Power networks constructed and challenged

The case of France and Algeria

Precursors: Algerian politics before the 1830sDiffuse military-political power

Ottoman rule (very distant) Tribes and tribal confederations piracy

French colonial expansion When

Initial French invasion, 1830; 1834 France annexation Urban centers taken early, rural areas provide stiff resistance Early resistance encourages French “pacification” effort; major

resistance only ends in 1870s

Why Economic Socio-political

Divert attention from domestic problems “The old nations must have outlets in order to alleviate the demographic

pressures exerted on big cities and the use of the capital that has been concentrated there. To open new sources of production is, in effect, the surest means of neutralising this concentration without upsetting the social order…”

- Commission d’Afrique report on the pros and cons of French colonization in Africa, 1833

Strategic

How: Military Power Massive French use of violence, scorched earth policies

Intense tribal resistance to colonization in countryside regime du sabre (government of the sword)

By 1900 about 3 million Muslims have died through war and disease Settler colonialism

Italian, French, Spanish working class and farmers; felons and convicts

“After the Turkish authorities had disappeared…there was no day on which we did not try to destroy the great families…because we found them to be forces of resistance. We did not realize that in suppressing the forces of resistance in this fashion, we were also suppressing our means of action. The result is that we are today confronted by a sort of human dust on which we have no influence and in which movements take place which are to us unknown. We no longer have any authoritative intermediaries between ourselves and the indigenous population.”

Jules Cambon, Gov. General in Algeria, reporting to the French Senate in 1894. Quoted in William Quandt, Revolution and Political Leadership: Algeria, 1954-1968, p, 5

Who: The players French government

(in France) Colons (settlers) The French public &

liberal critics

beni-oui-ouis: Algerian “yes men”

Algerian political parties and rebel groups Liberals Revolutionaries Secular & Muslim

Ordinary people

Economic power Colons/pied-noirs

About 10% of population “Grand colons” and “petit blancs”

Colonists hold about 30% arable land by 1900 Rural colonization destroys traditional Algerian

society Muslims pay higher taxes than colons

In 1909 Muslims produced 20 percent of Algeria's income but paid 70 percent of direct taxes

Ideological power French "civilizing mission" French schools in urban areas:

curriculum entirely French Emergence of a class of évolués (literally, the

evolved ones) leads to rise in Algerian nationalism Destruction/deterioration of indigenous Algerian

schools Early generations of Algerian nationalists

sought full integration into France, not independence

Political Power Algerians given French citizenship- with many

restrictions Nearly 200,000 Algerians serve in French forces in

WWI and WWII French National Assembly Algerian Assembly after 1947

Bicameral, heavily rigged in favor of colons & Algerian “yes men”

Continual struggle between mainland France and Colons

From the interstices: challenges to colonialism Political challenges

Algerian rights and independence parties Increasing clashes and protests after WWII

Ideological challenges Algerian nationalism

Military challenges Underground cells after WWII FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale)

Founded 1954

Algerian War of Independence, 1954-1962 Half a million people die (mostly Algerians)

Algerian independence, 1962 Evian agreements