March 19, 2012 is a memorable date for Algeria and France - 50 years since the end of a long and bloody war. On March 18, 1962, in the French city of Evian-les-Bains on the shores of Lake Geneva, a ceasefire agreement was signed (from March 19) between France and the Algerian Liberation Front. In addition, the agreement provided for a referendum in Algeria on independence and its recognition by France, if approved by the Algerians.
The war lasted from 1954 to 1962 and became one of the most brutal anti-colonial wars. The Algerian War was one of the most important events in the history of France in the second half of the 20th century, becoming the main reason for the fall of the Fourth Republic, two coups in the army and the emergence of a secret ultranationalist organization "Secret Army Organization" (OAS - French Organization de l'armée secrète). This organization proclaimed that "Algeria belongs to France - so it will be in the future", and tried by terror to force Paris to refuse to recognize the independence of Algeria. The culmination of the activities of this organization was the assassination attempt on President Charles de Gaulle on August 22, 1962. An additional acuteness to the conflict was made by the fact that the Algerian territory, according to the current legislation, was an integral part of France, and therefore a significant part of French society initially perceived the events in Algeria as a rebellion and a threat to the country's territorial integrity (the situation was aggravated by the presence of a significant percentage of French Algerians, pied noir - “"That were part of European civilization). Until now, the events of 1954-1962 are perceived in France extremely ambiguously, for example, only in 1999 the National Assembly officially recognized the hostilities in Algeria as a "war" (until that time the term "restoration of public order" was used). Now part of the right-wing movement in France believes that the people who fought to "restore order" in Algeria were right.
This war was characterized by partisan actions and anti-partisan operations, urban terrorism, the struggle of various Algerian groups not only with the French, but also among themselves. Both sides committed massacres. In addition, there was a significant split in French society.
Background to the conflict
Algeria from the beginning of the 16th century was part of the Ottoman Empire, in 1711 it became an independent military (pirate) republic. Internal history was distinguished by constant bloody coups, and foreign policy - by pirate raids and the slave trade. After the defeat of Napoleon (during the wars with the French genius, significant naval forces of the advanced European powers were constantly in the Mediterranean), the Algerians again resumed their raids. Their activities were so active that even the United States and Britain carried out military operations to neutralize the pirates. In 1827, the French tried to blockade the coast of Algeria, but the idea failed. Then the French government decided to get rid of the problem in a radical way - to conquer Algeria. Paris equipped a real armada of 100 military and 357 transport ships, which transported an expeditionary force of 35 thousand people. The French captured the city of Algeria, and then other coastal cities. But it was more difficult to capture the internal regions, in order to solve this problem, the French command applied the principle of "divide and rule". First, we agreed with the nationalist movement in Kabylia and focused on the destruction of the pro-Ottoman forces. By 1837, after the capture of Constantine, the pro-Ottoman forces were defeated and the French turned their attention to the nationalists. Finally, Algeria was captured by 1847. Since 1848, Algeria was declared part of France, divided into departments headed by prefects and a French governor-general. The territory of Algeria was divided into three overseas departments - Algeria, Oran and Constantina. Later, there was a series of uprisings, but the French successfully suppressed them.
The active colonization of Algeria begins. Moreover, the French among the colonists were not the majority - among them were the Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese and Maltese. After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, many Frenchmen came to Algeria from the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, who were handed over to Germany. Moved to Algeria and Russian White émigrés who fled during the Civil War from Russia. The Jewish community of Algeria also joined the Franco-Algerian group. The French administration encouraged the process of "Europeanization" of Algeria, for this a network of educational and cultural institutions was created, which served all spheres of life of new migrants and allowed them to quickly rally into a single French-speaking Christian ethnocultural community. Thanks to their higher cultural, educational level, government support and business activity, Franco Algerians quickly achieved a higher level of well-being than the indigenous population. And, despite their insignificant share (approximately 15% of the population in the 1930s, more than 1 million people), they dominated the main aspects of the life of Algerian society, becoming the country's cultural, economic, and administrative elite. During this period, the national economy of the country has noticeably grown, and the level of well-being of the local Muslim population has also risen.
