De Gaulle and the Achievement of Independence in Algeria
Algeria underwent a long struggle to gain independence from France.
Its people had seemed to be happy with the colonisation of its country
until France was occupied by Germany in the Second World War. This
defeat along with others in Vietnam and other colonies proved to the
Algerians that France was not the superpower they had once believed it
was, and nationalist feelings began to grow. As the nationalist
movement grew it became known as the FLN. At first its support was
very small, many Algerians cautious of the extremists, they were happy
with the peace that they lived with although they were exploited, not
many complained. The FLN decided they had to become more radical to
get noticed, and in November 1954 the insurrection began. The
leadership of the FLN consisted of two groups, the internals and
externals. The FLN were at first badly armed with less that 50% of
guerrilla fighters armed but with slowly increasing numbers. The FLN
had split the country into sections with one leader in charge of each;
they had planned to cause chaos in each wilaya so the French couldn't
cope
However in contrast the French were very powerful, they outnumbered
the FLN and with badly organised members and poor communication links
the French army set out to crush nationalist feelings. They were keen
to show the world they were still a powerful nation, and to regain
their pride in their forces. They were determined not to be humiliated
again in Algeria. They were proud of Algeria and saw it as a
'mini-France'. The French reaction was to show a massive show of
force, arresting whole village...
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...old the groups
together.
The evian agreement was made to assure that settlers in Algeria would
have the rights to dual citizenship and they would enjoy normal civil
and political rights and their properties would be safe. Arguments
were also taking place regarding who should own the sahara desert, De
Gaulle finally broke the deadlock by announcing his willingness to
give up the desert. The evian agreement called an immediate cease
fire, which was not respected by the army's OAS rebel group, who
attacked yet more Algerians. The agreement also confirmed that Algeria
and France would still trade with each other; with the signing of the
Evian Agreement on April the 7th 1962 Algeria was granted its
independence.
De Gaulle had broken the stalemate and negotiated a peaceful route to
independence for the Algerians.
Finally on January 20, 1981, the hostages were freed, hours after Ronald Reagan had been sworn into office. The negotiations were made and called the Algiers Agreement. Farber ends the book with a look into the future and how the events that transpired could be affecting the present “Historians usually are accused of exercising 20-20 hindsight. But, in this case, at the time, the historian’s visions can also be used to look forward into the perilous future” (Farber,
The Haitian Revolution was time of hectic blood shed war. Toussaint Louverture was the leader of the Haitians out of slavery and free from the Spanish. The colony of St. Domingue was a slave island, where slaves would work to make goods to be sent to Spain in return for nothing. The people were treated harsh and done wrong but by the efforts of Louverture they will become free. Louverture was the leader of the revolution but failed to complete his duties because of capture Jean- Jacques Dessalines took over in 1802. He was captured before the war before the end of the war. The Revolution lasted from 1789-1803 until everything was settled and St. Domingue was a free land called Haiti.
In 1962 France met with the FLN and they all agreed that Algeria should decide their own rights. Although, Algeria’s formal independence day is recognized as 5 July 1962. When the French left Algeria did not have a leader, so they appointed Ahmed Ben Bella who became the republic's first president in 1963. Algerian government then took over businesses, farms, and banks. Ahmed Ben Bella then personally controlled the army and the government. Bella was overthrown shortly after he aligned Algeria with the soviet union. They replaced him with Houard Bournediene who focused on reforming Algeria by hiring skilled workers and restarting the economy (golbalEDGE), (The World
On July 14th, 17189, a shot was heard around the world: the Bastille had been stormed. Propelled by Enlightenment ideas, a rigid class system, and resentment with the monarchy, on this day the French decided to take matters in their own hands. In the next three years, the French overthrew their monarch and established a government and constitution that promised equal rights for all. As the saying goes, history repeats itself. So was the case in Latin America. By 1810, revolutionary fervor had spread to Venezuela. The revolution here was caused by similar reasons. As a colony of Spain, Venezuela did not have a representational government or equality for all its citizens. Peninsulares, or European-born Spaniards, held all the important governmental positions. Like the nobility in France, Peninsulares did not have to pay taxes. Their children (as long as they were also born in Europe), had many educational opportunities. Below the peninsulares were the creoles, or Venezuelans of Spanish descent. Creoles owned much of the land, but they were considered inferior to the peninsulares. Like the bourgeoisie in France, creoles had to pay high taxes and were subject to strict regulation. Creoles were disappointed in what they saw as social and political inequality, and desired to obtain self-representation in the government. At first hesitant, creoles declared their independence amid the weakening of the Spanish crown and the spread of the Enlightenment ideas. The Venezuelan Revolution was influenced by the French Revolution by the spread of Enlightenment ideas, social inequality, the discontent of creoles, and their desire to gain independence from France and form a new democratic government.
Charles Andre Marie Joseph de Gaulle was born on November 22, 1890 in Lille, France to two Catholic parents, Henri and Jeanne de Gaulle. He cherished reading stories. Even more so, de Gaulle liked the stories that were about war heroes. He even played war with his friends. When he played war, he demanded to represent France (Early life de Gaulle). The de Gaulle family was originally formed in Northern France for five centuries back, before Charles Andre de Gaulle. Until the eighteenth century, the de Gaulle family ranked as petite noblesse d’e’pe’e, also known as the sword- bearing officer class. This was not one of the high-ranking family titles. It was an upper-middle-class.
