welcome to revolution and ideology today we are going to be discussing the algerian war for independence the war for independence in algeria which lasted between 1954 and 1962 goes by many names but for our purposes here it seems most fitting to call it by its algerian name the war of one november this refers to the date 1954 when algerian freedom fighters began their attacks on government buildings however it must be noted that is in many colonial contexts oppressive indiscriminate violence by the colonizer as well as informal resistance existed from the onset of imperial activity dating all the way back to the 19th century french invasion algerian independence also not only exemplifies the post-world war ii reality of post-colonialism but it challenges notions of binary paradigms while there was indeed a colonizer france and a colonized population algerians both these quote unquote sides were far from monoliths algeria existed as a crossroads of trade migration and settlement between africa europe and western asia and both flourished under and endured numerous changes in ruling peoples for millennia before france and french annexation this created centuries-old layer diversity as various groups mingled exchanged fought conquered and governed resulting in a complex web of ethnic political and ideological groups as for the french side their century of colonial rule also included a number of other europeans living in algeria further as most people even with limited knowledge of history are aware world war ii is quite hard on france much rebuilding both material and ideal was required after the war many french thought that these domestic issues should take precedent over maintaining far away colonies others also saw in the world wars the consequences of the continued practice of european discourses in other words some finally learned their lesson nationalism imperialism colonialism and the competition between powers led to their and others near wholesale direction destruction twice these lessons mixed with weariness of heavy-handed governance to create a growing anti-colonial sentiment within france itself in fact historians consider the algerian warfare independence the breaking point for france's fourth republic eventually to be replaced by the fifth french invasion of algeria began with the battle of algiers in 1830. they invaded under the auspices of writing perceived wrongs done to them in mediterranean trade by north african sultanates such as taxing tributes and piracy hundreds of thousands of europeans flooded the region in the following decades these immigrants were called the pieds noirs the influx of europeans was abetted by intense violence as many as 825 000 algerians were killed by 1875. some scholars and even whole nations like the republic of turkey argue this constitutes an attempted genocide resistance by the algerian population remained constant heroes such as la la fatma and sumer and abed al-qaeda represented the independent algerian spirit they became hallowed names during the 20th century independence movement in question and remain highly revered to this day the period known as the pacification of algeria lasted until 1905 the french committed countless atrocities against the algerians including targeting civilians during military campaigns in the words of colonel la francois de matarac in his letters from a soldier in paris in 1885 he says quote in my opinion everybody who does not accept our conditions must be eliminated all of them must be taken pillaged with no distinction as to age or sex grass should no longer grow where the french army has passed end quote the french also forced mass deportations and dispossession in the words of general they rog vio we cannot civilize them we must send them far away like wild animals who keep away from the vicinity of inhabited places they must recede to the desert as we progress with our settlements they must stay forever in the sands of the sahara end quote the french tortured algerians again montana asserts a severed head produces a terror stronger than the death of 50 people i've understood this for a long time and i assure you that none makes it out of my claws that has not undergone the delicate operation end quote french colonists also engaged in sexual predation montanak admits quote the algerian women we capture some we keep as hostages and the rest are auctioned to the troops like animals in the operations we have carried out during the last four months i have witnessed scenes that would melt the hardest heart if one let oneself be moved i witnessed it all with a frightening indifference women and children caught on thick bush wood which they had to cross as they surrendered to us we kill we slaughter the screaming of the terror stricken and the dying blends with the sounds of the beasts end quote these all too brief quotes illuminate the disgusting nature of french occupation algeria for more check out arua's reading notes on french colonial massacres in algeria to be clear nearly one-third of the algerian population lost their lives under the first century of colonization colonialism didn't cease during or after the back-to-back world wars in fact european nations forced their colonial subjects to fight for them over two hundred thousand algerians fought in each of the wars and yet their bravery was rarely rewarded aside from extremely poor treatment while serving they were welcomed back home to even more oppressive post-war lives much like in other colonized nations algerians were not only exasperated by french subjugation but had fully realized the hypocrisy of western colonial projects how could people who had been rationalizing their occupations across the world as quote unquote civilizing missions call themselves civilized and denigrate local cultures beliefs and practices when they nearly destroyed themselves and much of the globe not once but twice on february 10 1943 future elected president for hot abas published the manifesto of the algerian people which called for algerian autonomy french officials including the famed charles de gaulle rejected it by 1945 