Algerian War: Causes of War Notes

Key Questions

1. What were the long term and short term causes of the Algerian War?
2. How can these be categorized into economic, political, ideological, and territorial causes?

Long-Term Causes of the Algerian War

1. Colonization and European Settlement

1. France established colonial control over Algeria through military campaigns in the 1830s and 1840s, gradually tightening its rule.
   1. The conquest opened Algeria to waves of European settlers, who took advantage of cheap land and economic opportunities that were denied to most native Algerians.
   2. The French colonial administration attempted to assimilate Algeria culturally, politically, and administratively into France itself, treating it as an extension of the metropole rather than as a colony.
2. European settlers introduced new technologies, infrastructure, and investment, but these developments disproportionately benefited the settler population.
3. Some Algerians resisted colonization through sporadic guerrilla attacks against both French troops and European settlers, although these uprisings were usually suppressed.
4. The impact of conquest, disease, and colonization reduced the indigenous population while the settler population steadily grew by the late 19th century.
5. This imbalance between settlers and natives entrenched economic inequalities and created widespread resentment among Algeria’s Muslim majority.

2. Economic and Social Inequalities

1. By the mid-20th century, around three-quarters of Algeria’s Muslim population was illiterate in Arabic, limiting opportunities for social and political advancement.
   1. Out of approximately nine million Muslims, over one million were unemployed, while nearly two million more were underemployed in low-paying, unstable work.
   2. Wealth was distributed very unequally, with 90% of the country’s resources and income controlled by just 10% of the population, most of whom were European settlers.
2. Algeria’s Muslim population had one of the highest birth rates in the region, creating mounting pressure on jobs and land.
   1. In contrast, the pied noirs (European settlers) had much lower birth rates, which made them increasingly fearful of being demographically and politically overwhelmed by the Muslim majority.
3. These economic and demographic tensions helped to foster nationalist sentiment and contributed to the later embrace of guerrilla resistance.

3. French Political Instability and Contradictions

1. France’s experience in the first half of the 20th century was shaped by both catastrophic wars and internal divisions, leaving society unsure whether to cling to its colonial empire or move beyond it.
   1. After 1945, French governments simultaneously granted independence to Morocco and Tunisia, while fiercely clinging to control of Indo-China and Algeria.
   2. The Fourth Republic (1945–54) was politically unstable, with more than 20 different governments in under 10 years, making coherent colonial policy almost impossible.
2. France’s post-war economy was weak: it relied heavily on Marshall Aid, suffered from high inflation, frequent strikes, low export levels, and sluggish growth.
   1. Despite these problems, France continued to pour resources into costly colonial wars in Asia and Africa, hoping to preserve influence and gain profits from colonies like Algeria.
   2. This contradiction, between economic weakness and colonial ambition, played a crucial role in creating the conditions for the Algerian War.

Short-term causes of the Algerian War

1. Post-war Violence and the 1945 Riots

1. The end of the Second World War provided an immediate trigger for unrest, as Algerian nationalists saw the defeat of fascism as an opportunity to demand greater rights and autonomy.
   1. During May 1945, nationalist demonstrations celebrating the Allied victory in Europe turned violent after clashes with pied noirs.
   2. Over several weeks of unrest, around 6,000 people were killed, including Muslims, settlers, and French soldiers.
   3. These riots revealed the three main actors of the future conflict: the French government, the pied noirs, and Algerian nationalist groups.
2. The French army also emerged as a separate force, often pursuing its own agenda and at times acting independently of the government.
3. The extreme brutality of the riots foreshadowed the violent tactics and reprisals that would dominate the Algerian War nine years later.

2. Fragmented Nationalist Movements

1. Algerian nationalism was divided between groups with very different aims and methods.
   1. The Union Démocratique du Manifeste Algérien (UDMA) sought equality and autonomy for Algerians within the French system.
   2. The Ulema, a traditionalist Islamic movement, demanded an independent state built around Islamic law and cultural identity.
   3. After 1945, the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD) emerged, combining Islamic values with socialist ideas and a demand for complete independence.
   4. From the MTLD’s militant wing, the Organisation Spéciale (OS), the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) eventually developed, under the leadership of Ahmed Ben Bella.
   5. The FLN became the umbrella organization for Algerian nationalism, although it had to balance the interests of Arab Muslims and Berber groups.
   6. To avoid internal divisions, the FLN established collective leadership as its principle of decision-making, which shaped its strategy throughout the war.
2. Nationalist aspirations were driven by poverty, unemployment, and limited access to land ownership, which alienated the majority of Algerians from the colonial system.

3. International Influences and Timing

1. Mao Zedong’s successful revolution in China (1949) and the ability of Chinese forces to fight the United States to a stalemate in Korea (1950–53) inspired Algerian leaders, who believed that colonial powers could be defeated.
2. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and their withdrawal from Indo-China reinforced the sense that French power was weakening and that Algeria could follow Vietnam’s example.
3. Although Algeria’s situation differed from Indo-China, the nationalist leadership saw an opportunity to act before France could recover from its losses in Asia.

The Outbreak of War, 1954

1. On 1 November 1954, the FLN launched a series of coordinated bombings and attacks across Algeria.
   1. These operations, though limited in scale, symbolically marked the start of the Algerian War of Independence.
2. The attacks signaled that the FLN was ready to escalate the conflict into a sustained guerrilla struggle against French authority.