By 1956 the French army’s overriding aim became political, pushing Algérie française.
Evidence
For de Gaulle, in his whole upbringing and career, the French army was everything—or almost everything—and its state of health was a far more pressing worry to him than either the F.L.N. or the pieds noirs. It was, however, no longer the same army that he had known so well in 1940–5, and since February 1956 its over-riding objective had been a political one; to push the authorities into carrying out a policy of Algérie française. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 948
Categorization
- XREF: The politicized army echoes the revolutionary-era idea of the army as bearer of a political message, relevant to the reader’s France-Algeria thread. — connects to: The French army in Algeria transformed from clumsy to effective by 1956; Mollet’s political-warfare policies propelled the French army into politics.; A broad front of ex-ministers formed around Algérie française in 1960. (+1 more)
Related
- The French army in Algeria transformed from clumsy to effective by 1956 (similarity 0.90)
- A broad front of ex-ministers formed around Algérie française in 1960. (similarity 0.87)
- Mollet’s political-warfare policies propelled the French army into politics. (similarity 0.86)
- France’s Algerian military dominance coexisted with its political weakness at home (similarity 0.85)
- Military victory elevated the army to ultimate political arbiter in Algeria (similarity 0.85)
- De Gaulle’s Algeria offensive aimed partly to distract the army from politics (similarity 0.84)
- De Gaulle’s conciliatory gestures angered the army while winning no concessions from the F.L.N. (similarity 0.83)
- Military pacification ended and politics dominated as the war wound down (similarity 0.83)
- De Gaulle sought army success to reconcile it to Algerian independence (similarity 0.82)
- Algeria was only one element of de Gaulle’s larger ambitions. (similarity 0.82)
- OAS believed attacking French Communists would trap de Gaulle politically, but miscalculated. (similarity 0.82)
- The French army won militarily while losing the political and world battle (similarity 0.81)
- De Gaulle’s allies saw Algeria as subordinate to the French state’s crisis (similarity 0.81)
- Army officers saw the Algerian war as both career security and a noble cause. (similarity 0.81)
- De Gaulle publicly promised the army France would stay in Algeria in early 1960. (similarity 0.80)