protests became more prominent and some turned to riots in the cities and regions around satief and guelma french police fired on protesters algerians responded by attacking french settlers in the hinterlands the french then massacred over 30 000 muslims in the region important but graphic footage can be found on youtube from the algerian press service scholars point to a couple of massacres in sativa and guoma as possible matches that eventually ignited newfound resistance culminating in the formal beginning of the war for independence nine years of instability french political repression algerian underrepresentation and violence resulted in the formation of the national liberation front in 1954 and on november 1st they launched the algerian war for independence emboldened by the french defeat at dien bien fu in vietnam the fln called for a sovereign algerian state french troops countered the famous film battle of algiers recreates the next three years of the war through a dramatization that better illuminates political social and militant militant components than we can here it's wildly celebrated for its immersive qualities it's described by canopy as a work that vividly recreates a key year in the tumultuous algerian struggle for independence from the occupying french in the 1950s as violence escalates on both sides children suit soldiers and point blank range women plant bombs and cafes and french soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents shot on the streets of algiers and documentary style the film is a case study in modern warfare with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them the battle for algiers period gave way to the counter-insurgency period in algeria which remains among the most researched cases among politicos military thinkers neocolonialists and most importantly human rights advocates to this day needless to say all of these researchers approached the situation using a different lens seeking different lessons what followed were a handful of key lowlights from the period of the war the fln orchestrated a general strike in the country's capital which was wildly effective they hit the colonizers in the wallet so to speak a tactic that remains underutilized in more recent movements additionally they were able to bomb strategic targets as well as hone their guerrilla fighting tactics in and around the city these tactics have been used with great success in countless liberation movements around the world through this day in fact we the famed cuban revolutionary hero che guevara wrote the how to guide guerrilla warfare using lessons he not only learned himself but from other examples he studied to include algeria which he eventually visited in 1964. in response to these tactics the french fell back on the tried and true colonial tactic of divide and rule by either inflaming existing racial ethnic or religious difference or by offering financial or political incentives for algerians to turn against their fellow nationals they created the special administration administration section or the sas in 1955. a large portion of the fighting against the fln made use of harkies regular algerian troops under french command aside from the more traditional recruitment tactics the sas also targeted and threatened fln family members to get freedom fighters to turn this was a key element in the growing use of psychological warfare in the conflict and it became a key point of research for outside observing military often so they could make use of this tactic in their own occupations french foreign legion leaders also helped to manufacture their own clandestine counter guerrilla forces sometimes using turned fln members to terrorize the populace through bombings that would then be blamed on the fln or its affiliates these are often called false flag operations in response to the fln's gains the french started to lean more heavily on technological advantages their counterinsurgency tactics featured the use of helicopters for the first time to attack ground forces by laying down indiscriminate fire from above further they also bombed militant and non-militant targets with napalm other observing invasive imperial powers would take these ethically questionable tactics to other parts of the globe most blatantly the united states in its war in vietnam and surrounding nation states the french military forcefully also moved over 2 million algerians into concentration camps much like the british were doing in kenya around the same time check out our in-depth series on this topic and some of our videos on the maumau rebellion concentration and forced labor usually took place in more rural zones in the hopes that remote villages could no longer serve as fln suppliers or places to hide finally it must be noted that the french made heavy and explicit use of torture to gather information turn fln fighters and terrorize civilians even mass rape became a tactic to subdue the algerian fighting spirit current president of france emmanuel macron has recently admitted to some of these atrocities sources ranging from france 24 to trt world to telesur offer proof of the atrocities and macron's admissions between the loss in vietnam algerian resistance as well as internal opposition in france all amid attempting to rebuild after world war ii the french government began to crack in the words of britannica the long and brutal struggle in algeria gravely affected the political life of the fourth republic and ended by destroying it a vocal minority in france openly favored a negotiated settlement though no political leader dared take so unpopular position right-wing activists outraged at what they saw as the spread of defeatism turned to conspiracy both in paris and in algiers extremist groups began to plot the replacement of the fourth republic by a tougher regime headed by army officers or perhaps by general de gaulle these plans had not yet matured when a cabinet crisis in april and may of 1958 gave the conspirators a chance to strike on may 13th when a new cabinet was scheduled to present its program to the national assembly activist