Under the 1865 Code of Conduct, Algerians remained subject to Muslim law, but could be recruited into the French armed forces, and they also had the right to acquire French citizenship. But the procedure for obtaining French citizenship by the Muslim population of Algeria was greatly complicated, therefore, by the middle of the 20th century, only about 13% of the indigenous population of Algeria had it, and the rest had citizenship of the French Union and did not have the right to hold high government posts or serve in a number of government institutions. The French authorities retained the traditional institution of elders who retained their authority at the local level and were therefore quite loyal. In the French armed forces, there were Algerian units - tyrallers, gums, tabors, spags. They fought as part of the French army in the First and Second World Wars, and then in Indochina.
After World War I in Algeria, some intellectuals began to talk about autonomy and self-government. In 1926, the national revolutionary movement "North African Star" was established, which raised issues of a socio-economic nature (improving working conditions, increasing wages, etc.). In 1938, the Algerian People's Union was created, later renamed the Manifesto of the Algerian People (Demand for Independence), and in 1946 called the Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto. Demands for autonomy or independence have become more widespread. In May 1945, a nationalist demonstration escalated into riots, during which up to a hundred Europeans and Jews were killed. The authorities responded with the most severe terror using aircraft, armored vehicles and artillery - according to various estimates, from 10 to 45 thousand Algerians were killed in a few months.
Nationalists are heading for an armed revolution. In 1946, the "Special Organization" (SO) was established - an extensive underground network of armed groups that operated in cities. In 1949, the "Special Organization" was headed by Ahmed bin Bella, who was a sergeant in the French army during the Second World War. Other similar organizations began to appear behind the SB, which were collecting funds, purchasing weapons, ammunition, recruiting and training future fighters. From March 1947, the first partisan detachments were formed in the mountainous regions of Algeria. In 1953, the Special Organization teamed up with the armed forces of the Democratic Union of the Algiers Manifesto. The armed groups were subordinate to the command center, which was located in Egypt and Tunisia. On November 1, 1954, the National Liberation Front (FLN) was organized, the main task of which was to achieve the independence of Algeria by armed means. It included not only nationalists, but also representatives of the socialist movement, patriarchal-feudal groups. Already during the war, the socialist elements took over, and after Algeria gained independence, the FLN was transformed into a party (PFNO), which remains in power to this day.
The main prerequisites for the war in Algeria were:
- The growth of the national liberation movement throughout the planet after the First World War and the wave of revolutions after it. The Second World War dealt a new blow to the old colonial system. There was a global reorganization of the entire world political system, and Algeria became part of this modernization.
- Anti-French policy of Britain, USA and Spain in North Africa.
- Population explosion. Problems of socio-economic inequality. The period between 1885-1930 is considered the golden age of French Algeria (as well as the French Maghreb). Due to the general growth of welfare, economy, achievements in the field of education and health care, the preservation of the internal administrative and cultural autonomy of Muslims, the end of internal strife, the Islamic population entered the phase of a population explosion. The Muslim population increased from 3 million in the middle of the 19th century to 9 million in the middle of the 20th century. In addition, due to population growth, there was an acute shortage of agricultural land, most of which were controlled by large European plantations, this led to increased competition for other limited resources of the territory.
- The presence of a passionate mass of young men who received combat experience during the Second World War. Tens of thousands of inhabitants of the French African colonies fought in North Africa, Italy and France itself. As a result, the halo of "white gentlemen" lost a lot of weight, later these soldiers and sergeants formed the backbone of the anti-colonial armies, partisan detachments, legal and illegal patriotic, nationalist organizations.
Major milestones of the war
- On the night of November 1, 1954, rebel groups attacked a number of French targets in Algeria. So the war began, which, according to various estimates, claimed the lives of 18-35 thousand French soldiers, 15-150 thousand kharks (Algerian Muslims - Arabs and Berbers, who during the war took the side of the French), 300 thousand - 1, 5 million Algerians. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people became refugees.