On January 1, 1804, the country of Haiti formally declared independence from the French colonial powers. This newfound state of freedom was born as a result of the Haitian revolution (1791–1804), a movement that was primarily lead by the former slave and prominent leader, Toussaint L’Overture. Due to the successful nature of this slave revolt, the nation of Haiti became a huge inspiration for surrounding colonies – becoming the second former European colony in the New World that was able to achieve independence. Despite the hard-won efforts of the oppressed, political stability within the country quickly unravelled as the national identity formed during the revolution deteriorated under rising conflict between mulattoes and blacks.
The beginning of colonization also marks the beginning of decolonization. From the day the colonists start exploiting the colonized people and belittling the colonized people for the colonists' self-aggrandizement, the colonized ones have been prepared to use violence at any moment to end the colonists' exploitation (Fanon, 3).Decolonization is violent, there is a necessity for violence. This is a point that is repeated again and again throughout The Battle of Algiers and The Wretched of the Earth. Here, the focus will be on The Battle of Algiers to discuss the violence of
"The wind of change is blowing through this [African] continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it" (Macmillan). This speech, made by the prime minister of England in 1960, highlights the vast changes occurring in Africa at the time. Changes came quickly. Over the next several years, forty-seven African countries attained independence from colonial rule. Many circumstances and events had and were occurring that led to the changes to which he was referring. The decolonization of Africa occurred over time, for a variety of complex reasons, but can be broken down into two major contributing factors: vast changes brought about in the world because of World War II and a growing sense of African nationalism.
Once Enlightenment philosophies created new views on individual’s natural rights and their place in society, resistance to oppressive government was inevitable. The core beliefs of freedom and equality above all served as a catalyst for the revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Because of these shared ideals each revolution is interconnected with the revolution before it. However, the waves of this revolutionary movement that swept through the Atlantic World became increasingly radical with each new country it entered. By looking at the citizen involvement and causes of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions, the growing radicality of these insurrections can be better understood.
The Second World War seems to have had an enormous impact on theorists writing on literary theory. While their arguments are usually confined to a structure that at first blush seems to only apply to theory, a closer examination finds that they contain an inherently political aspect. Driven by the psychological trauma of the war, theorists, particularly French theorists, find themselves questioning the structures that led to the particular events and situations of the war. Many of these writers found themselves driven to engage the lackluster resistance against the Vichy regime in France and sought critical models that explain or lay to rest the guilt of a complacent citizenry.
The region of Alsace-Lorraine has historically produced conflict between France and Germany. As a result of the Alsace-Lorraine provincial boundary changes, the people within the area had and still withhold individual national and cultural identities. These unique identities emanate from French, as well as German traditions. As time progressed so did the sentiment of the Alsatians. In 1871, when Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, its citizens objected German rule. Conversely, in 1919 when France reclaimed the territory, the people in it began to yearn for the formally loathed German rule. The national and cultural identity of Alsace-Lorraine fluctuated inversely with its territorial modifications.
Embittered by his experience in the French Army, where Africans and Arabs answered to white superiors and West Indians occupied an ambiguous middle ground, he gravitated to radical politics, Sartrean existentialism and the philosophy of black consciousness known as négritude (Djemai). Négritude is the affirmation or consciousness of the value of black or African culture, heritage, and identity (dictionary). Fanon also fell under the influence of Tosquelles, an innovative practitioner of group therapy. Applying Tosquelles 's methods at a hospital in a suburb of Algiers, where Fanon arrived in 1953, he earned the trust of Arab patients whom French psychiatrists had treated with a mixture of pity and contempt (Macey). In Fanon 's new home, Macey reminds us, one million Europeans ruled over some nine million Arabs and Berbers, largely illiterate and cruelly exploited. After the Algerian National Liberation Front launched a revolution in 1954, the French Army used Gestapo tactics to restore order. Suspects were given electric shocks to the testicles, raped with bottles and often beaten to death. Entire villages were destroyed in retaliation for the death of a single soldier. While secretly aiding the rebels, Fanon cared for victims and perpetrators alike, producing case notes that shed invaluable light on the psychic traumas of colonial war
France aimed to get revenge on Germany for the Franco - Prussian war of 1970 - 1971 where France were disastrously defeated, Germany aimed to stay free from an invasion from France and keep Austria-Hungary happy as France and Austria- Hungary were on either side of German, and Russia wanted an ally so it could feel safe form Germany.
The process of decolonization in Africa during the 1950’s through the 1970’s was a very smart yet risky idea. For some places independence was easily gained yet in other areas it was a battle. During the time periods where colonization existed, Africa was peaceful and kept things in order. People had control over their specific locations and there were no questions to be asked. Once it was decided to remove these rights, things got out of hand rather quickly. Violence was a main occurrence during the decolonization timeframe because rules, rights, leaderships, etc. got altered and drastically changed. Sometimes nonviolence was used but it usually wasn’t as effective. A major example of using nonviolence actions to gain independence is when Gandhi protested in India. African leaders have tried very hard to lessen the influence of Western powers and the broader international community but they’ve never been completely successful because they continuously needed support in state building, economic development, and public health initiatives.
In the years from 1871 to 1914, France saw many social changes, economic and cultural, under the new government of the Third Republic. France experienced the modernization of its rural areas, the centralization of the state, and the emergence of a mass media culture. Furthermore, internationally France was heavily involved in the European race to imperialize in Africa and Asia. political participation in the international arena, which at the time was heavily involved in the race for imperial expansion in Africa and Asia.