groups in algiers went to the streets in an effort to influence parliament's vote by nightfall they were in control of the city and set up an emergency government with local army support de gaulle on may 15 announced that he was prepared to take power if called to do so by his fellow citizens two weeks of negotiations followed interspersed with threats of violent action by the algerian rebels most of the fourth republic's political leaders reluctantly concluded that de gaulle's return was the only alternative to an army coup that might lead to civil war so on june 1st the national assembly voted to gall full powers for six months thus putting de facto and end to the fourth republic in france the collapse of the fourth republic reveals something often overlooked in successful post-colonial movements the fact that the freedom fighters have keen insight into global context and currents as well as political situations back in the colonizing nation state for example the fln resistance only really ramped up after the french were defeated in one of their other colonial regions south indochina they also saw that other french protectorates in north africa like morocco and tunisia were gifted more autonomy before algeria they also were aware of the growing exhaustion back in france of dealing with colonial uprisings when many thought working on quote-unquote french issues inside france should take precedent wars of attrition make use of international and domestic pressures and are absolutely crucial to eventually winning independence doubling down on this notion the vietnamese who inspired algerians would in return take inspiration from algerians when they successfully defeated the united states just over a decade later by again a war of attrition france desperately wanted this war to be considered internal and absolve itself of all international scrutiny but the fln of course sought the opposite they first appealed to the relatively newly formed united nations creating solidarity with a number of new post-colonial member nations an algerian delegation even attended the non-alignment conference in bandung indonesia in 1955. they also reached out to the soviet bloc for monetary and military support they knew this might pressure france's nato allies to use their influence on french policy under the quote-unquote red scare ethos at the time the us and uk might rather see an independent algeria side with the west peacefully rather than feel like they have no other alternative than to turn to the soviets for anti-imperial help like so many other newly forming nation states the fln also received support from china and were able to use the communist rivalry between the people's republic and the soviet union to secure even more aid from each despite this aid the fln was technically losing the war militarily at least in terms of casualties but they were winning the pr campaign and the war of attrition as french stomachs became weaker and weaker with each passing day by 1959 france through its brutal methodology still controlled almost all of algeria but with little fanfare back home and with little little evidence that the fln would give up the key was that the fln's international recognition led to heavy press coverage to include in france itself more and more french political representatives of the people turned against the war for myriad reasons to include conscription recent losses in indochina financial costs a new internationalist ethic and humanitarianism protests broke out in france itself led by students and unions and a string of left-leaning politicians and high governmental posts who form parties or organizations to politically challenge the colonial position from paris the new fifth republic under de gaulle felt compelled to seek a new position on algeria some extremist french militants in algeria responded by starting an insurrection of their own against the fifth republican algiers but what became known as the week of barricades was short-lived french counter-insurgency measures continued for the next year however and also included targeting remaining french colonists as well by the end of 1960 a clear majority of french people turned against the war initially under the table peace negotiation between the de gaulle government and the fln slowly became more public the nail in the coffin for remaining colonial thinkers and actors was a failed coup against de gaulle in 1961. official peace talks started at evian laban france in may of 1961. unfortunately while politicians mired themselves in bureaucracy violence remained a daily reality in algeria colonials feeling abandoned by their government took their aggression out on algerians and the fln responded in kind the secret army organization known as the oas a group of french colonists operating solely on their own started targeting french politicians as well as algerians as peace drew near in 1962 these right-wing extremists launched a number of violent terrorist attacks hoping to go the fl end into responding and perhaps turn the public relations lens back in their favor the fln remained disciplined and the oas was met with little fanfare in france at this point apparently thinking there was nothing to lose the oas went on to stage attacks against french soldiers as well irrationally and unethically privileged does not begin to describe what essentially became a series of violent tantrums against both the colonized and their own government by these french conservative actors whose opposition to progress was solely the product of myopic selfishness despite oas violence in february of 1962 an agreement had been reached votes in april and july revealed an overwhelming majority in both france and algeria supported independence it must be noted that this led to a refugee crisis in france as hundreds of thousands of piez noirs and harkies fled across the mediterranean with their tails between their legs revolutionary soldier and populist ahmed ben bella used his notoriety to consolidate support to help lead a newly free country as prime minister and on july 5th 1962 algeria gained its independence you