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Video: French colonialists vs. Islamic Algerian uprising (war of independence)
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article    •    About the Author    •    Bibliography/Sources

This video is an excerpt from the Italian classic "Battle of Algiers", depicting the Islamic Algerian independence war against the French colonial occupants, one of the bloodiest independence wars in history.

For a brief historical walkthrough, as the Ottoman Islamic empire went into decline, most of its periphery territory and vassals were seized by the superior European military powers. France annexed Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Syria, with the former three conquered throughout the 19th century, and the latter two as a reward for defeating the Turks in World War I (Sykes-Picot Agreement). The conquest of Algeria was difficult. Corsairs, pirates, and Islamic Mujahidin refused to accept foreign occupants -- let alone Christians -- in their land. After a bitter struggle, Algeria was subdued and remained a colony from 1830 to 1962. During World War II, North Africa was ruled mostly by the Germans and Italians. France effectively switched sides and joined the Germans with the new Vichy regime under Petain, who was encouraged by Hitler to allow France's strategically-significant colonies to be kept at a distance in case France's massive empire were again to rise against the Third Reich. Lebanon and Syria, indirectly thanks to Hitler's Reich, became some of the first colonies to be free from France and any imperialist power.

Drawing from the anti-colonial hysteria that swept the world after World War II, the Muslims of Algeria (Berbers and Arabs) led an independence war throughout the 1960's that would rank was among the bloodiest conflicts in history, with millions slain. For many, the revolt was one of self-determination; for others, it was an Islamic Jihad to protect dar-al-Islam (the Muslim community) from the tresspass of the kafir (infidels). The revolution surely assumed an Islamic character, appropriate for such a religious culture as this, and the result is seen today in the struggle for power between a dictatorial military regime and full Islamic-state-seeking movements in Algeria. The anthem of the FLN (National Liberation Front), only one of the many freedom-fighting groups, was "Islam is our religion, Arabic our language, Algeria our fatherland." As a result, many French as well as Muslims today are rightly apt to view this as a antagonism between Muslims and Europeans. The independence war was such a humiliation for France that it contributed to the collapse of the so-called 4th French Republic, just as the useless wars in Angola and Mozambique led to the collapse of the Portuguese Fascist government.

 

 

 

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is a historian and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies (language and history), am presently working for my Masters in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate. I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles of native European and immigrant minority identities. See my staff entry for more information.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

The film "Battle of Algiers", directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, with the copyright now expired.


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