The Algerian War of Independence
– POSSIBLE CAUSES
Whilst one can say that it started in 1954, one could argue that
one of the causes of the war was that in 1952, the French gave
up their colonial control of Tunisia and Morocco.
LONG TERM CAUSE: Imperialism and in this case
Colonialism.
SHORT TERM
1945
French defeat in 2 wars and at Dien Bien PHu
1952
Granting of Independence to Tunisia and Morrocco.
Algerian Naitoanlist movement
UDMA – autonomy within the French state.
ULEMA wanted Islamic republic
MTLD – hybrid. This gave rise to the FLN (Ahmed ben Bella)
Econcmic greviances
Outsid einfluences
NOVEMBER 1 1954
AUGUST 1955 Philipeville (collective responsibility)
Indeed, the main cause was colonialism that began in 1830.
During the early part of the colonial period, camps were used
mostly to forcibly remove Arabs, Berbers and Turks from
fertile areas of land and replace them by primarily French,
Spanish, and Maltese settlers. It has been estimated that from
1830 to 1900, between 15 and 25% of the Algerian population
died in such camps.
Post war civil war could be put down to FLN and MNA
(Mouvement National Algerien) which was supported mainly
by Algerian workers in France).
One could argue that one cause was religion – the desire of the
FLN to assert Islamic values throughout the body politic, a
desire intensified and fundamentalised by the evident
injustices of colonialism.
The FLN’s first proclamations spoke of the "restoration of the
Algerian state, sovereign, democratic, and social, within the
framework of the principles of Islam."
So it was not just inspired by socialist or communist
principles. (interesting that it was not swept up in the Cold
war, or was it?)
Another cause of the war could be a failure of French
diplomacy. Francois Mitterand, the socialist minister of
interior at the time, when faced with these demands, replied
“the only possible negotiation is war”.
Similarly, the French president took a hard line when, on
November 12th 1954, he addressed the National Assembly and
said “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 conceivable secession."
Yet this exposed something of a contradiction. For it was
Mendes who had overseen, just a few months earlier, the
liquidation of France's empire in Indochina
Given that they had withdrawn from Tunisia and Morocco,
how could they possibly justify keeping Algerian French?