Algerian War: Effects of War Notes

Key Questions

1. What were the social and economic effects of the war?
2. What were the short term and long term political effects of the war?
3. What territorial changes took place as a result of the war?
4. What was the impact of the war on the role and status of women?

For Algeria

1. Human Cost

1. The Algerian War of Independence was one of the most violent conflicts of the post-1945 decolonization era.
2. More than 250,000 Algerians were killed during the conflict, with an additional 12,000 deaths caused during the final violent campaigns of the Organisation de l’Armée Secrète (OAS), which tried to block independence.
3. Thousands of civilians were uprooted from their homes as villages were destroyed or cleared during military operations.
4. The departing French settlers, known as the colons or pieds noirs, deliberately destroyed infrastructure, housing, and public facilities before leaving, creating long-lasting damage.
5. The suffering extended beyond fatalities, as many Algerians endured loss of livelihood, displacement, and trauma from widespread destruction.

2. Political Cost

1. The end of French colonial rule did not immediately bring political stability to Algeria.
2. After the signing of the Evian Accords in 1962, a new civil war erupted between rival nationalist groups over who would lead the new Algerian state.
   1. By the end of summer 1962, approximately 15,000 people had died in this internal conflict before Ahmed Ben Bella emerged as the leader.
3. Ben Bella established a one-party dictatorship under the FLN, sidelining and purging rivals such as Ferhat Abbas, a key figure of the independence struggle.
4. In 1965, Houari Boumédiène, with the support of the army, staged a coup against Ben Bella and established a military-backed regime. He ruled for 13 years, maintaining strict one-party control.
   1. Boumédiène promoted authoritarian socialism, but his policies failed to deliver on promises of higher living standards, leaving many Algerians frustrated.
5. Political instability continued into the 1990s. In 1991, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won elections, but the results were annulled by the army, sparking another civil war.
   1. This second civil war between Islamist groups and the Algerian state was brutal, with estimates of between 150,000 and 200,000 deaths, further deepening Algeria’s cycle of violence.

3. Economic Cost

1. The war left Algeria’s economy devastated after more than seven years of armed struggle.
   1. Agriculture, which had been a vital part of Algeria’s economy, was heavily disrupted due to village burnings, destruction of farmland, and forced displacement of rural populations.
   2. The French colons destroyed buildings, businesses, and key infrastructure before leaving, stripping Algeria of much of its industrial and economic base.
   3. The mass exodus of nearly one million pieds noirs and tens of thousands of French administrators left the country without the skilled professionals, managers, and technical experts needed to run the economy.
2. Post-war governments attempted ambitious socialist economic policies, including land redistribution and nationalization of industries, but these were often poorly implemented.
   1. Dependency on oil and gas exports became the foundation of Algeria’s economy, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in global markets.
3. The costs of reconstruction after the war drained state resources, and despite reforms, many Algerians continued to face poverty and unemployment.
4. The economic hardship that followed independence played a key role in fueling later unrest and disillusionment with the ruling elite.

For the Colons

1. Nearly one million European settlers, known as pieds-noirs, fled Algeria following independence and relocated to France.
   1. The departing population included senior administrators, professionals, and business leaders, which created a vacuum in governance and economic activity.
   2. Algerians who had worked with the pieds-noirs were often punished or removed from positions of responsibility, leading to further instability.
2. In 1963, Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria’s first president, legalized the expropriation of most foreign-owned land and nationalized hundreds of businesses abandoned by the French.
3. The exodus of the pieds-noirs also represented the sudden collapse of a community that had lived in Algeria for generations, causing cultural dislocation and resentment.
4. France faced its own challenges in integrating this sudden influx of nearly one million repatriates, who often felt alienated and marginalized in their supposed homeland.

For the Harkis

1. The harkis were Algerian Muslims who had fought for or supported the French during the war.
2. A United Nations report estimated that around 263,000 Algerians worked for the French administration, police, or army.
3. After the war, the French government largely abandoned the harkis, leaving many vulnerable to reprisals.
   1. Thousands of harkis and their families were massacred in the violent aftermath of independence.
   2. Around 90,000 were able to escape to France, but their lives there were marked by hardship and discrimination.
   3. Many were placed in isolated rural camps, excluded from wider French society, and stigmatized both as “traitors” by Algerians and as “outsiders” by the French.
4. The plight of the harkis left a lasting legacy of bitterness, with their descendants continuing to seek recognition and reparations from the French state.

For France

1. The Algerian War marked France’s last major episode of decolonization.
2. French military losses totaled 17,456 dead, nearly 65,000 wounded, and about 1,000 missing in action.
3. The war was enormously expensive, consuming 50–60 percent of the French military budget and 10–15 percent of the total state budget between 1954 and 1962.
   1. Despite these costs, once freed from overseas colonial wars, France shifted its focus back to Europe and experienced rapid economic growth during the period known as Les Trente Glorieuses.
   2. France retained economic links with Algeria after independence, particularly through agreements negotiated by President Boumédiène involving mining and industry.
4. Migration flows also continued, with many Algerians, including harkis, moving to France in search of work.
   1. However, the memory of the conflict remained deeply divisive in France.
5. Public debate continues over how the war is represented in schools, the widespread use of torture by French forces, and the failure to acknowledge the sacrifices of the harkis.

Long-term legacies

1. The Algerian War left deep scars on Algeria, France, and the displaced communities.
   1. For Algeria, independence came at an enormous human and material cost, and political instability persisted long after 1962.
   2. For the pieds-noirs and harkis, the war caused mass displacement, exile, and trauma, leaving them permanently uprooted.
   3. For France, the conflict marked both the painful end of empire and the beginning of a period of modernization and prosperity, though the war’s moral and political controversies lingered.
2. Relations between Algeria and France have remained strained, with unresolved debates over memory, justice, and responsibility.
3. The war also reshaped ideas of identity and belonging, as communities on both sides of the Mediterranean were forced to redefine themselves in its aftermath.

Impact on the Role and Status of Women

1. The Algerian War of Independence significantly affected the role and status of women.
   1. Women were active participants in the conflict, both in rural and urban areas, serving as couriers, nurses, and organizers within the FLN.
   2. In Algiers, women played a central role in the Battle of Algiers, carrying bombs and transporting weapons through French checkpoints, as they were less likely to be searched.
   3. Rural women often supported guerrilla fighters by providing shelter, food, and logistical support, despite the constant threat of reprisals.
   4. This involvement challenged traditional gender roles, as women moved beyond domestic spaces and took on new responsibilities in the national struggle.
2. After independence, however, many of these wartime gains were rolled back.
   1. The new Algerian state emphasized traditional Islamic values, and women were often excluded from formal political power.
   2. While their participation in the war gave them symbolic status as national heroines, in practice their legal and social rights remained limited in the decades that followed.
3. Nevertheless, women’s activism during the war laid the groundwork for later feminist movements in Algeria, which continued to demand greater equality in education, employment, and political life.