IB History 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.