Brutal French reprisals backfired by deepening Algerian hatred of France

Evidence

But, as indicated by the examples above, the fierce reprisal and the cruel, indiscriminate injustice did take place on the French side — as indeed they take place in every similar war. What is equally sure is that, as the S.A.S. captain pointed out to Alain Manévy, such acts usually militated against French interests in the long run. Looked at from the other side of the lines, this is confirmed by Herb Greer. Reporting a particularly brutal French reprisal in which women were killed, he quotes a member of the F.L.N. as declaring: “Voilà, we’ve won another battle. They hate the French a little more now. The stupid bastards are winning the war for us.” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 525

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the way counterinsurgency brutality becomes self-defeating propaganda — how each atrocity recruits the enemy. Could connect to modern counterterrorism debates.
• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s opening theme of escalating brutality and the tortured logic of ‘winning’ — also to counterinsurgency theory in modern contexts. — connects to: France regrouped a million Algerians to sever the army from the people — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 99; The February 6 hysteria also dashed the French army’s standing with Muslim Algerians; Sakiet’s fallout made the Algerian army feel betrayed by Paris. (+15 more)

Related

• Fear of castration conditioned brutal French reprisals against Algerians. (similarity 0.89)
• Heavy-handed military reprisals in Algeria drove more Algerians to join the rebels. (similarity 0.87)
• The national conflict canalized Algerian anger that had previously surfaced as common crime (similarity 0.85)
• A lingering Algerian hatred of French rule simmers until it erupts into war (similarity 0.84)
• French counterinsurgency repeatedly traded military advantage for political costs (similarity 0.84)
• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France (similarity 0.84)
• French countermeasures such as ratissages and prison drove Algerians into the F.L.N. (similarity 0.84)
• Rebel guerrilla tactics eroded the French army’s moral terror over its enemies (similarity 0.83)
• French repression pushed postwar Algerian nationalism toward armed extremism (similarity 0.83)
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war (similarity 0.83)
• France’s refusal to restrain settler fascism drove liberal Algerians to the F.L.N. (similarity 0.83)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.83)
• Torture in Algeria threatened France with state self-destruction (similarity 0.83)
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (similarity 0.82)
• French repression’s martyrs and the F.L.N.’s mere survival drove its 1955 recruitment (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war #expands (0.70)
• French repression pushed postwar Algerian nationalism toward armed extremism #expands (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 224
• Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. #expands (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1659
• A lingering Algerian hatred of French rule simmers until it erupts into war #corroborates (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 63
• France’s rejection of moderate Algerian reformers radicalized them into revolutionaries #exemplifies (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 115