ay in hIdentification
The investigation will evaluate how the Algerian Civil War marked the end of the Fourth Republic of France and how it was the political instability with in France that caused the collapse of the Fourth Republic. The period of 1945-1960 will be studied in order to answer the question: To what extent did Algerian Civil War affect the fall of the Fourth French Republic? This paper will argue that the Algerian War was a factor in the collapse of the republic however it predominantly marked the ending of the republic rather than cause the fourth republic to collapse and it was political and economical crises that caused the collapse of the republic.
Source: European Revolutionaries and Algerian Independence, 1954-1962 by Ian Birchall, a book published in 2012.
This source was written 50 years after the end of the Algerian civil war making this a contextually strong source to rely on because of the of the large span of time after the war thus having the advantage of hindsight. However, this source is also limiting because Birchall is a British Marxist Historian since he is not the leading expert in the field there may be inaccurate information regarding certain parts of the history as well as the fact that Birchall is a Marxist his work could be considered having slight bias because communism does partake a large role in the decolonization of Algeria.
Source: Algeria and France; from Colonialism to Cooperation by, Dorothy Pickles a book published in 1963
This source is contextually strong because it was written only one year after the Algerian Civil war end thus eliminating the possibility of false recollection of an event. In addition the text is contextually strong because of hindsight especially because it occurred after the collapse of the fourth republic therefore having a better understanding as to why it collapsed. However, this source is also valuable because Pickles has written multiple books on the fourth and fifth republic of France therefore having a deep and thorough understanding of the government and motives behind certain actions.
(Word Count: 330)
Investigation
The colonization of Algeria by the French occurred between 1830 and 1847. The Algerian population will proceed to be under French rule for another 132 years in which the indigenous people were legally French subjects but not French citizens. France in between this period went through three republics this is significant because with every new republic in France that means that there have ben alterations to the French Constitution and it was not until the Fifth Republic that France decolonized Algeria. Between the second and fourth republics there were rebellions like the one in 1871 but it was immediately crushed by the French and all movements following independence movements after World War I. The French felt that “superior races have right because they have …the duty to civilize inferior races” (Birchall, 9).
The French colonial empire significantly decreased in power with the outbreak of the Algerian Civil war. There were severe food shortages and unemployment, which made French rule highly unfavorable. In 1945 a “Muslim rising” broke out in Sétif and as a result 15,000 people died. After this occurrence the Algerian people knew they could not trust the French government (Birchall 10). Only two years later a statute would be created to have elections but there was no hope for the Algerians for the elections were rigged in order to avoid a pro-independence movement. This is significant because it shows how tightly controlled the colony was. Consequently, National Liberation Front or FLN launched attacks all over the country of Algeria, the French government considering them as criminals and not a political movement (Birchall, 10). The start of the Algerian civil war on November 1, 1954 marked the downfall of the Fourth Republic with another revolt breaking out however, this time killing 15. With the FLN became more influential by gaining support from neighboring countries like Tunisia, Ghana and Morocco (Pickles 47) France became increasingly divided have both right wing and left wing extremists. The left consisting of Communists (PCF) and Socialists (SFIO) supporting the independence of Algeria and the Right supporting that Algeria should remain under French control. The reasons behind keeping Algeria as a colony were purely economic driven “it was the economic conquest which followed the military conquest that turned Algeria into a part of France” (Leuthy 238). A large motive towards keeping Algeria under French control was the large amounts of natural gas the North African country held, France was dependent on the oversea colonies for resources like gas and petrol (Taylor). This was significant because Algerian farmland proved to be a benefit to the French economy. Many other global superpowers did not have because of the diminishing colonies worldwide, during this period they were now relying on their own resources. In addition, “More and more of France's military resources were tied up in Algeria… and avoiding any internationalization of the problem” (Pickles 50). This was the main concern, not have the United Nations involved with Algeria because France knew that the UN would grant the country its independence.
The war it self represented the fall of the Fourth Republic of France but it was mainly the use of guerilla warfare that significantly made the war that much more difficult to fight. The FLN would carry out attacks and by 1957 “4,000 attacks and acts sabotage” would be reported with the FLN’s goal being to “flaunt its ability in every town and region” (Bryne 14). The reason this is so important is because France and Algeria were fighting a war against their own. In addition the guerilla warfare emphasizes the fact that so many Algerians were so against France’s reign over Algeria. However, it also highlights the fact that it was people of the same country going against one another in hopes of having an independent country.
