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Algeria insurgency triumphs against France
Political developments of Algeria after independence
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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...
... middle of paper ...
...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.
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.
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.
...y too followed Frantz Fanon’s ideals on decolonization, and in doing so sought liberation themselves.
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.
French occupation of Haiti began in the mid seventeenth century. For the next century and a half, the people of Haiti were forced to abandon their livelihoods and instead take up residence on namely sugar, indigo or cacao plantations in order to generate exports for the French market. Conditions on these plantations were often so cruel and oppressive that the common cause of death was exhaustion. No longer able to yield to the terms of their exploitation, Haitians participated in a string of slave revolts, the most prominent of which was led by Toussaint Louverture from 1791, which paved the road for Haitian emancipation. This essay will advance the idea that colonialism has impeded the political stability of Haiti during the nineteenth century, particularly from when Haiti formally declared independence in 1804. It will cover how issues such as; despotism, conflicting economic institutions, the militarization of the political system and racial supremacy, have negatively affected nineteenth century Haitian politics. Moreover, it will also elaborate on how these issues are, in effect, actually insidious derivatives of French rule during pre-independent Haiti.
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 independence of Haiti required the violent overthrow of the French sociopolitical regime and produced revolutionary changes in the political and social institutions of the Haitians.
The man does so while shedding a tear and half-heartedly trying to escape; clearly being forced to do something against his will. Within the first seconds of the movie depicts a subtle, yet powerful, connection between violence and power. Col. Mathieu is using his perceived power, through punishment, over the Arabic man to find out where rebel Ali La Pointe and others are hiding- and has the viewers see, it works. Throughout the movie only one dimension of power is exerted- dominance, and while the Battle of Algiers was won by the National Liberation Front, the overall war was lost, giving Algiers independence. I would argue this is because while violence can create immediate power, it will never maintain power over a group of
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.
Government, one of the greatest concepts of mankind since learning how to live together as a community. Government was designed to give order and to represent the people in their quest for happiness. When a government works well the majority of its citizens are satisfied with what the government is doing, but what happens when the government fall short of satisfying the basic needs of its citizens? When the current government fails a new one is the cry of its people. In many countries change is accomplished by a revolution. In France the National Assembly cried for revolution from its oppressive King and the Ancien Regime. They wanted to improve human rights. They wanted an improved economy and religious reform like the American Revolution. This is an argument that the French Revolution failed.
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.
Mali is a West African country located just north of Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast (Africa Prefix Map) and in 1892, it was colonized by the French(World-net: Virginia and Mali History). The main legacies of colonization that affected Mali were religion, language and agriculture. During this time if any Malian resisted colonization the French Military would take action and punish those individuals. Although Mali was colonized, the country benefited in many ways from these specific changes. As of September 22, 1960 Mali is independent but the country still carries some of the French traditions in their culture.
De Gaulle's foreign policy was possibly one of his most controversial legacies. He returned to power in 1958 with the determination to elevate France to a prominent international role. De Gaulle’s ultimate goal was to re-establish France’s standing as a first rate power that in the words of one historian, exemplified “independence and grandeur.” In his war memoirs, de Gaulle presented ‘une certain idée de la France’, it was his belief that France had a great destiny to fulfil: ‘All my life, I have thought of France in a certain way … France is not really herself unless in the front rank … Only vast enterprises are capable of counterbalancing the ferments of dispersal which are inherent in her people … In short, to my mind, France cannot be France without greatness’. This vision was the foundation of his foreign and defence policies.
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 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.