Algerian War of Independence

Christopher Bouchard

Professor Shirk

POL:357 B

3/22/2017

Blog Post on the Algerian War

            During the Algerian War of Independence, the FLN committed acts of terrorism by using terror as a tactic.  The FLN’s motives and tactics fit exactly with what we have learned about in class on how to describe or determine if they are in fact a terrorist group or not.  These acts committed by the National Liberation Front provoked France and started a cycle of terror as a tactic during this war.  The continuation of these tactic proves that the FLN was in fact not a freedom fighter group but rather a terrorist organization.

            One of the most obvious reasons that the National Liberation Front should be considered a terrorist group is that they specifically targeted citizens in 1955.  A lot of the time we discuss that civilians are unfortunately a nor al casualty of war and that when they do die due to armed conflict in the region sometimes it isn’t because of a direct action or plan.  Sometimes it is just due to a crossfire between armed combatants, but in this case the FLN specifically targeted civilians in an attempt to try and raise public support for their cause in an either you’re with us or against us type of approach.  But anytime innocent un-armed civilians are being targeted that is just the pure use of terror by the aggressor in an attempt to make the civilian public do what they want.  Now in response to this the French government came down very hard on the population of Algeria.  In an attempt to quell the uprising taking place in Algeria the France military began to use torture and terror as a tactic themselves in order to try and combat the FLN.  But this use of terror on both sides and the brutality of each sides attacks trying to surpass or make up for the last attack that was dealt on them made the entire war itself very unpleasant and confusing as to what side was the terrorist side and which one wasn’t.  I believe that the use of terror on both sides of this conflict makes it possible to classify each side as a terroristic group during this war. 

            Another subject to consider when thinking about the FLN and even France for that matter is that both of their end goals were political in nature.  The FLN wanted to be independent from France whereas France was fighting to quell the uprising but eventually failed to in the end.  I think that when we look back at this war we could almost think of it as two groups using terroristic actions to fight over the same land.  Neither group was distinct from one another from the tactics that they used to what their goal was.  But I believe that the brutality of each attack from each side is what fueled this war to escalate to the level of violence that it did.  For example, if the French were not as brutal as they were in the begging when they retaliated for the attacks from the FLN then maybe the FLN would not have targeted urban areas in an attempt to gain international attention.  That is why in this war for Algerian Independence neither side could solely be defined as a terroristic group I believe that each side due to their use of terror as a tactic, by targeting civilians and torturing captured civilians, should be considered as terroristic during this war.