By early 1958, the Fourth Republic was increasingly paralysed by its inability to solve the Algerian problems. Governments fell in quick succession: Mollet in May 1957, Bourgès-Maunoury in September 1957, Gaillard in April 1958. After his confirmation by Parliament in May 1958, Pierre Pfimlin mentioned the possibility of negotiating with FLN. The French in Algeria reacted with a massive demonstration in Algiers on 13 May, and established Public Salvation Committees with the help of some servicemen.
Le général de Gaulle en Algérie. 4, 5, 6 juin 1958, juin 1958 coll. ECPAD, SCA 149.
President René Coty then called upon General de Gaulle to form a government, as he enjoyed the support of the Army and of part of the French public, and presented himself as the only possible arbiter. Following the constitutional referendum of September 1958, General de Gaulle ordered the Army to win a military victory but to stop all political activity. From 1959 to 1960, the Challe plan managed to undermine the internal ALN, after isolating it from the external ALN by border roadblocks.
Intervention télévisée du général de Gaulle sur l'autodétermination, 16 septembre 1959 coll. INA.
While modernising Algeria under the Constantine Plan and promoting Algerians – granted the same civic rights as the French in Algeria – General de Gaulle offered self-determination in September 1959 and mentioned an “Algerian Algeria” as early as June 1960. On 8 January 1961, the French endorsed his Algerian policies through a referendum. In opposition to such policies, some generals took power in Algiers in April 1961 but the military coup failed. Activists from the OAS (Organisation Armée Secrète), including some military officers, then went underground and launched a scorched earth policy.
Young visitors’ itinerary
A nameless War
In November 1954, following a succession of launched attacks in various parts of Algeria a major painful and often too tragic nameless war broke out leading Algeria to its independence in 1962. This nameless war referred to by the French authorities as the “Evènements d’Algérie” brought an end to 132 years of French rule in Algeria.
