. They built electric fences along the Algeria/Tunisia border, laid more than a million landmines along the fence, and reinforced French troops to 700,000 men.

By 1960, France had almost destroyed the FLN. But the FLN enjoyed mass support and France could not gain control of the country. French politicians debated whether it was morally just to continue the war. Eventually, President Charles de Gaulle offered the FLN a cease-fire, without independence, in 1959, an offer the FLN promptly rejected.

The war continued and might eventually have been settled in France's favor if it weren't for the settlers. They had lost confidence in French support and organized a rebellion against France. Their terrorism against French troops led to France's acceptance of Algerian independence in July 1962.

Over the course of the eight year war, more than a million Algerians died.

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