de Gaulle and the Granting of Independence to Algeria
Charles de Gaulle played a vital role in the decolonisation of
Algeria. There were a number of factors that lead up to independence
of Algeria for example the FLN.
The FLN were the foundation of the nationalist movement, after seeing
France occupied by Germany in the Second World War the Algerians
realised that the French were not unbeatable, and set about to over
throw the French and reclaim their country, which was occupied by both
colons and the French army.
In order to try and gain independence the FLN resorted to terrorism
starting in 1954, attacking European settlements, their tactics were
responded to with a massive show of force by the French Army. They had
previously been defeated in Indo-China in 1940, Vietnam in 1954 and
the Suez in 1956. They were determined to defeat the rising
opposition. Their actions were aggressive and overpowering. Whole
villages were arrested and their citizens tortured. The majority of
Algerians had previously kept out of the action and stayed quiet,
however the French Armies actions had a reverse effect, instead of
crushing the FLN as it had intended to, it in fact made them stronger,
as more and more Muslims flocked to join the FLN. The army were
becoming increasingly distant from the French Government and
increasingly weaker.
When the French army attacked a terrorist stronghold in Tunisia there
was massive media attention and the UN had to get involved. The attack
had been carried out without the permission or the knowledge of the
Government. The events unfolding in Algeria were also catching the eye
of other nations, the USA wa...
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...vitable, there was no way to reverse
the process. FLN support was diminishing as people saw that the French
were slowly giving in, and terror tactics were no longer necessary.
The Evian agreement was made on the 20th May 1961after many
negotiations, De Gaulle had stalled the process by trying to keep
possession of the Sahara, however after reaching a stalemate he gave
in to the FLN, abandoning French demand.
On March the 18th 1962 the Algerians had finally gained their
independence. General de Gaulle had acted as a catalyst in the
process. It is almost definite that without the stalemate of 1958
between the Army and the FLN, he would not have been involved in the
crisis. However as things turned out he was the main factor in the
granting of independence, he handed the Algerians their freedom after
a long fight.
It is 1957 and the Algerian war is at its prime as the FLN fight against an elite troop of ruthless French paratroopers. The Battle of Algiers is a portion of the Algerian war which was fought in order for Algeria to gain independence from France. The film starts off with the torturing of an old man to gain information on where the last of the freedom fighters, Ali Pointe is hiding. A large segment of the film is shot in flashbacks focusing on the past of Ali Pointe. Pointe was a ruffian with theft and drugs on his record; he joined the militants to assist in getting rid of the problems in Algeria associated with the French. With the flashbacks the film tells the struggles of the insurgents and the persistence of the French to end the war. It shows the transformation of the insurgency into a full out revolution. When the flashbacks ends and it is now present time Ali Pointe, along with the rest of the FLN leaders captured are beheaded. Through this, the FLN reciprocate and the insurgency becomes a full on national revolution with growth in numbers and support. The film ends with Algeria gaining the independence it strived for in 1962. The film is important in understanding asymmetric conflicts because despite being the weaker side, Algeria had proved itself to be much stronger than the French and had its newfound independence to show for it.
Slave narratives are comprised of stories regarding individuals toiling to escape systemised slavery. This is relevant to American history because it reinforces the themes of liberation politics in American literature. The idea that America was founded on the principle of all men being created equal was once again under scrutiny. Humanity in Algiers is a fictional account that adds to this criticism through the eyes of the white American Slave. The novella retains many of the tropes and ideas of quintessential slave narratives such as The Life of Frederick Douglas and establishes itself as a story of slavery. However, the approach to liberation in Humanity in Algiers is gradualism and acceptance. Consequently, the novella looses the overall point of the slave narrative contributes to a study of core humanities.
Vichy France is a period of French history that has only fairly recently begun to be examined for what it truly is: a period in which many of the French turned against their own state and collaborated with the German forces to betray their own country. Until the eighties, the Vichy Regime was regarded as “an aberration in the evolution of the French Republic” (Munholland, 1994) , repressed by the French in an attempt to regain their national pride. ‘Lacombe Lucien’ (1974), directed by Louis Malle is a film which aims to capture the ambiguity of the era through the documentation of fictional collaborateur, Lucien.
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.
French Pre-Revolutionary Government The ancien regime was an expression used to describe the system of government, laws and institutions which preceded the French Revolution of 1789. The system relied heavily on the 'seigneurial system', based largely on the medieval feudal system by which the monarch had absolute power, most of the clergy (first estate) and the nobility (second estate) were very wealthy, and the peasants (third estate) were oppressed by heavy taxation and made to work as virtual slaves for their landlords. It was this system which was an important contributing factor to the resentment which developed between the poor, who made up three quarters of France's population at the time, and the nobles, and eventually led to the uprising of the lower classes and revolution in 1789. The ancient regime was an outdated system which ignored the demands of social and economic progress in favour of keeping the third estate in check and attempting to ensure that France was a dominant power in Europe. In most European countries the system of feudalism had died out in the Middle Ages.
