The prime minister at the time Pierre Mendes-France as well as the French public had no idea that the Algerians were not happy with their living conditions so the attacks came as a massive blow, they couldn’t understand their problem. He was an experienced man who was at the time negotiating the independence of Tunisia and Morocco. His aim was to restore peace and not to give in to the Algerian people. Jacques Soustell was appointed as governor of Algeria, he aimed to increase the number of Muslim servants, offer technical aid to Muslims, increase the number of French troops and try to gain support from the Algerian people, collaborators but mainly to introduce the idea of integration. The policy of increasing troops didn’t please the FLN, who took the increase as a threat, integration was also not on their agenda, they didn’t want to give up their religion and be French, they were proud of who they were and didn’t want to change, therefore they decided to step up their activities to gain more publicity and support.
The insurrection later turned into a revolution, the turning point of the independence movement.
In 1955 the FLN provoked the French army by carrying the war to the civilians, an attack was carried out in 36 centres of colonisation, targeting men women and children of all ages, 123 people were killed including 71 Europeans. The Europeans and Muslims became irreversible polarised. Soustell abolished the idea of integration and adapted a more hard line policy.
The pied-noirs wanted to keep French rule in Algeria as they had a good lifestyle and were scared of what might happen to them should the FLN take charge of the country, they back the army.
Neither of the two sides was willing to negotiate or back down, both sides firmly believed in what they were fighting for, making the war increasingly bloody and prolonged.
International opinion was going against the French, with the Americans opposed to empires and other countries appalled at the actions taken by the army.
In 1956 the FLN took dramatic action. The battle of Algiers was a terrorist attack carried out on the capital city of Algiers by the FLN. They had previously attacked villages, but had grown to realise that if any one was to take them seriously they would need to be more dramatic. To increase international and French attention to their struggle, the FLN decided to bring the conflict to the cities and also call a general strike timed to coincide with the UN debate on Algeria which was imposed on all Muslim workers.
The attack was launched on the 30th of September 1956. The FLN had started using women to carry weapons and carry out attacks, as the French were less suspicious of them. On the 30th September, 3 women all carrying bombs in their bags targeted 3 locations, the Air – France terminal, the fashionable milk bar, where a lot of ‘Pieds-Noirs’ were known to socialise and the place Bugeaud. They left their bags out of site, and left the area, moments later there were large explosions. The explosions killed 3 Europeans, and many escaped with injuries.
The 8 day strike which had been planned by the FLN had massive effects; the French took the opportunity to disrupt all the strikes by interfering with a massive force. People who were forming picket lines out side their buildings were forced at gun point to open up and resume business or risk being shot or arrested and tortured. This infuriated the Algerian people, many of them hadn’t wanted to join in the strike, but when they saw how the French reacted they wanted to join the cause. Previously they had not seen the full terror with which the French had reacted, but hundreds of people who refused to work were tortured. Women were raped, and men were beaten and electrocuted. General Jacques Massu was instructed to use whatever methods were necessary to restore order to the city, Massu, a frequent dealer with terrorism often fought back with terror. This reaction by the Army was seen all over the world and caused public out cry.
France was already in economic crisis after the two world wars had destroyed much of France and loss of men, with the war in Algeria intensifying and more young men being killed, people began to doubt whether it was worth holding on to Algeria.
However the French army were determined to keep it, and became increasingly distant from the government.
In 1958 De Gaulle, a well respected war hero came out of retirement to assume position as president, a decision popular with both the public and the Army, as they couldn’t see one of their own letting them down.
By 1958 fighting between the French army and the FLN had reached a stalemate, the reason behind de Gaulle being elected. However had the war not reached this point it could be argued that de Gaulle may not have been involved at all.
The new president had failed to understand the Algerians and couldn’t understand why they would want to be independent of France, he tried to use the integration technique again, but soon realised this was not what the FLN wanted.
In June 1960 de Gaulle invited the FLN to negotiate with the French to have a cease fire and a period of peace before granting their independence. This was a big decision to make, it angered the Army and the colons, and the FLN were not interested as he never set a date for independence. Instead of accepting de Gaulle’s offer the FLN decided to keep attacking to keep up momentum, as it could easily be lost if the people began to believe they would get their independence. On November the 4th 1960 De Gaulle announced the anticipation of a referendum in Algeria with the issue of self determination and it was clear he was in favour of independence for Algeria.
De Gaulle acted as a catalyst in the decolonisation of Algeria, which came as a tremendous shock to the army, who has thought that De Gaulle would fight with them. Many thought of him as a traitor, and numerous assassination attempts were made to get rid of him.
In 1961 the referendum was held, although the FLN boycotted it 75% vote for independence although only 60% of people voted.
The FLN was slowly becoming weaker at the hands of De Gaulle, and internal divisions began to take place. The leaders in prison were not affected by the splits, and Ben Bella was the man to hold the groups together.
The evian agreement was made to assure that settlers in Algeria would have the rights to dual citizenship and they would enjoy normal civil and political rights and their properties would be safe. Arguments were also taking place regarding who should own the sahara desert, De Gaulle finally broke the deadlock by announcing his willingness to give up the desert. The evian agreement called an immediate cease fire, which was not respected by the army’s OAS rebel group, who attacked yet more Algerians. The agreement also confirmed that Algeria and France would still trade with each other; with the signing of the Evian Agreement on April the 7th 1962 Algeria was granted its independence.
De Gaulle had broken the stalemate and negotiated a peaceful route to independence for the Algerians.
