Algeria's Independence: The 8-Year War Against French Colonial Rule

Algeria gained independence from France on July 5, 1962, ending 132 years of colonial rule (1830-1962) through one of history's bloodiest decolonization wars.

🇫🇷 French Algeria: Unique Colonial Status

• 1830: Invasion of Algiers (Charles X)
• 1848: Declared integral part of France (3 departments)
• Not a colony: Legally metropolitan territory
• Colons (Pieds-Noirs): 1M European settlers by 1954
• Muslim majority: 9M Algerians, denied citizenship, political rights
• Code de l'indigénat: Legal discrimination system

⚔️ Algerian War (1954-1962)

• Nov 1, 1954: FLN launches Toussaint Rouge attacks
• Guerrilla warfare: FLN (rural) vs. French Army (400K+ troops)
• Urban terror: Battle of Algiers (1957) - bombs, torture, disappearances
• French tactics: Quadrillage, regroupement camps, napalm, torture
• Political crisis: 1958 coup → de Gaulle returns → 1961 generals' putsch

📝 Évian Accords (March 18, 1962)

• Ceasefire, prisoner release, referendum
• French Sahara oil/gas access guaranteed
• Pied-Noir property rights (largely unfulfilled)
• July 1, 1962: Referendum - 99.7% vote independence
• July 5, 1962: Formal proclamation (132nd anniversary of French landing)

💀 Human Cost

• Algerian deaths: 300,000-1,500,000 (widely disputed)
• French military: ~25,000 dead
• Pieds-Noirs: ~900,000 fled to France (1962-64)
• Harkis: 60,000-150,000 pro-French Algerians abandoned, massacred

🏛️ Post-Independence

• FLN single-party state (1962-1989)
• Ben Bella → Boumediene → Chadli → Civil War (1990s) → Bouteflika → Tebboune
• French relations: Complex, episodic, recently improving
• Memory wars: Competing narratives in both countries

Algeria's independence wasn't granted - it was wrenched through revolutionary violence that transformed both nations and defined postcolonial North Africa.