Global Terrorism

RESEARCHED by Adnan

THEME

In 1957, French Forces were able to militarily defeat and temporarily subdue FLN. However, to the surprise of the whole world, French President Charles De Gaulle opted for a political solution and announced independence for the Algerians in 1962. To what extent did the activities of FLN influence De Gaulle and what other factors can be identified which led to his surprising decision to grant independence to Algeria?

Introduction

1. The Algerian War of Independence (1954Ð'-62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists in Algeria and the FLN (Front de LibÐ"©ration Nationale) and other pro-independence Algerians. Although the French government of the time considered all Algerian violence, including violence against the French military, to be crimes or terrorism, some French people, such as former anti-Nazi guerrilla and lawyer(Jacques Verges) have compared French resistance to Nazi German occupation to Algerian resistance to French occupation.

2. The struggle was touched off by the FLN in 1954, only two years before France was forced to give up its control over Tunisia and Morocco. The FLN's main Algerian rival Ð'-- with the same goal of Algerian independence Ð'-- was the later National Algerian Movement (Mouvement National AlgÐ"©rien, MNA) whose main supporters were Algerian workers in France. The FLN and MNA fought against each other in France, and sometimes in Algeria, for nearly the full duration of the conflict.

3. Algeria was the greatest and in many ways the archetype of all anti-colonial wars. In the 19th century the Europeans won colonial wars because the indigenous peoples had lost the will to resist. In the 20th century the roles were reversed, and it was Europe which lost the will to hang on to its gains. Algeria was a classic case of this reversal.

4. In 1830 Algeria became a French territory and in 1848 was made a dÐ"©partement attached to France . During this period political and economic power were held mainly by the minority of white settlers, and the indigenous Moslem minority did not have equal rights. Moslems were killed before independence was declared on July 5, 1962. Later that year the Algerian provisional government transferred authority to the Political Bureau of the FLN, the National Constituent Assembly was elected from a list of FLN candidates, and a republic was proclaimed with Ahmed Ben Bella, one of the original leaders of the FLN, as president. Nearly one million French and other Europeans (pieds noirs, or black feet) left the country when the French army withdrew.

Aim

5. To carryout a study of the activities of FLN and other contributing factors which led to the decision by the French government to give independence to Algeria.

Sequence

6. The sequence of presentation will be:-

a. PART 1

(1) Geography.

(2) Historical background.

(3) Genesis of FLN.

(4) Activities of FLN / Conduct of War.

b. PART 2. Other Contributing Factors.

(1) Diplomatic Achievements of FLN.

(2) French Weaknesses.

c. Conclusion.

PART I

Geography

7. Algeria is located in northern Africa with Mediterranean Sea on its north and Tunisia in the northeast , Libya in the east, Niger in the southeast, Mali and Mauritania in the southwest, Morocco and Western Sahara in the west . The country is formally known as the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.

8. The name Algeria is derived from the name of the city of Algiers, which in Arabic al-jazā'ir, translates as the islands, referring to the four islands which lay off the coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525.

9. About 90% of the Algerians live in the northern, coastal area; although there are about 1.5 million people living in the southern desert most of them in oases. The mixed Berber and Arab population is mostly Islamic (99%); other religions are restricted to extremely small groups, mainly of foreigners.

Historical Back Ground

10. AlgeriaÐ'Ò's first inhabitants were Berbers, who still represent a significant minority. Algeria has been occupied many times during its history by Phoenicians and Romans among others but the Arab invasions of the 8th and 11th centuries A.D. had the greatest cultural impact. In 1492 Moors and Jews expelled from Spain settled in Algeria. Between 1518 and 1830 Algeria was an integral part of the Ottoman Empire.

11. On 14 Jun 1830, French tps landed on the coast, 25 miles away from Algiers and captured the city. They annexed Bone, Oran and Algiers. Charles X fell from power in the last days of Jul 1830, leaving the French Expeditionary Force in Algeria without any policy. By 1857 the whole country was physically occupied but the complete pacification was accomplished by 1881. France instigated other Mediterranean races to come and settle in Algeria. They confiscated the land and gave it to incoming colons.

Genesis of FLN

12. There was a foretaste in May 1945, when the Arabs massacred 103 Europeans. The French reprisals were on a savage scale. Dive bombers blew 40 villages to pieces; a cruiser bombarded others. The Algerian Communist Party journal Liberte called for the rebels to be "swiftly and pitilessly punished, the instigators put in front of a firing squad." According to the French official report, 1020 to 1300 Arabs were killed; the Arabs claimed 45000. Many demobilized Arab soldiers returned home to find their families dead, their homes demolished. It was these former NCOs who formed the leadership of the future Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN). As the most conspicuous of them, Ahmed Ben Bella, put it: "the horrors of the Constantine area in May 1945 persuaded me of the only path: Algeria for the Algerians."

13. A meeting was held in Switzerland on 10 October 1954, the revolutionary movement received its name Front de Liberation Nationale Ð'- FLN . The same day a date was fixed for simultaneous outbreak of revolt all through