The first anti-French actions of the Arabs took place almost immediately after the end of World War II. At first they were single demonstrations, which eventually turned into a guerrilla war. The colonial war in Algeria was one of the most brutal of its kind.
How it all started
Even at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Algeria was part of the Ottoman Empire, and in 1711 became an independent pirate, military republic. Domestically, bloody coups were constantly carried out, and foreign policy was a slave trade and pirate raids. Their activity was so active that even the English-speaking countries tried to neutralize the pirates by military action. But after the defeat of Napoleon in the Mediterranean, the Algerian raids were resumed. Then the French authorities decided to solve the problem radically - to conquer Algeria.
In 1830, the French landing corps landed oncoasts of northern Africa. After a short occupation, the capital of Algeria was taken. The conquerors explained this fact by the need to get rid of the rulers of Turkey. And the diplomatic conflict that took place three years earlier (the French ambassador was hit with a fly swatter from the Algerian bey) served as a pretext for taking the city. In fact, the French authorities decided in such a way to rally the army, which would serve as assistance in asserting the restored power of Charles X. But the calculation turned out to be wrong, and the ruler was soon overthrown. But this did not prevent the French from seizing the rest of the territory of the state. Thus began the occupation of Algeria, which lasted more than one hundred and thirty years.
Golden Age of Colonization
At the beginning of this period, pockets of uprisings, initiated by the local population, broke out in different parts of the country, but they were quickly suppressed. And by the middle of the century, France declared Algeria its territory, ruled by the governor-general and divided into departments headed by prefects.
During the active colonization, French citizens were not the majority, the Portuguese, Spaniards, M altese, Italians moved here. Even Russian white émigrés who fled the civil revolution moved to Algeria. The Jewish community of the country also joined here. This Europeanization was actively encouraged by the metropolitan government.
The Arabs called the first colonists "black-footed" because of the black leather boots they wore. Those with whom Algeria is at war have modernized the country, built hospitals, highways, schools, railways. Somerepresentatives of the local population could study the culture, language and history of France. Thanks to their business activities, the French-Algerians within a short time achieved a higher level of well-being compared to the natives.
Despite the small proportion of the population, they dominated all major aspects of the life of the state. It was a cultural, managerial and economic elite.
The national economy of Algeria and the welfare of local Muslims in this period have grown markedly. According to the code of conduct of 1865, the local population remained a subject of Islamic law, but at the same time, the natives could be recruited into the French army and could receive the citizenship of this country. But in fact, the last procedure was very complicated, so by the middle of the last century only thirteen percent of the natives of Algeria became French subjects. The rest had the citizenship of the French Union and could not work in a number of state institutions and hold high positions.
In the army there were divisions consisting of Algerians - spagi, tyralliers, camps, goums. As part of the French armed forces, they fought in the First and Second World Wars, and then in the wars in Indochina and Algeria.
After the First World War, some intellectuals began to spread the ideas of self-government and independence.
National Liberation Front. Start of the fight
By the end of World War II, about a million French people, only a fifth of whom were purebred, inhabited Algeria. It is to themowned both the most fertile lands and power in the country. High government positions and voting rights were not available to indigenous people.
Despite more than a century of capture, the Algerian war for independence began to flare up. Initial single promotions became increasingly successful. The occupying authorities reacted to the rebellion in the small town of Setif, which provoked riots throughout the country, with terrible punitive actions. These events made it clear that the peaceful return of their rights to the Algerians is impossible.
In such a struggle, a group of young Algerians took the lead, creating several underground groups that had bases throughout the country. Later they united, and as a result of such a merger, the largest movement fighting for the independence of Algeria arose. It was called the National Liberation Front.
Over time, the Algerian Communist Party also joined him. The basis of these partisan detachments were Algerians who received combat experience during the Second World War, former employees of the French army. The leaders of the Front were going to declare in the international arena their right to self-determination, while counting on the support of the countries of the communist bloc and the Arab states, as well as the UN.
The territory of the Ores mountain range was chosen as the main field of activity of the rebels, as it was a shelter from government troops. The highlanders more than once raised uprisings against French domination, so the leadership of the movement hoped fortheir help.
Preconditions for the Algerian War of Independence
After the end of the First World War, the national liberation movement began to spread around the world. A global reorganization of the world political system has begun. Algeria after World War II became part of this modernization.
English-speaking countries, as well as North Africa and Spain, have embarked on an anti-French policy.
