Army officers saw the Algerian war as both career security and a noble cause.

Evidence

The common error of the one and the other is to believe that they are defending a just cause, killing for a just cause, and risking an unjust death. They become cruel like a hunted beast…. Those truly responsible keep a prudent distance. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 644 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

If there is one factor which might be found lacking in, say, British army operations in Northern Ireland but which played an important role affecting the intensity of the war in Algeria, it was a certain peculiar determination within the regular French army that it should not be lost. This determination did not entirely spring from a belief in the sanctity of the présence française — less still from any kindred feeling for the pieds noirs — and to understand it one needs to recall sympathetically the recent history of the French army. Generals like Beaufre were captains at the time of the 1940 debacle, regimental commanders like Bigeard either N.C.O.s or lieutenants, and all remained profoundly conditioned by it. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 526 (#expands, via linked claim)

On 19 December the new team arrived in Algiers; Delouvrier, the “Delegate-General” (a less imposing title than “governor-general” to show a break with the past) was clad conspicuously in civilian clothes, carrying a black “Anthony Eden” hat; Challe, in uniform, walked equally conspicuously one or two paces to the rear. It was a symbolic demonstration of the civil over the military, of Paris over Algiers. De Gaulle had at least made this point forcefully and clearly. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 953 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The army’s Algeria war forged a reformist sense of destiny.; Both sides in the Algerian war believed they fought for a just cause — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 644; De Gaulle symbolically asserted civilian control over the military in Algeria — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 953 (+1 more)

Related

• De Gaulle symbolically asserted civilian control over the military in Algeria (similarity 0.88)
• The French army’s 1940 humiliation fueled its determination not to lose Algeria. (similarity 0.88)
• The French army’s will to win sprang from 1940 humiliation, not colonial ideals (similarity 0.86)
• France’s 1940 defeat drove the army’s determination to win in Algeria (similarity 0.86)
• The Algerian army command openly threatened to replace de Gaulle over self-determination. (similarity 0.85)
• The army viewed any negotiated ceasefire as toppling its war effort in Algeria (similarity 0.85)
• The French army in Algeria transformed from clumsy to effective by 1956 (similarity 0.84)
• Army morale collapsed because de Gaulle’s policies erased the soldiers’ sense of purpose (similarity 0.84)
• De Gaulle sought army success to reconcile it to Algerian independence (similarity 0.84)
• Military commanders privately authorized bombing and collective responsibility in Algeria. (similarity 0.83)
• Both sides in the Algerian war believed they fought for a just cause (similarity 0.83)
• Military victory elevated the army to ultimate political arbiter in Algeria (similarity 0.83)
• Rapidly shifting loyalties in wartime France weakened Algerian trust in any authority (similarity 0.82)
• After December 1960 the army, not the pieds noirs, drove events in Algeria (similarity 0.82)
• Dissident colonels threatened to replace de Gaulle with Challe. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Both sides in the Algerian war believed they fought for a just cause #exemplifies (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 644
• France’s 1940 defeat drove the army’s determination to win in Algeria #expands (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 526
• De Gaulle symbolically asserted civilian control over the military in Algeria #responds-to (0.30) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 953