Relations between France and Algeria span more than five centuries. Through this period, there have been many changes within each of the nations, with consequent effects on their relations. Algeria was once part of the Ottoman Empire, and in the 19th century was conquered and colonized by France. It played an important role in both world wars.
Algeria achieved independence in the early 1960s following war with France. Issues of note in the countries' relations have included immigration from Algeria, Algerian nationalization of energy assets, and the legacy of French colonization.
Historical relations
Early history
The first contact between the two nations began in 1526, when Algeria was part of the Ottoman Empire. Francis I of France and the Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent had just agreed upon the Franco-Ottoman alliance, which initiated contact between France and the Barbary States of Northern Africa. These states were considered vassals for the Ottoman Empire; thus, were drawn into relations with France as a result of this alliance.
The Barbary slave trade and Barbary corsairs originating from the Regency of Algiers were a major problem throughout the centuries, leading to regular punitive expeditions by France (1661, 1665, 1682, 1683, 1688). French admiral Abraham Duquesne fought the Barbary corsairs in 1681 and bombarded Algiers between 1682 and 1683, to help Christian captives.
The French conquest of Algeria started after a rather peculiar event, in April 1827, when the Dey of Algiers supposedly struck the French consul with a fly whisk.History of Algeria Three years following this event, France began the invasion of Algeria. Between these three years, France unsuccessfully tried a variety of tactics in order to establish control in the region. All of them proved futile leading to a decision in 1830 to invade the country. The Algerians were quick to surrender following the landing of the French army on 5 July 1830. The last dey of Algiers, Husayn, was forced into exile as part of the agreement. However, one important Ottoman Algerian leader held onto power for several more years, but in general was quick to succumb to the French presence in the region. Due to the fact that Constantinople was a considerable distance away from Algiers, France easily stopped Ottoman influence in the region, and instead, asserted their own power.
French settlement of Algeria
French rule of Algeria was established during the years of 1830–1847, in which a groundwork was created in how the nation would be controlled. Before they officially became a colony of France, Algeria remained under largely military administration. The Algerians, excluding the French settlers, were subject to rule by military officers with detailed knowledge of local affairs and languages, but no interest in broader colonial matters. This meant that the officers often sided with the native Algerians instead of the French colonizers' demands. Algerians under a strict military rule were better represented than when the French began to exert their influence. As French occupation continued, French settlers began to colonize more of the region. While these actions caused alarm and tension between the natives and the settlers at first, the influence of French education and continued presence of European settlers eventually created a reluctant acceptance.
French settlers accumulated enough power to declare Algeria a French territory after the overthrow of the French monarchy and King Louis-Phillipe in 1848. The settlers, commonly called "Pieds-Noirs" or "Blackfeet", began to demand more acknowledgement of the French government and started enforcing French influence and forms of control over the Algerian precedents, even though they made up only ten percent of the population in Algeria. These changes were seen in the conversion of former Turkish provinces into departments based on a French model. Colonization advanced with renewed progress and excitement.
The overshadowing of Algerian government and customs by the French continued: responsibility for administration of Algeria was transferred from Algiers to a minister in Paris. Through the next couple of years and Napoleon III's reign, the French settlement of Algeria teetered between the control of the native Algerians and the French through actions such as the mentioned transfer of responsibility and the fight for dominant forms of government and society. Eventually, the slow build of European control led to the securing of settler domination after the fall of Napoleon III and the rise of the Third Republic in France.
World War II
During World War II, North Africa was the battleground for much of the European-based war. With the invasion of France by Germany in 1940, the Allied forces were quick to take control of the colonies once controlled by the French.
The Anglo-American occupation of North Africa began the start of modern-day Algeria. During this time, the occupational forces (both the Allied and the Axis powers) began delivering messages and promises of a "new world for formerly subject[ed] peoples". Promises of emancipation excited the Algerian people, as they would finally be able to form a sovereign nation. In December 1942, Ferhat Abbas drafted an Algerian Manifesto, and presented it to both the Allied and French authorities. This manifesto wanted recognition of an Algeria that was sovereign, and free of colonization. As a response, in 1943, French citizenship was given as an option to many North Africans. This, however was not enough to satisfy Algerians and an uprising soon followed.
On 8 May 1945, during celebrations to mark the end of World War II, an unorganized rising occurred in Setif, and 84 European settlers were killed. The French responded with brute force by regular military and territorial militia, suppressing the Algerian population, killing thousands of Algerians in retaliation. Opposition continued against the French, and the brute force used by the French continued. In total, casualty estimates range from 1,000 to 45,000 deaths, with many more wounded. Following the events of the past such as the Setif Massacre, French rule was introduced again.
