The Algerian War

Introduction: Algeria Before the War

Algeria was not, in the eyes of the French, a distant colony in the traditional sense. After France invaded and captured Algiers in 1830, Algeria was gradually annexed and organised into French départements – meaning France treated it legally as part of the country itself, not merely an overseas possession. Over decades, European settlers, known as Pieds-Noirs (literally “black feet”), established farms, businesses, and towns that placed them at the top of the social and economic hierarchy. Indigenous Muslim Algerians – the vast majority of the population – were systematically denied equal political rights, meaningful representation, and access to the economic gains derived from their own land.

This situation persisted through two world wars. Though thousands of Algerians fought for France in World War I and World War II, promises of political reforms and greater inclusion went largely unfulfilled. The brutal response to pro-independence demonstrations in Sétif and Guelma in May 1945, where French forces and European militias killed thousands of Algerian Muslims after nationalist protests, starkly demonstrated that French rule was unwilling to reform itself — and deeply entrenched in colonial domination and racial inequality.

Origins of the War: Nationalism and “Toussaint Rouge”

By the early 1950s, Algerian nationalist sentiment had matured. Political organizations — most notably the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) — coalesced around the idea that independence was the only viable future for Algeria. Starting out of frustration with French promises of reform, the FLN drew inspiration from anti-colonial movements worldwide, from India and Vietnam to Tunisia and Morocco.

On 1 November 1954, the FLN initiated a series of coordinated attacks against French military and administrative targets across Algeria — an event the French termed Toussaint Rouge (“Red All Saints’ Day”). This day is widely regarded as the formal beginning of the Algerian War of Independence.

The FLN’s manifesto called for a sovereign Algerian state built on principles of social justice, national dignity, and the end of colonial rule. It was a moment of radical interruption: years of peaceful protest, petitions, and political organizing had failed to dislodge the colonial system, and the FLN concluded that armed struggle was necessary.

The Nature of the Conflict: Guerrilla War and French Counteroffensive

From its outset, the war was asymmetrical: the FLN relied on guerrilla tactics, hit-and-run attacks, sabotage, and mobilising rural communities, while French forces — at times numbering up to half a million troops — employed conventional military might and counterinsurgency measures.

Guerrilla Warfare and Rural Insurgency

In countryside regions like the Aurès Mountains and Kabylie, FLN units established bases and reluctantly became de facto administrators of local areas, organizing food supplies, communication networks, and recruitment. Their aim was not only to attack military targets but also to undermine French legitimacy by providing an alternative social order under FLN influence.

Urban Warfare: The Battle of Algiers

By 1956, the FLN shifted tactics to include sophisticated urban guerrilla warfare — most famously in the Battle of Algiers (1956–1957). FLN cells planted bombs in cafés and public areas and assassinated informants and collaborators. The response from French authorities was swift and brutal: the army was granted sweeping powers to detain, interrogate, and suppress suspected insurgents without accountability.

This campaign in Algiers became infamous for its use of torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions, carried out by both military and police units. The Battle of Algiers remains one of the most controversial episodes of the war because it revealed how even a state as democratic as France could justify extreme measures in the name of counter-terrorism.

French Political Crisis and Shifting Strategies

The Algerian War did not only reshape Algeria — it deeply destabilised French politics.

The conflict severely strained the Fourth Republic (1946–1958). French governments changed frequently, often unable to agree on how to proceed in Algeria. In 1958, as crisis deepened, Charles de Gaulle returned to power. A revered figure of World War II resistance, de Gaulle initially appeared to many French settlers and military leaders as a defender of French Algeria.

However, de Gaulle’s vision evolved. He came to believe that France could not sustain a costly, unpopular war indefinitely — especially amid global pressures for decolonization and self-determination. In 1959 he publicly acknowledged that Algerians should be able to determine their own future, a statement that shocked many French settlers and hard-liners.

International Dimensions: Diplomacy, Cold War, and UN Politics

The Algerian conflict occurred against the backdrop of the Cold War and the accelerating end of European empires worldwide. Both the FLN and the French government sought to influence global opinion. The FLN pursued recognition at the United Nations, portraying the conflict as a legitimate struggle against colonial domination. France, by contrast, initially framed the war as an internal security issue — a fight against terrorists rather than a war of national liberation.