Another prerequisite was the population explosion and the problems of socio-economic inequality. During the golden age of French Algeria, there was a general increase in the economy and prosperity, he alth care and education improved, and internal strife stopped. As a result, the Islamic population tripled during this time period. Because of this population explosion, there was an acute shortage of agricultural land, much of which was controlled by large European plantations. This problem has led to increased competition for other limited resources of the country.
A large number of young men who received extensive combat experience in World War II. Due to the fact that tens of thousands of inhabitants of the colonies of this country served in the French army, the white gentlemen were rapidly losing their authority. Subsequently, such soldiers and sergeants formed the backbone of various nationalist organizations, anti-colonial armies, partisan and patriotic (illegal and legal) units.
The reason for the conduct of the colonial war in Algeria was the formal inclusion of it in themetropolis, so its loss would have a negative impact on the prestige of the country. In addition, a large number of immigrants were present in this Arab country. In addition, oil deposits were discovered in the south of the territory.
Unrest turned into war
In October 1954, the TNF launched a storm of activity to create a network of clandestine workshops for the production of explosive devices. The guerrillas secretly received firearms, repeating rifles from the First World War, weapons lost by the Americans during the landings in North Africa, and much more.
The partisans chose the eve of All Saints' Day as the date for the start of the war in Algeria, and it was then that the decisive moment for the uprising came. Seven attacks were carried out in different parts of the country. This was done by about seven hundred rebels, who wounded four and killed seven Frenchmen. Due to the fact that the number of rebels was small, and the weapons left much to be desired, the French authorities did not see the beginning of the war in this attack.
The partisans were determined to force the Europeans to leave the territory under threat of death. Such appeals surprised those who for several generations considered themselves full-fledged Algerians.
On the night of the first of November was a pretty convenient date to start the war in Algeria. By that time, France had survived occupation and humiliating defeat, defeat in Vietnam and an unpopular war in Indochina. The most combat-ready troops have not yet been evacuated from Southeast Asia. But the military forces of the TNF wereinsignificant and amounted to only a few hundred fighters, which is why the war took on a guerrilla character, and not open.
At first, the French colonial war in Algeria was inactive, the fighting was not large-scale. The number of rebels did not allow clearing the territory of Europeans and organizing significant military operations. The first major battle took place less than a year after the official start of the war in Algeria. In Philippeville, the rebels slaughtered several dozen people, including Europeans. Franco-Algerian militias, in turn, massacred thousands of Muslims.
The situation changed in favor of the rebels after the independence of Tunisia and Morocco, where rear bases and training camps were established.
Combat tactics
The rebels of Algeria adhered to the tactics of waging war with little bloodshed. They attacked convoys, small units and fortifications of the colonialists, destroyed bridges and communication lines, terrorized people for helping the French, introduced Sharia norms.
Government troops used quadrillage tactics, which consisted of dividing Algeria into squares. Each of them was responsible for certain departments. Elite units - paratroopers and the Foreign Legion throughout the country conducted counter-guerrilla operations. The helicopters used for the transfer of formations significantly increased the mobility of these units.
At the same time, in the war between France and Algeria, the colonialists launched a successful information campaign. Special administrative sections urged residentsremote areas to maintain the loy alty of France by making contact with them. To defend the villages from the rebels, Muslims were recruited into the Harke detachments. A major conflict was provoked in the TNF due to planted information about the betrayal of the leaders and commanders of the movement.
Terror. Change of tactics
Later in the Algerian War of Independence, the rebels deployed tactics of urban terrorism. Almost every day, French-Algerians were killed, bombs exploded. The colonists and the French responded with acts of retaliation, from which the innocent often suffered. In this way, the rebels aroused the hatred of Muslims towards the French and drew attention to the world community, receiving help from the Arab states and the countries of the communist bloc.
In the colonizing country, these events led to a change of government, headed by Prime Minister Guy Molay. His policy was to win the war in Algiers first, and only then carry out reforms there.
As a result, the size of the army contingent increased significantly, resulting in a nationwide level of fighting. At first, this growth was achieved due to veterans returning from Indochina, but then one of the most combat-ready units of France, the so-called Foreign Legion, appeared.
The most important site of the struggle was the Algerian capital, where Yazef Saadi, one of the leaders of the FLN, was tasked with unrelenting terror. Its purpose was to discredit the French government. The city plunged into chaos with ubiquitouskillings and constant explosions.
Immediately followed by the response of the French, who staged a rattonage, which is a beating of the Arabs. As a result of such actions, about three thousand Muslims are considered missing.
