On this day 56 years ago, the first shots in the Algerian War of Independence were fired by the Front de Libération Nationale. Eight years of fighting ensued between the French Army and various Algerian independence movements. The struggle for liberation largely consisted of guerrilla warfare, torture, bomb attacks and assassinations directed against military and civilian targets. There was fighting between rival independence movements as well as fighting against the French.
The French Fourth Republic had been established in October 1946, in the aftermath of the second world war, and a period of rebuilding and economic growth followed. However, the fighting in Algeria became deeply unpopular because of the use of conscription to fill the ranks of the French Army and because of the torture methods used by the French security forces. When the government proposed talks with the Algerian nationalists, the French war hero Charles De Gaulle was made president in essentially a military coup by right-wing elements seeking to keep Algeria as part of France, leading to the end of the Fourth Republic in 1958.
However, De Gaulle gradually began to favour Algerian independence, and in late 1959 stated that self-determination was the preferred solution. This led to further fighting by elements opposed to independence, and a referendum was held in 1961, followed by talks with the main independence movement, and a further referendum on 1 July 1962, leading to independence a few days later. Over the next 12 months more than 10% of the population left the country as refugees.