Algerian War
For more than a century France maintained colonial rule in Algerian territory. This allowed exceptions to republican law, including Sharia laws applied by Islamic customary courts to Muslim women which gave women certain rights to property and inheritance which they did not have under French law.Benjamin Stora, "Avoir 20 ans en Kabylie", in L'Histoire n°324, October 2007, Discontent among the Muslim Algerians grew after the World Wars, in which the Algerians sustained many casualties. Algerian nationalists began efforts aimed at furthering equality by listing complaints in the Manifesto of the Algerian People, which requested equal representation under the state and access to citizenship, but no equality for all citizens to preserve Islamic precepts. The French response was to grant citizenship to 60,000 "meritorious" Muslims.
During a reform effort in 1947, the French created a bicameral legislature with one house for the French citizens and another for the Muslims but made a European's vote equal seven times a Muslim's vote. Paramilitary groups such as the Front de Libération nationale (FLN) appeared, claiming an Arabo-Islamic brotherhood and state. This led to the outbreak of a war for independence, the Algerian War, in 1954. From first armed operations of November 1954, 'Pieds-Noirs' civilians have always been targets for FLN, either by assassination, bombing bars and cinemas and mass massacres, torture and rapes in farms. At the onset of the war, the Pieds-noirs believed the French military would be able to overcome opposition. In May 1958 a demonstration for French Algeria, led by Pieds-Noirs but including many Muslims, occupied an Algerian government building. General Massu controlled the riot by forming a Committee of Public Safety demanding that his acquaintance Charles de Gaulle be named president of the French Fourth Republic, to prevent the "abandonment of Algeria".
This eventually led to the fall of the Republic. In response, the French Parliament voted 329 to 224 to place de Gaulle in power. Once de Gaulle assumed leadership, he attempted peace by visiting Algeria within three days of his appointment claiming "French Algeria!" but in September 1959 he planned a referendum for Algerian self-determination that passed overwhelmingly. Many French political and military leaders in Algeria viewed this as betrayal and formed the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) that had much support among 'Pieds-Noirs'.
This paramilitary group began attacking officials representing de Gaulle's authority, Muslims, and de Gaulle himself. The OAS was also accused of murders and bombings nullifying reconciliation opportunities between the communities, while 'Pieds-Noirs' themselves never believed such reconciliation possible as their community was targeted from the start. The opposition culminated in 1961 during the Algiers putsch of 1961, led by retired generals. After this failure, on 18 March 1962, de Gaulle and the FLN signed a cease-fire agreement, the Évian accords, and held a referendum. In July, Algerians voted 5,975,581 to 16,534 to become independent from France. This was an occasion for a massacre of 'Pieds-Noirs' in Oran by a suburban Muslim population. European people were shot, molested and brought to Petit-Lac slaughterhouse where they were tortured and executed.
Political relations
Despite ambiguous sentiment in Algeria concerning its former colonial power, France has maintained a historically favored position in Algerian foreign relations. Algeria experienced a high level of dependency on France in the first years after the revolution and a conflicting desire to be free of that dependency. The already established trade links, the lack of experienced Algerian government officials, and the military presence provided for in the Évian Accords ending the War of Independence ensured the continuance of French influence. France supplied much-needed financial assistance, a steady supply of essential imports, and technical personnel.Entelis, John P. with Lisa Arone. France and the Mediterranean Countries. Algeria: a country study . Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 1993). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
This benevolent relationship was altered in the early Boumediène years when the Algerian government assumed control of French-owned petroleum extraction and pipeline interests and nationalized industrial and energy enterprises. French military units were almost immediately pulled out. France, although apparently willing to maintain cooperative relations, was overlooked as Algeria, eager to exploit its new independence, looked to other trade partners. Shortly afterward, Algerian interest in resuming French-Algerian relations resurfaced. Talks between Boumediène and the French government confirmed both countries' interest in restoring diplomatic relations. In 1974, Algeria's President Boumediène stated "Relation between France and Algeria may be good or bad, but in no way can they be trivial.", depicting this relationship. France wanted to preserve its privileged position in the strategically and economically important Algerian nation, and Algeria hoped to receive needed technical and financial assistance. French intervention in the Western Sahara against the Polisario and its lack of Algerian oil purchases, leading to a trade imbalance in the late 1970s strained relations and defeated efforts toward bilateral rapprochement. In 1983 Benjedid was the first Algerian leader to be invited to France on an official tour, but relations did not greatly improve.