Although the Civil war played a very big part in the fall of the fourth republic there were other factors as well. France also had another colony, which ultimately was great defeat; it was the loss of Indochina at the battle of Dien Bien Phu, which marked the commencement of the Fourth Republic’s down fall. Unlike the Algerian War that would later proceed, the Indochinese war “had ill-defined goals, and an often ‘invisible’ enemy” (Cooper 182). Indochina was not seen as such an immediate threat because it was not necessarily domestically affecting France like Algeria would, however, the loss of this colony began the movement of independence thus allowing the FLN to be able to conduct their rebellions because of France’s weak position after their colonial loss. Also this would only encourage the FLN to continue to go against the republic because the party knew that eventually France would liberate them just like it was done in Indochina and Tunisia.
The fourth republic was in constant political imbalance; the National Assembly was one third communist (PCF), one-third socialist (SFIO) and then the popular republican movement (MRP). This is noteworthy because with the National Assembly being more left wing parties the votes become skewed and favoring the independence of Algeria rather than having a well balanced Congress to be able to vote on the situation. In addition, the left wing was tied to the FLN who opposed anyone that did not support the independence movement occurring in Algeria. On the other hand the right wing refused to let go of the colony because it would diminish the global power France had at the time. With France’s colonies diminishing this increasingly made France in a weaker state thus, affecting the government and its economy. It was not only political disagreements but also common hostility towards the RPF (Rally of the French people) and the Communists, leading to the common cause of June 17, 1951, the election of a new legislation (Birchall 20). The election of the new legislation resulted in the PCF and the SFIO as dominant parties in other words it was socialists and communists gained the most seats and only after two months a new prime minister was chosen and a whole new cabinet was chosen. With external issues like the decolonization, problems continuously postponed because of the weak unstable government.
As a result, of political instability as well as economic set backs from the Indochinese war, in a span of 12 years the Fourth Republic had 22 changes in prime ministers (Rouix 16). This shows how undecided and uncooperative the government was because with every prime minister change it means that there was a crisis and the president chooses a new prime minister to resolve the issues. This can prove that the government was more unstable than originally thought because that meant with every new prime minister there was a new cabinet. With so many conflicting opinions based on parties the fourth republic was not only being affect outside of France but internally as well and was reflected through the choices made during the Algerian civil war.
The Algerian Civil war marked the end of the Fourth Republic with the coup done on the 13 of May 1958. The coup was everything the Fourth Republic feared and marked the return of Charles De Gaulle. However, it was not only the Algerian Civil war that led to the fall of the Fourth Republic it was the governmental instability in France as well was economic dependency on Algeria that ultimately led to the fall. In addition the Indochinese war’s impact on both France and Algeria had a major influence on the result of the war. It can be concluded that the fall of the fourth republic was marked by the Algerian Civil but was caused by political and economic crises.
(Word Count: 1275)
Reflection
This investigation brought to light the fact that the causes of a regime of government to collapse don’t necessarily deal with external conflicts only. Instead, it is the internal instability that will later be seen through the citizens of that country or colony. The fact that there is a rebellion, riot or sabotage indicates there is something wrong with the government and the only why the government always ends it is through violence. In addition, this investigation showed me that often times that a government will try to avoid doing something that will be an arduous process so instead the government will wait until it becomes to big of a problem.
Many of the sources found were somewhat biased there for needing sources based off of the French right wing or sources based off of the French left wing and history told through the point of view of an Algerian who supported the independence. The difficult part about this, was understanding how their political parties changed the point of view of a lot of the history. In addition, what was also difficult was to be able to take a step back and not become to invested in once source and not rely on the history on source solely. It was putting myself in the position of a historian that had no bias and no previous knowledge of France or Algeria that made it that much more difficult; especially because of my own heritage that required myself not to rely on one type of source rather than another.
An issue that historians face when studying this period of time is understanding how global supper powers like Great Britain and France used to conquer so much land and after the Second World War their global power significantly dropped because colonialism was now being seen as something that is morally incorrect. Therefore, when a country is hoping to keep its colonies it is trying to adjust to the fact that their resources that they once had wont be as available as they once were.