Algerian War of Independence

From 1954 to 1962 the National Liberation Front fought France to a political defeat, winning Algerian independence after 132 years of colonial rule.

Overview

The FLN launched coordinated attacks on 1 November 1954, All Saints Day. Rural guerrilla brigades under the wilaya system and the urban battle of Algiers in 1957, where paratroopers used torture systematically, made the war infamous far beyond Algeria. French counterinsurgency won tactically, but the FLN won strategically by mobilizing the population, provoking repression, and internationalizing the cause at the United Nations. The 1961 Paris massacre of Algerian demonstrators and the settler terror of the OAS marked the endgame. The Evian accords of March 1962 ended the war, with independence proclaimed that July after a referendum. The conflict killed hundreds of thousands, shaped French politics around torture and memory, and inspired anticolonial movements across the world.