It must be said that the leaders of the resistance chose a convenient moment to strike - over the past decade and a half, France experienced the bitterness of the humiliating defeat and occupation of 1940, the unpopular colonial war in Indochina and defeat in Vietnam. The most efficient troops have not yet been evacuated from Southeast Asia. But at the same time, the military forces of the National Liberation Front were extremely insignificant - initially only a few hundred fighters, so the war took not an open character, but a partisan one. Initially, the hostilities were not large-scale. The French deployed additional forces, and the rebels were few in number to organize significant military operations and clear the territory of Algeria from the "occupiers". The first major massacre took place only in August 1955 - the rebels in the city of Philippeville massacred several dozen people, including Europeans, in response, the army and detachments of Franco-Algerian militias killed hundreds (or thousands) of Muslims.
- The situation changed in favor of the rebels in 1956, when Morocco and Tunisia gained independence, training camps and rear bases were created there. Algerian rebels adhered to the tactics of "small war" - they attacked convoys, small units of the enemy, its fortifications, posts, destroyed communication lines, bridges, terrorized the population for cooperation with the French (for example, they forbade sending children to French schools, introduced Sharia law).
The French used quadrillage tactics - Algeria was divided into squares, a certain unit (often local militias) was responsible for each, and the elite units - the Foreign Legion, paratroopers conducted counter-partisan actions throughout the territory. Helicopters were widely used for the transfer of formations, which dramatically increased their mobility. At the same time, the French launched a fairly successful information campaign. Special administrative sections were engaged in winning the "hearts and minds" of the Algerians, they entered into contacts with residents of remote areas, convinced them to remain loyal to France. Muslims were recruited into kharqi detachments that defended the villages from the rebels. The French special services did a lot of work, they were able to provoke an internal conflict in the FLN, planting information about the "betrayal" of a number of commanders and leaders of the movement.
In 1956, the rebels launched a campaign of urban terrorism. Bombs exploded almost every day, Franco-Algerians died, colonists and French responded with acts of retaliation, and innocent people often suffered. The rebels solved two problems - they attracted the attention of the world community and aroused the hatred of Muslims towards the French.
In 1956-1957, the French, in order to stop the passage of rebels across the borders, stopping the flow of weapons and ammunition, created fortified lines on the borders with Tunisia and Morocco (minefields, barbed wire, electronic sensors, etc.). As a result, in the first half of 1958, the rebels suffered heavy losses on them, having lost the ability to transfer significant forces from Tunisia and Morocco, where militant training camps were established.
- In 1957, the 10th parachute division was introduced to the city of Algeria, its commander, General Jacques Massu, received emergency powers. The "cleansing" of the city began. The military often used torture, as a result, soon all the channels of the rebels were revealed, the connection of the city with the countryside was interrupted. Other cities were also "cleaned out" according to a similar scheme. The operation of the French military was effective - the main forces of the rebels in the cities were defeated, but the French and the world community was greatly outraged.
- The political and diplomatic front has become more successful for the rebels. In early 1958, the French Air Force launched an attack on the territory of independent Tunisia. According to intelligence information in one of the villages there was a large warehouse of weapons, in addition, in this area near the village of Sakiet-Sidi-Yusef, two French Air Force aircraft were shot down and damaged. As a result of the strike, dozens of civilians were killed, an international scandal erupted - the issue was proposed to be brought up for discussion by the UN Security Council. London and Washington offered their mediation services. It is clear that for this they wanted to gain access to French Africa. The French head of government, Felix Gaillard d'Eme, was offered to create a defensive alliance of France, Britain and the United States in North Africa. When the prime minister brought this issue to parliament, an internal political crisis began, the right-wingers quite sensibly decided that this was interference in the internal affairs of France. The government’s consent to outside interference would be a betrayal of France’s national interests. The government resigned in April.
The Franco-Algerians closely followed the situation in France and received the news from the metropolis with indignation. In May, it was reported that the new prime minister, Pierre Pflimlin, might begin negotiations with the rebels. At the same time, there was a message about the killing of captured French soldiers. French Algeria and the military "exploded" - demonstrations escalated into riots, a Public Security Committee was created, headed by General Raul Salana (he commanded French troops in Indochina in 1952-1953). The committee demanded that Charles de Gaulle, the hero of the Second World War, be appointed head of government, otherwise they promised to land a landing in Paris. The rightists believed that the French national hero would not surrender Algeria. The fourth republic, as the period of French history from 1946 to 1958 is called, fell.
