Editing History of Chad (section)

==Decolonization (1940&ndash;1960)==
{{main|Decolonization in Chad}}
[[Image:Eboue wwII prop 03-0118a.jpg|thumb|Félix Éboué in a contemporary World War II cartoon]]
During [[World War II]], Chad was the first French colony to rejoin the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] (August 26, 1940), after the [[Battle of France|defeat of France by Germany]]. Under the administration of [[Félix Éboué]], France's first black colonial governor, a military column, commanded by Colonel [[Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque]], and including two battalions of [[Sara people|Sara]] troops, moved north from [[N'Djamena]] (then Fort Lamy) to engage [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] forces in [[Libya]], where, in partnership with the British Army's [[Long Range Desert Group]], they captured [[Kufra]]. On January 21, 1942, N'Djamena was [[Sonderkommando Blaich|bombed]] by a German aircraft.

After the war ended, local parties started to develop in Chad. The first to be born was the radical [[Chadian Progressive Party]] (PPT) in February 1947, initially headed by Panamanian born [[Gabriel Lisette]], but from 1959 headed by [[François Tombalbaye]]. The more conservative [[Chadian Democratic Union]] (UDT) was founded in November 1947 and represented French commercial interests and a bloc of traditional leaders composed primarily of Muslim and [[Ouaddai Kingdom|Ouaddaïan]] nobility.  The confrontation between the PPT and UDT was more than simply ideological; it represented different regional identities, with the PPT representing the Christian and [[Animism|animist]] south and the UDT the Islamic north. In April 1952, the [[Bébalem massacre]] was carried out by the French authorities against farmers who protested the announced victory of the UDT in the local elections.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Debos |first=Marielle |date=2009 |title=Chad 1900-1960 |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01104080/file/Chad-1900-1960.pdf |encyclopedia=[[Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence]] |pages=8–9 |access-date=25 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lanne|first=Bernard|title=Histoire politique du Tchad de 1945 à 1958. Administration, partis, élections|location=Paris|publisher=[[Éditions Karthala|Karthala]]|pages=197–218|isbn=9782865378838}}</ref>

The PPT won the May 1957 pre-independence elections thanks to a greatly expanded franchise, and Lisette led the government of the Territorial Assembly until he lost a confidence vote on February 11, 1959. After a referendum on territorial autonomy on September 28, 1958, French Equatorial Africa was dissolved, and its four constituent states &ndash; [[Gabon]], [[Republic of the Congo|Congo (Brazzaville)]], the [[Central African Republic]], and Chad became autonomous members of the [[French Community]] from November 28, 1958. Following Lisette's fall in February 1959 the opposition leaders [[Gontchome Sahoulba]] and [[Ahmed Koulamallah]] could not form a stable government, so the PPT was again asked to form an administration – which it did under the leadership of François Tombalbaye on March 26, 1959. On July 12, 1960, France agreed to Chad becoming fully independent.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00D1FFA3D581A7A93C1A8178CD85F448685F9 | work=The New York Times | first=W. Granger | last=Blair | title=3 More Nations Gain Freedom Through Pacts Signed by France; Congo, Central African and Chad Republics Are Given Sovereignty in Paris | date=July 13, 1960}}</ref> On August 11, 1960, Chad became an independent country and François Tombalbaye became its first president.