COUPS & CHAOS

How the French armed forces lost the war in Algeria and almost destroyed French democracy in the process

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By 1958, France had over 460,000 troops in Algeria, including veterans of the counterinsurgency operation in Indochina. Also among their ranks were members of the 5th Bureau, a psych-ops unit that used covert tactics to infiltrate and corrupt the Front de libération nationale (FLN), causing in-fighting and instability. The war had effectively turned Algeria into a police state.

The quadrillage system used in the capital was extended to the entire country. Curfews, searches and summary executions were commonplace, and villages suspected of FLN collaboration were bombed from the air. The Morice Line was rolled out along Algeria’s borders with Tunisia and Morocco. Designed to prevent additional fighters and supplies from reaching the FLN, it consisted of miles of electrified fencing, radar systems, searchlights and minefields. In an attempt to eradicate support for the FLN in rural communities, the authorities uprooted two million people, sending them to concentration camps.

These tactics largely contained the insurgency in Algeria but their use caused political mayhem back in France. As reports of brutality and torture flooded out of the country, support for Algerian independence gained momentum, particularly among France’s left-wing political parties. This infuriated not only the piedsnoirs but also the French military. Believing their counter-insurgency operation was being undermined by political incompetence, they took matters into their own hands.