The 1950s was not a particularly good decade for France. The Fourth Republic, which had been established in the aftermath of the Second World War, remained unstable and lurched from crisis to crisis. Between 1946 and 1954, there had been a war in French Indo-China, between a nationalist force under Ho Chi Minh and the French. The war was long and bitter and towards the end, the French suffered the ignominy of losing the major fortress of Dien Bien Phu to the guerrillas on 7 May 1954. An armistice was sought with Ho Chi Minh, and the nations of North and South Vietnam emerged from the ashes of the colony. It is entirely likely that the success of the guerrillas influenced the Algerian insurrectionists, the National Liberation Front(FLN), in tactics and in the idea that the time was ripe to strike. It is clear that the FLN employed similar methods to those developed by the nationalists under Ho Chi Minh.1
The time is 5:44 pm. The setting is in a restaurant. Here you will see the faces of many people whose fate has been sealed for them. Some seems happy, some seems confused, while some seems sad. A happy bartender is talking and enjoying the accompanies of his customers,
In the second half of the twentieth century, started a process of decolonization, first in Asia and then in Africa. In 1949, India was one of the first country to gain its independence, followed by Burma, Malaysia, and Ceylon. In Africa the decolonization started a few years later, first in Libya and Egypt, and in the rest of the continent afterwards. The main colonists were the Great Britain and France. The history has shown that Great Britain succeeded to decolonize generally in peace while France had much more problems to give up its colonies, which led to numerous conflicts opposing the colonists and the colonized. It has been the case especially in Algeria where a murderous war lasted almost eight years. The philosopher Frantz Fanon has studied the outbreak of this conflict as he was working in Algeria and he spent some time working on the question of colonialism, drawing the conclusion that violence was the only way to get rid of colonists. This essay will analyse who was Fanon and why he came to such a conclusion along with the reasons why it could be said that he is right ,and finally, the arguments against his statement. Finally, it will aim to prove that even though Fanon had valid points, diplomacy could have been for efficient and less tragic rather than his support to violence.
Since the late 1800’s, almost all of Africa had been under European colonial rule, but this changed drastically in 1960. Sixteen African nations gained their independence that year, including the former Belgian Congo, which became the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 30. One of the key personalities that made this possible was Patrice Lumumba, who experienced widespread support in gaining independence and became the first Prime Minister of the DROC. However, he lost much of this support once he was in office, and lasted fewer than 200 days. Lumumba’s ability to communicate was a key reason for his success and failure.
Around the mid twentieth century, Africa saw an increase in independence movements and decolonization efforts. Even up to the 1960s, some European powers still had a colony in Africa, such as France. In 1954, the National Liberation Front (FLN) in Algeria started a guerrilla campaign to gain independence from France. Much later in the decade, South Africa, who gained their independence from Great Briton in 1930, struggled with a racial system called Apartheid. This was used to suppress the native black population, and through racial segregation, the minority white population came into power. This paper will focus on these two events in African history and how the international community comprehended the reality of the two situations. In the case of the Algerian War of Independence, the different strategies that both the FLN and France used will be analyzed by the impact they had on the United Nations and the international community. Secondly, the use of song and culture in South Africa by the native population will be examined, and in particular the effects the Mayibuye Cultural Ensemble and the Amandla Cultural Ensemble had on international audiences and how useful it was in revealing the state of the population under Apartheid rule. Primarily, the films The Battle of Algiers and Amandla! will be used to provide a context, and thus the films will be portrayed through an international viewpoint.
France invaded Algeria to bring the “blessings of colonization. The main objective for the French invading Algeria was for economic gain and become known as one the most superior and dominant nations of Europe. France changed the lives of many Africans which led to Algerians applying for citizenship in their own country. The Algerians endured many hardships after the French came into the picture. Things did not change for the better, but for the worst. The French “imposed more and higher taxes on Muslims than Europeans” (library of congress). In their country Muslims had to pay more taxes, and even new taxes than they had before the French invaded their country. The Algerians then had to apply for citizenship into their own country. The application was so difficult that many applicants were unable to complete it, and were denied citizenship. The lifestyles of Algerians was changed so much that French tried to make the Muslims forget who they were. Women wore a veil to symbolize their religious practices. The French wanted the women to remove their veil as a way to modernize them when it was only a way for France to do what they wanted. Algerians soon became tired of the mistreatment and ways of the French so they started a revolt for independence.
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.
The definition of decolonization differs from person to person, from nation to nation, and from past experience to past experience. In my opinion decolonization is a thought out active resistance of colonial forces with a goal of eventually obtaining indigenous liberation. Colonialism has brought forth many problems with it. As more time passes the problems keep getting worse. Problems such as crimes being committed on Natives and loss of tradition.
"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.