The Algerian War of Independence was the Algerian people revolution to achieve self-determination, sovereignty, and emancipation from France and its colonial government. This vicious armed struggle took place in Algeria, North Africa, and it began on November 1, 1954, with the FNL uprising, and ended on March 18, 1962, with the Évians Accords, which was signed between the French Government, under Charles de Gaulle, and the Provisional Government of the new Algerian Republic. The background to the war was the French conquest of Algeria, which had been turned into a colony in 1847, and the French-Indochina War, which boosted and encouraged the FNL (National Liberation Front) guerrillas to rise up in arms against the French.
On November 1, 1954, FNL guerrillas, known as 'maquisards', launched a series of attacks on military outposts and colonial government buildings, demanding recognition of Algerian independence. This first day of hostility was called 'Red All-Saints Day'. In response to these attacks, the French authorities adopted a series of measures for the immediate suppression of the uprising, which seemed to be spreading quickly. Thus, large units of the French Army were transferred to Algeria. In July 1955, the number of French troops in Algeria was brought to 400,000 men. French troops dealt cruelly with the peaceful population that did not take part in the rebellion, destroying villages and carrying out mass deportations of the inhabitants in an attempt to isolate them from the rebels.
Despite the superior forces that the colonialists threw into battle against the rebels, the uprising gradually spread over all of Algeria. The urban petite bourgeoisie, the proletariat, and the students followed the poor peasants of the mountain regions in supporting it. Solidarity with the moujahedes (the fighters of the Army of National Liberation -ALN- established in late 1954) assumed various forms: mass anti-colonial strikes, the collection of money, clothes, and medicine for the insurgents, and boycott campaigns against the colonial authorities. Urban underground workers (the fedayeen) and auxiliary fighters (the mousabili) operated actively, carrying out anti-colonial terror and acts of sabotage against the aggressor’s rear guard. During 1955–56 almost all the nationalist parties dissolved themselves and joined the FLN. The trade unions, created in the mid-1950’s, and mass national organizations of students, merchants, and other groups rendered broad support to the FLN. The uprising gradually developed into an anti-colonial national-democratic revolution.
The heavy losses they suffered fighting against the French did not discourage the Algerians as they kept fighting fiercely. This convinced the French of the failure of the military suppression of the national liberation movement in Algeria. Thus, the French government recognized the rights of the Algerian people to self-determination in September 1959. However, the war continued because of the pressure of colonialist reaction in Algeria and France that organized ultra-colonialist mutinies in Algeria against the FNL and the French government (the revolt of the European “seigneurs” in January 1960 and the mutiny of pro-fascist military leaders in April 1961). Only after the suppression of these rebellions did negotiations begin between the government of France and the rebel Provisional Government.
Évians Accords and the end of hostilities
Both parties successfully ended the peace negotiation with the signing of an agreement at Évians on March 18, 1962, providing for a cease-fire, the self-determination of Algeria by means of a referendum, and future economic and cultural collaboration between Algeria and France. Thus, the Evians Accords put an end to the Algerian War of Independence. It was Charles de Gaulle himself who had personally recognized the independence of the new country before the negotiation began. Therefore, France pledged to withdraw its troops from Algeria within three years (they were withdrawn in 1964) and to evacuate its military bases in the Sahara within five years (they were evacuated by July 1, 1967); within 15 years, France’s military and naval base at Marsa-al-Kabir was to be evacuated. (In February 1968, nine years ahead of schedule, evacuation of this military base was completed).
Casualties
It is estimated that some 70,000 French and loyal Muslim soldiers got killed, along with 4,100 European civilians. On the other hand, the Algerian guerrillas lost around 170,000 men, while 60,000 native people died during the war.
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| Above, ALN (the armed branch of the FNL) guerrillas armed with M24/29 machine guns. |
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| Two women of the ALN checking their weapons. |
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| French Legion soldiers pose with ALN prisioners and their weapons. |