Raoul Salan.
De Gaulle headed the government on June 1 and made a trip to Algeria. He was pessimistic, although he did not report this, so as not to escalate the situation. The general clearly expressed his position in a conversation with Alan Peyrefit on May 4, 1962: “Napoleon said that in love the only possible victory is escape. Likewise, the only possible victory in the decolonization process is withdrawal."
General de Gaulle in Tiareth (Oran).
- In September, the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic was proclaimed, which was located in Tunisia. Militarily, the rebels were defeated, the fortified lines on the borders were powerful - the flow of reinforcements and weapons dried up. Inside Algeria, the authorities won up so that the rebels could not recruit fighters and receive food, in a number of areas they created "regrouping camps" (the Algerians called them concentration camps). An attempt to deploy terror in France itself was thwarted. De Gaulle announced a plan for a 5-year economic development of Algeria, the idea of an amnesty for those rebels who voluntarily lay down their arms.
- In February 1959, the operation to eliminate the insurgency in the countryside began, it lasted until the spring of 1960. General Maurice Schall was in charge of the operation. Another powerful blow was dealt to the rebels: local forces blockaded the selected area, and elite units carried out a "sweep". As a result, the rebel command was forced to disperse forces to the level of a squad-platoon (previously they operated in companies and battalions). The French destroyed the entire top commanding staff of the rebels in Algeria and up to half of the commanding personnel. Militarily, the rebels were doomed. But the French public is tired of the wars.
- In September 1959, the head of the French government made a speech in which for the first time he recognized the right of Algerians to self-determination. This angered the Franco Algerians and the military. A group of young people staged a coup in the city of Algeria, which was quickly suppressed ("week of the barricades"). They began to realize that they had made a mistake with the candidacy of the general.
- 1960 became the "Year of Africa" - 17 states of the African continent gained independence. In the summer, the first negotiations took place between the French authorities and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic. De Gaulle announced the possibility of changing the status of Algeria. In December, the Secret Army Organization (CAO) was created in Spain, its founders were student leader Pierre Lagayard (he led the ultra-right during the "week of the barricades" in 1960), former officers Raoul Salano, Jean-Jacques Susini, members of the French army, French foreign legion, participants in the Indochina War.
- In January 1961, a referendum was held and 75% of the poll participants were in favor of granting independence to Algeria. On April 21-26, the "putsch of generals" took place - generals André Zeller, Maurice Schall, Raoul Salan, Edomond Jouhault tried to remove De Gaulle from the post of head of government and keep Algeria for France. But they were not supported by a significant part of the army and the French people, moreover, the rebels could not properly coordinate their actions, as a result, the uprising was suppressed.
From left to right: French generals André Zeller, Edmond Jouhaux, Raoul Salan and Maurice Schall at the house of the government of Algeria (Algeria, April 23, 1961).
- In 1961, the CAO began terror - the French began to kill the French. Hundreds of people were killed, thousands of assassination attempts were made. De Gaulle alone was assassinated more than a dozen times.
- Negotiations between Paris and the FLN continued in the spring of 1961 and took place in the resort town of Evian-les-Bains. On March 18, 1962, the Evian Accords were approved, which ended the war and opened the road to independence for Algeria. In the April referendum, 91% of French citizens voted in support of these agreements.
After the official end of the war, several more high-profile events took place. Thus, the National Liberation Front's policy towards the Franco-Algerians was characterized by the slogan "Suitcase or coffin." Although the FLN promised Paris that neither individuals nor groups of the population who served in Paris would be subjected to reprisals. Approximately 1 million people have fled Algeria and for good reason. On July 5, 1962, on the day of the official proclamation of the independence of Algeria, a crowd of armed people arrived in the city of Oran, the bandits began to torture and kill Europeans (about 3 thousand people were missing). Tens of thousands of kharqas had to flee from Algeria - the victors organized a series of attacks on the Muslim soldiers of France, killing from 15 to 150 thousand people.