Major Ossares and General Massu, responsible for restoring order in the capital, fenced the Muslim population of the city with barbed wire and imposed a curfew.
Formally, the TNF lost this battle, and Yazef Saadi was captured, and most of the militants took refuge in Morocco and Tunisia. The French authorities took measures to isolate the country. They blocked air routes and intercepted ships, and a high fence of barbed wire under high voltage (5000 volts), observation towers and minefields was erected on the Tunisian border.
Because of such actions, the rebels had an acute question about the existence of partisan detachments due to the catastrophic lack of ammunition and weapons.
But at this time, France's colonial war in Algiers became unpopular due to economic and social difficulties in the mother country. This caused a decrease in the level of support for the government, while in the colonial country the Blackfoot considered all plans to change course as a betrayal. They captured its capital and declared their state of emergency government there.
The army contingent supported him. The leaders of the FLN, in turn, proclaimed the creation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Algeria, supported by the Arab countries.
At this time, Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle came to power,raids to search for rebel groups. Half of them were destroyed.
Change of course of the metropolis
Despite the successes in the French war in Algeria, the leaders of the mother country could not work out a political solution to end the conflict. The Prime Minister insisted on preserving the commonality between the two peoples and granting equal civil rights to Muslims and the French, he planned to hold a referendum on granting independence to the Arab country.
The underground, in turn, stopped all overt hostilities, seeking to show the world that the FLN remained undefeated. The international arena supported Algeria in its quest for self-determination, and Front agitators tried to quarrel France with the allies by condemning the actions of the French in the colony.
The metropolitan army split in two. Most of it did not support the policy of capitulation of the current government. Nevertheless, it was decided to start negotiations.
A year later, the result of the war in Algeria 1954-1962. the Evian Accords ended all attempts by the French to hold onto the colonies. Under the terms of the agreement, the new authorities were to ensure the safety of the Europeans for three years. But they did not believe the promises, and most of them hastily left the country.
The fate of the Algerians, who supported the French during the war, was the most tragic. They were forbidden to emigrate from the country, which contributed to the brutal arbitrariness of the TNF, which exterminated people by entire families.
Aftermath of the 1954 Algerian War
More than half a million people, most of them Arabs, died in this eight-year battle for independence. Despite their success in fighting the rebels, the French were forced to leave this colony. Almost until the end of the last century, the metropolitan authorities refused to call the events a war.
Only in 2001, General Paul Ossaress recognized the fact of executions and torture carried out with the permission of the authorities of the colonialists.
Doomed to failure was the aim of the French to maintain their dominance in Algeria without resorting to radical changes in its political system. The consequences of the French war in Algeria are still felt today.
According to the Evian Accords, access to the European country was opened for Algerian guest workers, who later turned into second-class citizens who settled on the outskirts of large cities.
The fact that the historical conflict between France and Algerian Muslims has not been settled to this day is evidenced by regular riots on the territory of the former metropolis.
Armed conflict
The civil war in Algeria began in the last decade of the last century due to the conflict between the country's government and Islamist groups.
During the elections to the National Assembly, the Islamic Salvation Front, which is in opposition, turned out to be more popular with the people than the ruling FLN party. The latter, fearing defeat, decided to cancel the second round. Due to the arrest of members of the FIS and itsprohibition, armed formations arose (the largest are the Armed Islamic Group and the Islamic Armed Movement), which began guerrilla actions against the government itself and its supporters.
The number of victims of this conflict, according to various sources, amounted to about two hundred thousand people, of which more than seventy journalists were killed by both sides of the fighting.
After negotiations, the FIS and the government were the first to announce the end of partisan activities, the GIA declared war on them and their adherents. After the presidential elections in the country, the conflict intensified, but eventually ended with the victory of the armed forces of the government.
After that, the Salafi preaching and Jihad group based in the north of the country, which distanced itself from the extermination of civilians, deviated from the Armed Islamic Group.
The next presidential election resulted in a law guaranteeing amnesty. As a result, a large number of combatants took advantage of it, and the violence decreased significantly.
But all the same, the special services of neighboring states discovered extremist bases for recruiting, training and arming volunteers. The leader of one of these organizations was handed over to the Algerian authorities by Libyan President Gaddafi in 2004.
The last civil war in Algeria in 1991-2002 was reminded for a long time by the preserved state of emergency.
Armed operations continue at the present time, although their intensity is rather low. In spite ofa significant decrease in the number of attacks by extremists, they have become defiant, and are not limited to explosions of improvised bombs. Terrorists are shelling police stations and embassies, attacking cities.
