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long-term Causes
- Arab resentment of French Rule : The outbreak of war was in large part due to an ever increasing resentment of the subjugation of Muslim-Arab Algerians and rampant French supremacy.
"There was a kind of apartheid. The European city with its splendor and luxury, and the Arab and Muslim Kasbah. Even as children, we could see the difference between the lives in these communities. Certain places were forbidden to us. For example, the beach reserved for us was a pebble beach. The nice beaches were reserved for this community who made us feel they were superior and we were nothing but servants."
-- Saadi Yacef talking about Algiers under the French
- French Imperialism: The outbreak of war was a result of French Imperialism during the 19th century, and the evolving sentiment toward colonial powers.
Short-term Causes
- Resistance to negotiation : France's obstinate refusal to negotiate in any way with the Algerian independence movements resulted in the escalation and protraction of the war.
- Time Magazine "Suitcase or Coffin?" November 15, 1954
This was the policy that set the tone from the next five years of the conflict. On November 12, Premier Pierre Mendès-France declared in the National Assembly that "One does not compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, the unity and integrity of the Republic. The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic. They have been French for a long time, and they are irrevocably French... Between them and metropolitan France there can be no conceivable secession."
This refusal to negotiate terms of peace or autonomy protracted the war, the two sides battling to prove their own superior stubbornness.
- Arab Nationalism : From the 1930s onward Algeria's Nationalist movement was sparked into activity and eventual influence, gaining power and support and leading up to the outbreak of war when no peaceful solution could be attained.
May 8, 1945 - Muslim march met with violence, 6,000 to 50,000 Muslims killed. Army set villages on fire, police conducted systematic ratissage (lit. raking over) of suspected areas of dissidence.
Origins: Economy, ideology, politics, & religion
The war originated from conflicting political ideals and movements of the French and Algerians, which were largely based upon economic and social disparities.
The FLN's ideology was fundamentally Algerian nationalist, a faction of the more widespread move for Arab nationalism. The basis of their political ideology and the main points of contention against Frances politics within Algeria;
Nationalism, and its revolutionary war against France to gain independence as its own country, completely autonomous of French influence.
Socialism, interpreted as a popular anti-exploitation option
Islam which was the foundation of the national consciousness and solidified the Algerian identity as separate from that of the piers-noirs.
The FLN's ideology was fundamentally Algerian nationalist, a faction of the more widespread move for Arab nationalism. The basis of their political ideology and the main points of contention against Frances politics within Algeria;
Nationalism, and its revolutionary war against France to gain independence as its own country, completely autonomous of French influence.
Socialism, interpreted as a popular anti-exploitation option
Islam which was the foundation of the national consciousness and solidified the Algerian identity as separate from that of the piers-noirs.