War in Algeria
One of the first and perhaps one of the most bitter wars of independence in Africa was the Algerian War, which took place between November 1, 1954, and March 19, 1962. It was the tipping point of French decolonization and a seminal moment in Frances evolution from an empire to a republic.
The French were occupied during WWII. This deeply compromised the France’s sense of itself as a great, global power, and it was largely thanks to General Charles de Gaulle, and the Free French movement, that a sense of French self-worth was maintained.
Algeria was not regarded as a colony, but as an integral part of France. This, of course, had to do with proximity and centuries of social interaction, but also, once again, as part of France’s image of itself as an imperial power. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu rocked that self-image, and there was a definite sense that Algeria would not be allowed to go the way of Indochina.
Algerians, however, had other ideas. As the French celebrated VE day, independence activists in Algeria began demonstrating. What began as a march ended up as a massacre, and almost 100 French settlers, or pieds-noirs, were singled out and murdered. In November 1954, soon after Dien Bien Phu, the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) launches armed revolts throughout Algeria, issuing a proclamation calling for a sovereign Algerian state. Before long, French troops were on the ground.
As befitting the reputation of the French armed forces, they took no prisoners. As French civilians were targeted by the FLN, the French army responded with disproportionate force, and very quickly the bodies began stacking up. Bombings and attacks against civilians continued, and heavy reprisals followed.
The French Fourth Republic, implemented after WWII, was imperiled for numerous reasons, but it certainly won no friends in its response to the war in Algeria. French pieds-noirs agitated for the great General Charles de Gaulle to be installed in power. It was imagined that de Gaulle, as a staunch nationalist, would bolster the French position in Algeria, but he did not. What he recognized instead was that the days of French empire were over, and that not only would Algeria inevitably gain independence, but so would the rest of Africa.
After an attempted coup d’état, and deep expressions of discontent, the French military and settler establishment bend to the inevitable. In May 1961, negotiations began. By July 1962, elections are underway, and six million Algerians put their mark on an independence ballot. Thus commenced the beginning of the end of the French empire in Africa.