Editing Algeria (section)

=== The first three decades of independence (1962–1991) ===
{{main|History of Algeria (1962–1999)}}

The number of European ''[[Pied-Noir]]s'' who fled Algeria totaled more than 900,000 between 1962 and 1964.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ussama Samir Makdisi|authorlink1= Ussama Makdisi|author2=Paul A. Silverstein|title=Memory and Violence in the Middle East and North Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2VlR9Uh22EgC&pg=PA160|year=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-34655-1|page=160|access-date=12 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416125539/https://books.google.com/books?id=2VlR9Uh22EgC&pg=PA160 |archive-date=16 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The exodus to mainland France accelerated after the [[Oran massacre of 1962]], in which hundreds of militants entered European sections of the city and began attacking civilians.

[[File:Houari Boumediene's Portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|[[Houari Boumediene]]]]
Algeria's first president was the Front de Libération Nationale ([[FLN (Algeria)|FLN]]) leader [[Ahmed Ben Bella]]. Morocco's claim to [[Greater Morocco|portions of western Algeria]] led to the [[Sand War]] in 1963. Ben Bella was [[1965 Algerian coup d'état|overthrown in 1965]] by [[Houari Boumédiène]], his former ally and defence minister. Under Ben Bella, the government had become increasingly [[Socialism|socialist]] and authoritarian; Boumédienne continued this trend. However, he relied much more on the army for his support, and reduced the sole legal party to a symbolic role. He [[collective farming|collectivised]] agriculture and launched a massive industrialisation drive. [[Extraction of petroleum|Oil extraction]] facilities were nationalised. This was especially beneficial to the leadership after the international [[1973 oil crisis]].

Boumédienne's successor, [[Chadli Bendjedid]], introduced some liberal economic reforms. He promoted a policy of [[Arabisation]] in Algerian society and public life. Teachers of Arabic, brought in from other Muslim countries, spread conventional Islamic thought in schools and sowed the seeds of a return to Orthodox Islam.<ref name="faco" />

The Algerian economy became increasingly dependent on oil, leading to hardship when the price collapsed during the [[1980s oil glut]].<ref name="Prochaska-2013">{{cite web|last=Prochaska|first=David|title=That Was Then, This Is Now: The Battle of Algiers and After.|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/rhr/summary/v085/85.1prochaska.html|page=141|access-date=10 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725163300/http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/rhr/summary/v085/85.1prochaska.html|archive-date=25 July 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Economic recession caused by the crash in world oil prices resulted in Algerian social unrest during the 1980s; by the end of the decade, Bendjedid introduced a multi-party system. Political parties developed, such as the [[Islamic Salvation Front]] (FIS), a broad coalition of Muslim groups.<ref name="faco" />