Algerian War of Independence

Grace Picariello
March 26, 2017

When France seized Algeria as a military colony, the citizens of Algeria had a right to be angry with France. To take away a country's sovereignty is not just. However, the way that the Algerians initiated the fight for independence from France ought to be considered a form of terrorism. The National Liberation Front, or FLN, was the non-state group that began the revolts demanding independence. They targeted and attacked civilians in an effort to gain support for the revolution. Furthermore, they moved on to attack urban areas in order to gain international attention for their cause. All of this violence led to a huge percentage of Algeria being forced to flee their homes to France in 1962. Since the National Liberation Front was a non-state group, targeting civilians with violence, and causing terror for political goals and personal interests, they ought to be regarded formally as a terrorist group.

It is important to note that the FLN was a subnational group and not the formal government of Algeria at the time. This is a key component to defining terrorism, as the United States State Department explains that an act of terrorism must be carried out by "subnational groups or clandestine agents" (US State Department). Furthermore, this non-state group was primarily targeting innocent civilians. They instilled so much terror in the population of Algeria, specifically the Muslim population, that over 900,000 of them were forced to flee to France in fear of the FLN's actions. In accordance with the State Department, again, a terrorist typically uses "violence...against noncombatant targets" (US State Department). Violence and the instillation of fear among civilian groups is probably the most decisive characteristic of terrorism. The FLN's actions against both French settlers and Algerians certainly fits this bill.

Another decisive characteristic that is vital to something being considered an act of terrorism or a terrorist group, is the presence or lack of political motivation. The actions carried out by the FLN were centered around a political motivation, this being independence from France's rule. While this is a noble cause, in my opinion, the way that the National Liberation Front decided to reach this goal was not ideal. While the United States did fight a long war with England in order to attain independence, there were never any noteworthy situations that could have been regarded as terrorist acts. The government of Algeria would have options when it comes to gaining independence that it certainly did not exhaust. Instead, a radical subnational group took over and used terror and senseless violence against noncombatant civilians. I would contend that a formal war between France and Algeria would have been a better option. While it would have possibly taken more lives and more time, there would be written rules that could not be broken and could have maybe led to less civilian casualties.

At the end of the day, although the Algerian National Liberation Front was fighting for a worthy cause, the way that they went about sparking the change was wrong and fits the description of terrorism. The group had a politically motivated cause. In order to achieve their goal of independence from France, they instilled terror among civilians. This tactic was used as a method of coercing support for Independence from civilians. However, it did quite the opposite as almost a million Algerians were so afraid of the FLN that they saw no other option than to flee the country. In this case, the National Liberation Front has all of the characteristics that a terrorist group usually would.

Works Cited

United States State Department