Algeria’s ingrained secretiveness and post-independence factionalism still obscure the revolution’s history

Evidence

The high walls that surround the houses in Algeria, the delightful courtyards concealed in total privacy behind squalid exteriors in the Casbah, hint at an Algerian characteristic that also does not ease the path of an historian. This natural instinct for secretiveness, developed over the five generations of French suzerainty, was further heightened to the point where few inklings leaked out during the eight years of clandestine warfare of the many internal splits that repeatedly threatened to rive the FLN leadership. It is no less difficult to discover the truth of such divisions today. Compounded with secretiveness there also remains some degree of apprehension. Factionalism of the Revolution continued long after Independence in 1962, and as late as 1967 there was an abortive coup against Boumedienne. Two of the neuf historiques founders of the revolt against France have been mysteriously murdered in exile in Europe; Ben Bella remains in prison, who knows where? Several other former revolutionary leaders live, like Trotsky, nervously in disfavour abroad. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 14

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that neuf historiques founders were ‘mysteriously murdered’ — specific assassinations worth identifying.
• XREF: connects to: Algeria’s 1984 amnesties excluded traitors to the revolution.; The Algerian War proved too recent for any definitive historical account; Algeria descended into a secret civil war parallel to the main front — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1495 (+1 more)

Related

• The Algerian War proved too recent for any definitive historical account (similarity 0.92)
• Algeria’s 1984 amnesties excluded traitors to the revolution. (similarity 0.89)
• French official archives still held Algeria war secrets long after the conflict (similarity 0.84)
• Algeria descended into a secret civil war parallel to the main front (similarity 0.83)
• The full truth of the Algerian war may now be permanently unknowable to anyone (similarity 0.83)
• Boumedienne remained almost entirely unknown despite becoming Algeria’s president (similarity 0.82)
• The founders of the Algerian revolution were mostly dead or imprisoned by 1975 (similarity 0.81)
• Boumedienne’s Algeria rejected the personality cult common in postcolonial Arab states (similarity 0.79)
• Algeria’s post-independence ‘peace’ proved as savage as its war (similarity 0.79)
• Algerian war sources even disagree over key meeting dates (similarity 0.79)
• Algerian revolutionaries split between moderates and hard-liners over the pied noir presence (similarity 0.78)
• French colonial war archives remained sealed while memories and witnesses faded. (similarity 0.78)
• Algeria’s revolution deliberately suppressed individual hero cults out of collectivity (similarity 0.78)
• War transformed the Algerian’s passive rejection of colonial lies into an active counter-truth (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The full truth of the Algerian war may now be permanently unknowable to anyone #corroborates (0.85) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 17
• Algeria descended into a secret civil war parallel to the main front #exemplifies (0.55) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1495