Power networks constructed and
challenged
The case of France and Algeria
Precursors: Algerian politics
before the 1830s
 Diffuse
military-political power
 Ottoman
rule (very distant)
 Tribes and tribal confederations
 piracy
French colonial expansion

When




Initial French invasion, 1830; 1834 France annexation
Urban centers taken early, rural areas provide stiff resistance
Early resistance encourages French “pacification” effort; major
resistance only ends in 1870s
Why


Economic
Socio-political


Divert attention from domestic problems
“The old nations must have outlets in order to alleviate the demographic
pressures exerted on big cities and the use of the capital that has been
concentrated there. To open new sources of production is, in effect, the surest
means of neutralising this concentration without upsetting the social order…”


- Commission d’Afrique report on the pros and cons of French colonization in Africa,
1833
Strategic
How: Military Power

Massive French use of violence, scorched earth policies


regime du sabre (government of the sword)


Intense tribal resistance to colonization in countryside
By 1900 about 3 million Muslims have died through war and disease
Settler colonialism

Italian, French, Spanish working class and farmers; felons and
convicts
“After the Turkish authorities had disappeared…there was no day on which we
did not try to destroy the great families…because we found them to be
forces of resistance. We did not realize that in suppressing the forces of
resistance in this fashion, we were also suppressing our means of action.
The result is that we are today confronted by a sort of human dust on which
we have no influence and in which movements take place which are to us
unknown. We no longer have any authoritative intermediaries between
ourselves and the indigenous population.”

Jules Cambon, Gov. General in Algeria, reporting to the French Senate in 1894.
Quoted in William Quandt, Revolution and Political Leadership: Algeria, 19541968, p, 5
Who: The players

French government
(in France)
 Colons (settlers)
 The French public &
liberal critics

beni-oui-ouis:
Algerian “yes men”
 Algerian political
parties and rebel
groups




Liberals
Revolutionaries
Secular & Muslim
Ordinary people
Economic power

Colons/pied-noirs



Colonists hold about 30% arable land by
1900


About 10% of population
“Grand colons” and “petit blancs”
Rural colonization destroys traditional Algerian
society
Muslims pay higher taxes than colons

In 1909 Muslims produced 20 percent of Algeria's
income but paid 70 percent of direct taxes
Ideological power

French "civilizing mission"
 French schools in urban areas:




curriculum entirely French
Emergence of a class of évolués (literally, the
evolved ones) leads to rise in Algerian nationalism
Destruction/deterioration of indigenous Algerian
schools
Early generations of Algerian nationalists
sought full integration into France, not
independence
Political Power

Algerians given French citizenship- with many
restrictions

Nearly 200,000 Algerians serve in French forces in
WWI and WWII

French National Assembly
 Algerian Assembly after 1947


Bicameral, heavily rigged in favor of colons &
Algerian “yes men”
Continual struggle between mainland France
and Colons
From the interstices: challenges
to colonialism

Political challenges

Algerian rights and independence parties


Ideological challenges


Algerian nationalism
Military challenges


Underground cells after WWII
FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale)


Founded 1954
Algerian War of Independence, 1954-1962


Increasing clashes and protests after WWII
Half a million people die (mostly Algerians)
Algerian independence, 1962

Evian agreements