Decolonization Case Study: Algeria
World History, Culture, and Geography
In the constitution of the 1946 Fourth Republic, Algeria was considered to be a
department of France, with the same legal status as a province inside of France, and not
just a colony. Roughly one million people of French ancestry lived in Algeria, among a
population of about ten million Arabs, Berbers, M'zabs, Khabylie, etc. The two groups
were divided by land ownership, religion, legal system and language.
Because France had envisioned Algeria as a permanent part of the French nation, they
invested much more in education and infrastructure, and there was a higher percentage
of westernized Algerian elites than in sub-Saharan French Africa. French Premier Pierre
Mendes-France set the tone of the French response when he declared, “One does not
compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, the unity and
integrity of the Republic. The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic.
They have been French for a long time, and they are irrevocably French… Between
them and metropolitan France there can be no separation.”
Starting in 1944, Algerian nationalists started to openly push for an end to colonialism,
the creation of a federation of independent Algeria and France, and the end to special
privileges held by white settlers. In 1954 the guerrillas of the National Liberation Front
(FLN) launched attacks against military outposts, police posts, and other targets
controlled by the French government.
In 1956 representatives of the various rebel groups, including the FLN, met and formed
the National Council of the Algerian Revolution (CNRA). They then created military
ranks and placed participants in the uprising into three categories, mujahidin
(combatants), musabilin (partisans), or fidayin (terrorists). During that same year, they
broadened their attacks to include the French civilian population.
The French government responded to the revolt with force, committing over 400,000
troops to Algeria. By 1958 most of the urban cells of the FLN were destroyed. However,
in the fight in the rural and mountainous regions of Algeria intensified. The FLN
conducted a brutal campaign that the French countered with a massive show of military
force that included aerial bombardments. Resettlement camps were established to
isolate people thought to be supporting the rebels. Over two million Algerians were
forced from their homes between 1957 – 60.
In 1958, public opinion in France became so divided over Algeria that there was an
attempt by army generals to overthrow the government. Instead, Charles De Gaulle
agreed to take charge and called for a new constitution. The result was the Fifth
Republic which, among other things, redefined the relationship between France and the
African colonies.
As the political will weakened in Paris, the military suppression of the rebels began to
see real gains. By the end of 1959, the French army was the closest it would get to a
complete military victory. However, due to mounting domestic and international
pressure, DeGaulle made a dramatic shift in French policy by suggesting Algeria had a
right to “self determine.” Fearful of being abandoned by the French government, the
French colonists with the support of some members of the French army staged
insurrections that were immediately put down.
An agreement between the Algerian nationalists and the French government
temporarily protected the rights of the colonists for a three-year period. After which,
the colonists could either return to France or seek Algerian citizenship. Many had
already fled the fighting and many more would leave in the upcoming years.
On July 1, 1962, some six million Algerians voted for independence. On July 5, Algeria
officially declared its independence from France. The FLN military officers became the
rulers of independent Algeria in 1962.
The French have estimated over 350,000 were killed during the revolution while
Algerian sources put the total around 1.5 million. Millions of others were forced from
their homes or escaped Algeria to neighboring Morocco and Tunisia.