As decolonization progressed across Africa and Asia, support for FLN positions grew internationally, and pressure mounted on France to negotiate.

Human Cost: Casualties, Atrocities, and Social Trauma

The Algerian War was exceptionally brutal and traumatising — not only because of its violence, but also because it was fought amid civilian populations and involved entangled communities with differing loyalties.

Casualties and Displacement

Estimates of the war’s human cost vary widely due to political and methodological disputes, but all agree on massive suffering:

Algerian historians often estimate as many as 1.5 million Algerian deaths.
French historians and scholars tend to propose lower figures — in the hundreds of thousands — but still acknowledge immense loss.
Thousands of French soldiers and Pieds-Noirs also died.

Beyond fatalities, whole regions were disrupted. Villages were destroyed, farmland abandoned, and populations displaced. The psychological impact on survivors — both Algerian and French — endured long after the fighting ceased.

Torture, War Crimes, and Moral Legacies

Both sides committed or condoned acts that later generations would condemn. French forces engaged in widespread torture, summary executions, and repression; the FLN also carried out violent acts, including assassinations of perceived collaborators and bombings that affected civilians.

The war left deep moral scars: families of the disappeared, veterans haunted by memories of torture, and communities divided by memories of betrayal and resistance.

Paths to Peace: Évian Accords and Independence

By the early 1960s, the futility and cost of continuing the war weighed heavily on both sides.

Negotiations between the French government and the FLN culminated in the Évian Accords, signed on 18 March 1962. These agreements established a ceasefire, promised civil rights protections, and laid out the framework for a referendum on independence.

Referendums followed:

In France, a strong majority approved the accords.
In Algeria, voters overwhelmingly chose independence.

On 5 July 1962, Algeria became officially independent, ending 132 years of French colonial rule.

Aftermath: Exodus, Reprisals, and New Nationhood

Independence did not bring an immediate sense of peace.

Exodus of Pieds-Noirs and Harkis

As Algeria transitioned to independence, roughly one million European settlers (Pieds-Noirs) fled to France, fearing reprisals. Many left hastily, abandoning homes and businesses. This mass migration created social tensions in France and personal traumas for families uprooted from what had been their home for generations.

The situation of the Harkis — Algerian Muslims who fought for France — was even more catastrophic. Many were left behind after evacuation efforts fell short. Those who remained faced brutal reprisals; estimates of deaths among Harkis range into the tens of thousands. Only a small fraction managed to escape to France, where they often encountered discrimination and harsh living conditions.

Building a New Algeria

Under the leadership of FLN figures like Ahmed Ben Bella and later Houari Boumédiène, Algeria embarked on state-building. The new government adopted socialist-inspired policies, emphasizing state control over key economic sectors and seeking to forge a unified national identity after years of war. However, the post-independence period also saw political centralization, limited pluralism, and internal power struggles that would shape Algerian politics for decades.

Long-Term Legacies: Memory, Identity, and Franco-Algerian Relations

The Algerian War’s effects continue to echo in both societies.

In Algeria

The war remains central to national identity. It is commemorated as a heroic struggle against oppression, and veterans of the mujahideen are revered, although the war’s complexity — including internal divisions and post-independence challenges — sometimes gets subsumed by national myth.

In France

For years, the war was a taboo subject. Unlike other conflicts that France publicly commemorated, Algeria’s war was discussed quietly, if at all, because of its uncomfortable associations with torture, defeat, and colonial guilt.

Only in recent years have official recognitions of wartime abuses become more frequent, and public debate has opened about how France remembers the conflict.

Diplomatic Tensions and Historical Reckoning

The unresolved legacies of colonialism and the war periodically strain Franco-Algerian relations. In late 2025, Algeria’s parliament passed a law formally declaring France’s colonial rule a crime and demanding restitution, apologies, and return of property and archives. This has further complicated diplomatic efforts, with France decrying the move as hostile even while acknowledging certain abuses from the colonial period.

These controversies highlight how historical grievances remain alive, shaping international politics, diaspora communities, and debates about memory and justice.

Conclusion: A Conflict That Transformed Two Nations

The Algerian War was more than a struggle for independence; it was a seismic socio-political rupture that reshaped not just Algeria and France, but the broader world’s understanding of colonialism, national liberation, and human rights.