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Algerian Independence From France

1962·Politics & governance·North Africa (Algeria)·
1962Date
Politics & governanceCategory
9Empires active
Date
1962
Category
Politics & governance
Region
North Africa (Algeria)
Era
Contemporary
Significance

Algeria became independent on 3 July 1962, ending 132 years of French colonial rule after one of the twentieth century's bloodiest wars of decolonisation.

The Évian Accords, signed on 18 March 1962 between France and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, halted a conflict begun in 1954 by the National Liberation Front (FLN) and marked by guerrilla warfare, systematic torture, and the mass displacement of civilians. A referendum on 1 July returned an overwhelming vote for independence, and Algeria was proclaimed sovereign two days later. The war had cost hundreds of thousands of Algerian lives, mobilised 1.5 million French troops, and toppled France's Fourth Republic while bringing Charles de Gaulle to power. Independence triggered the exodus of nearly a million European settlers, the pied-noirs, and reprisals against the harkis who had fought alongside France. The FLN victory became an inspiration for anti-colonial and revolutionary movements worldwide, its theorist Frantz Fanon a touchstone for liberation struggles, while the wounds of the war continued to shape French and Algerian politics for decades.

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Standard general history of Ethiopia and its dynasties.

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