Editing Algerian War (section)

=== Beginning of hostilities ===
{{Main|Declaration of 1 November 1954}}
[[File:Moudjahiddines algériens à la montagne.jpg|thumb|Algerian rebel fighters in the mountains|left]]
In the early morning hours of 1 November 1954, FLN ''maquisards'' (guerrillas) attacked military and civilian targets throughout Algeria in what became known as the ''[[Toussaint Rouge]]'' (Red [[All-Saints' Day]]). From [[Cairo]], the FLN broadcast the [[declaration of 1 November 1954]] written by the journalist [[Mohamed Aïchaoui]] calling on Muslims in Algeria to join in a national struggle for the "restoration of the Algerian state – sovereign, democratic and social – within the framework of the principles of Islam." It was the reaction of Premier [[Pierre Mendès France]] ([[Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party|Radical-Socialist Party]]), who only a few months before had completed the liquidation of France's tete empire in [[French Indochina|Indochina]], which set the tone of French policy for five years. He declared in the National Assembly, "One does not compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, the unity and integrity of the Republic. The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic. They have been French for a long time, and they are irrevocably French. ... Between them and metropolitan France there can be no conceivable secession." At first, and despite the [[Sétif massacre]] of 8 May 1945, and the pro-Independence struggle before World War II, most Algerians were in favor of a relative status-quo. While Messali Hadj had radicalized by forming the FLN, Ferhat Abbas maintained a more moderate, electoral strategy. Fewer than 500 ''[[fellaghas]]'' (pro-Independence fighters) could be counted at the beginning of the conflict.<ref name="Boisset">"Alger-Bagdad", account of [[Yves Boisset]]'s film documentary, ''[[The Battle of Algiers (film)|La Bataille d'Algers]]'' (2006), in ''[[Le Canard enchaîné]]'', January 10, 2007, n°4498, p.7</ref> The Algerian population radicalized itself in particular because of the terrorist acts of French-sponsored ''[[Main Rouge]]'' (Red Hand) group, which targeted anti-colonialists in all of the [[Maghreb]] region (Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria), killing, for example, Tunisian activist [[Farhat Hached]] in 1952.<ref name="Boisset"/>