In May 1961, the French government and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA; French: Gouvernement Provisionel de la République Algérienne) held peace talks in Évian, France, which proved contentious and difficult. But on March 18, 1962, the two sides signed an agreement called the Évian Accords, which included a ceasefire (that came into effect the following day) and a release of war prisoners; the agreement’s major stipulations were: French recognition of a sovereign Algeria; independent Algeria’s guaranteeing the protection of the pied-noir community; and Algeria allowing French military bases to continue in its territory, as well as establishing privileged Algerian-French economic and trade relations, particularly in the development of Algeria’s nascent oil industry. Pied-Noirs were Algeria-born people of French and other European origin.
In a referendum held in France on April 8, 1962, over 90% of the French people approved of the Évian Accords; the same referendum held in Algeria on July 1, 1962 resulted in nearly six million voting in favor of the agreement while only 16,000 opposed it (by this time, most of the one million pieds-noirs had or were in the process of leaving Algeria or simply recognized the futility of their lost cause, thus the extraordinarily low number of “no” votes).
(Taken from Algerian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)
Background The first half of the twentieth century saw the rise of Algerian nationalism led by indigenous socio-political movements. Among these were the Algerian Communist Party, religious-based Association of Algerian Muslim Clerics, and the successive organizations led by Ferhat Abbas and Ahmed Messali Hadj, two nationalists who played major roles in the early independence struggles as well as in the forthcoming war of independence.
At the global stage, a number of events helped to spur the growth of nationalism in colonial territories worldwide. United States President Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” speech to U.S. Congress, which became the basis for peace that ended World War I, contained a stipulation (point 5) on self-determination, i.e. “free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims…in determining all such questions of sovereignty, the interests of the population concerned must have equal weight…” Then in the midst of World War II, the so-called “Atlantic Charter” issued by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill stipulated that “all people have a right to self-determination.”
Furthermore, World War II politically weakened the French colonial empire, particularly France’s humiliating defeat to Germany and the destabilized political structure that emerged, with two rival regimes, Vichy France (under Marshall Philippe Pétain) and Free France (under General Charles de Gaulle), both vying for political legitimacy. The early Algerian nationalist movements used peaceful means to achieve their goals, participated in the electoral process, and for the most part, did not seek outright independence but worked to achieve political autonomy within the French system, greater representation, or more recognition of indigenous religious, cultural, and social rights. For instance, in March 1943, Algerian nationalists led by Abbas, presented France with the “Manifesto of the Algerian People”, which called for greater Algerian Muslim political participation and equality of indigenous peoples under the law.
Radicalization of Algerian nationalists occurred after World War II when French authorities, who had promised to take up Algeria’s self-determination in exchange for the Algerian Muslims’ support for France during the world war, reneged on their word and were determined to hold onto Algeria. Algerian nationalists were greatly disappointed, as thousands of Algerians had fought for France in both world wars.
On May 8, 1945, the day World War II ended in Europe, like many other locations around the world, Algeria celebrated Germany’s surrender to the Allied Powers. But in celebrations in Sétif, a town located 300 kilometers west of Algiers, commotion broke out when police authorities violently dispersed a crowd that was celebrating the Allied victory together with calls for Algerian independence. For three days thereafter, a full-scale uprising (which involved some 50,000 Algerians) took place that engulfed much of the territory, as armed bands roamed the countryside attacking European civilians, homes, and farms, and destroying government buildings and public infrastructures. French reprisal was vicious, with the French military using land, air, and sea counter-measures that, by June 1945, had decisively stamped out the rebellion. This incident, which was felt greatest at Sétif and Guelma and for which the event derives its name, the “Sétif and Guelma Massacres”, caused over 100 Europeans killed and between 15,000 and 20,000 to as high as 45,000 Algerian Muslims killed.
As a result of these massacres as well as the post-World War II rise of nationalism among colonized peoples worldwide, Algerian nationalists became increasingly radicalized in their efforts to achieve self-determination. In 1946, the Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto (UDMA; French: Union Démocratique du Manifeste Algérien), recently formed by Abbas, called on France to end the “department” status of Algeria and grant political autonomy to the territory. Also that year, the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD; French: Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques), led by Hadj, demanded France to grant outright independence to Algeria. These movements were deemed moderate as they sought to achieve their objectives through peaceful, democratic means.
The Special Organisation (OS; French: Organisation Spéciale), however, which was a radical arm of the MTLD, was organized as a paramilitary that sought to achieve independence through armed rebellion; as with the other nationalist groups at that time, the OS disbanded without achieving its aims. Former elements of the OS and MTLD reorganized as the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action (CRUA; French: Comité Révolutionnaire d’Unité et d’Action) that had similar revolutionary aspirations; after more changes, on October 14, 1954, CRUA morphed into the National Liberation Front (FLN; French: Front de Libération Nationale). The FLN set November 1, 1954 as the start of the uprising which, unbeknown at that time, was the start of the eight-year Algerian War of Independence.
Early in the war, other Algerian nationalist groups were assimilated by the FLN in a common struggle to end French rule. Another independence organization, the Algerian National Movement (MNA; French: Mouvement National Algérien), led by Najh, also fought a revolutionary war separate from the FLN, generating a rivalry between the FLN and MNA for legitimacy and post-war supremacy. Armed confrontations between these two groups took place in Algeria, as well as France, which in the latter, the rivalry produced the so-called “Café Wars”, where each side carried out mafia-style shootings, disappearances, abductions, and bombings against the other side; some 5,000 people were killed in the Café Wars. In the end, the FLN prevailed and the war essentially was fought between the FLN, particularly its paramilitary wing called the National Liberation Army (ALN; French: Armée de Libération Nationale), which sought to end French rule and gain Algerian independence; and France, which sought to suppress the insurgents’ separatist objectives.