Algeria’s entanglement likely fuelled Mollet’s rush to Suez.

Evidence

Mollet in his turn cared little about British imperial problems, but to his death insisted passionately that Israel was his first concern. He was deeply conditioned by the past betrayals of Munich and the Spanish Civil War, and, as a good Socialist, was drawn to Israel as a “pioneer country socialising itself”. He felt she had but one true friend in the world — the United States — which, in the throes of an election, would be unable to help her. He denied hotly that Suez was “done for Algeria”, and yet one is entitled to pose the question: had France not been so embroiled in Algeria, would Mollet have been quite so open to Israeli pressure, and would he in turn have pushed Eden so hard to participate in what was to prove to be such a desperate gamble? — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 493

Categorization

• QUESTION: Chases the counterfactual: absent Algeria, would Mollet have engaged Israel and pushed Eden so hard?
• XREF: connects to: Suez destroyed Mollet’s Algerian policy while no rival would replace him; Twenty thousand war veterans marched silently in Algiers to intimidate Mollet. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 462; Suez guaranteed eventual Algerian independence while stiffening French resolve to win. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 496 (+2 more)

Related

• Suez destroyed Mollet’s Algerian policy while no rival would replace him (similarity 0.95)
• Suez and the Ben Bella affair destroyed Mollet’s Algerian policy. (similarity 0.88)
• Suez guaranteed eventual Algerian independence while stiffening French resolve to win. (similarity 0.87)
• Mollet lacked the political strength to release Ben Bella as peace negotiators. (similarity 0.85)
• The Suez debacle jolted French morale and hardened the war’s brutality (similarity 0.81)
• France believed wrongly that toppling Nasser would collapse the Algerian revolt. (similarity 0.80)
• French paratroops hardened in Algeria led the Suez landing. (similarity 0.80)
• Suez’s humiliating withdrawal devastated returning French troops’ morale in Algeria (similarity 0.80)
• Suez delivered captured Western arms to the F.L.N. and bolstered its morale. (similarity 0.79)
• Francisation destroyed Algeria’s native political cadres, leaving no negotiating partners. (similarity 0.79)
• Suez shattered Britain’s independent foreign policy and France’s trust in Anglo-Saxons (similarity 0.78)
• Charles X invaded Algeria to distract from domestic unpopularity (similarity 0.78)
• Twenty thousand war veterans marched silently in Algiers to intimidate Mollet. (similarity 0.78)
• Algeria was only one element of de Gaulle’s larger ambitions. (similarity 0.78)
• De Gaulle’s allies saw Algeria as subordinate to the French state’s crisis (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Suez and the Ben Bella affair destroyed Mollet’s Algerian policy. #complicates (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 497
• The Suez debacle jolted French morale and hardened the war’s brutality #complicates (0.35) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 512
• Suez guaranteed eventual Algerian independence while stiffening French resolve to win. #complicates (0.30) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 496