Editing History of Algeria (section)

=== Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962) ===
{{main|Algerian War of Independence}}

The [[Algerian War of Independence]] (1954–1962), brutal and long, was the most recent major turning point in the country's history. Although often fratricidal, it ultimately united Algerians and seared the value of independence and the philosophy of [[anticolonialism]] into the national consciousness.

In the early morning hours of November 1, 1954, the National Liberation Front ([[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|Front de Libération Nationale]]—FLN) launched attacks throughout Algeria in the opening salvo of a [[Algerian War of Independence|war of independence]]. An important watershed in this war was the massacre of Pieds-Noirs civilians by the FLN near the town of Philippeville in August 1955. Which prompted [[Jacques Soustelle]] into calling for more repressive measures against the rebels. The French authorities claimed that 1,273 "guerrillas" died in what Soustelle admitted were "severe" reprisals. The FLN subsequently, giving names and addresses, claimed that 12,000 Muslims were killed. After Philippeville, all-out war began in Algeria. The FLN fought largely using guerrilla tactics whilst the French counter-insurgency tactics often included severe reprisals and repression.

Eventually, protracted negotiations led to a cease-fire signed by France and the FLN on March 18, 1962, at [[Evian, France]]. The [[Evian accords]] also provided for continuing economic, financial, technical, and cultural relations, along with interim administrative arrangements until a [[referendum]] on self-determination could be held. The Evian accords guaranteed the religious and property rights of French settlers, but the perception that they would not be respected led to the exodus of one million ''pieds-noirs'' and ''harkis''.

Abusive tactics of the [[French Army]] remains a controversial subject in France to this day. Deliberate [[Torture during the Algerian War|illegal methods]] were used, such as beatings, mutilations, hanging by the feet or hands, torture by electroshock, [[waterboarding]], sleep deprivation and sexual assaults, among others.<ref name="Huma00">{{cite news |title=Prise de tête Marcel Bigeard, un soldat propre? |newspaper=[[L'Humanité]] |url=http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2000-06-24/2000-06-24-227522 |date= 24 June 2000 |language=fr |access-date=15 February 2007}}</ref>{{sfn|Horne|1977|pp=198–200}}<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071020184243/http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/comptesrendus/branche.htm THE FRENCH ARMY AND TORTURE DURING THE ALGERIAN WAR (1954–1962)], [[Raphaëlle Branche]], Université de [[Rennes]], 18 November 2004</ref><ref name="Rey">Text published in ''Vérité Liberté'' n°9 May 1961.</ref> French war crimes against Algerian civilians were also committed, including indiscriminate shootings of civilians, bombings of villages suspected of helping the ALN,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ztnVsIiefwC&pg=PA179 |title=The Algerian Novel and Colonial Discourse: Witnessing to a Différend |author=Abdelkader Aoudjit |year=2010 |page=179|publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=9781433110740 }}</ref> rape,<ref name=Hanssen>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History |author1=Jens Hanssen |author2=Amal N. Ghazal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGkLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 |page=261 |year=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-165279-0 }}</ref> [[disembowelment]] of pregnant women,<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0iVpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |title= The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question |page=122 |author= Marnia Lazreg |year= 1994 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 9781134713301 |quote=Reports of French soldiers, especially members from the French Legion, cutting up pregnant women's bellies were not uncommon during the war}}</ref> imprisonment [[Starvation|without food]] in small cells (some of which were small enough to impede lying down),<ref name="VIDAL-NAQUET2014">{{cite book |author=Pierre VIDAL-NAQUET |title=Les crimes de l'armée française: Algérie, 1954-1962 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd09BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT118 |date=20 November 2014 |publisher=La Découverte |isbn=978-2-7071-8309-5 |page=118}}</ref> throwing prisoners [[Death flights|out of helicopters to their death]] or into the sea with concrete on their feet, and [[Premature burial|burying people alive]].<ref name="Huma00"/><ref>[http://ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&from=fulltext&num_notice=8&total_notices=8&mc=Favre,%20Bernard Film testimony] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081128154820/http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice|date=2008-11-28}} by [[Paul Teitgen]], [[Jacques Duquesne (journalist)|Jacques Duquesne]] and [[Hélie Denoix de Saint Marc]] on the [[Institut national de l'audiovisuel|INA]] archive website </ref><ref>{{cite web |language=fr |url=http://www.elwatan.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=7095 |title=Henri Pouillot, mon combat contre la torture |trans-title=Henri Pouillot, my fight against torture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020203219/http://elwatan.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=7095 |archive-date=2007-10-20 |url-status=dead |website=[[El Watan]] |date=1 November 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ldh-toulon.net/spip.php?article1778 |title=Des guerres d'Indochine et d'Algérie aux dictatures d'Amérique latine |language=fr |trans-title=From the wars of Indochina and Algeria to the dictatorships of Latin America |date=10 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181518/http://www.ldh-toulon.net/spip.php?article1778 |archive-date=30 September 2007}} Interview with [[Marie-Monique Robin]] by the [[Ligue des droits de l'homme]] (LDH, Human Rights League). An interview with Marie-Monique Robin, journalist and director, published in Hommes & Libertés, magazine of the LDH, N° 128, October November December  2004.</ref>

The FLN also committed many atrocities, both against French [[pieds-noirs]] and against fellow Algerians whom they deemed as supporting the French.{{sfn|Horne|1978|p=135}} These crimes included killing unarmed men, women and children, rape and disembowelment or decapitation of women and murdering children by slitting their throats or banging their heads against walls.<ref>{{cite book |title=Military Occupations in the Age of Self-Determination: The History Neocons Neglected |last=Gannon |first=James |year=2008 |publisher=Praeger Security International |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1sDgR3KKfBAC&pg=PA48 |isbn=9780313353826}}</ref>

Between 350,000 and 1 million Algerians are estimated to have died during the war, and more than 2 million, out of a total [[Muslim]] population of 9 or 10 million, were made into refugees or forcibly relocated into government-controlled camps. Much of the countryside and [[agriculture]] was devastated, along with the modern [[Economic system|economy]], which had been dominated by urban European [[settler]]s (the ''[[pied-noir]]s''). French sources estimated that at least 70,000 Muslim civilians were killed or abducted and presumed killed, by the FLN during the [[Algerian War]]. Nearly one million people of mostly French, Spanish and Italian descent left the country at independence due to the privileges that they lost as settlers and their unwillingness to be on equal footing with indigenous Algerians <ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2008/05/DAUM/15870| title=Sans valise ni cercueil, les pieds-noirs restés en Algérie, par Aurel & Pierre Daum (Le Monde diplomatique, mai 2008)| date=May 2008}}</ref> along with them left most Algerians of [[Jew]]ish descent and those Muslim Algerians who had supported a French Algeria (''[[harki]]s''). 30–150,000 pro-French Muslims were also killed in Algeria by FLN in post-war reprisals.{{sfn|Horne|1977|p={{page needed|date=April 2023}}}}