De Gaulle’s Algeria offensive aimed partly to distract the army from politics

Evidence

Challe’s brief was to mount the most crushing military offensive yet against the F.L.N., the success of which would be intended to give de Gaulle freedom to dispose the future of Algeria as he wished. Behind there also lay the perhaps more cynical secondary motive of distracting the army from any political discontents; “Give them tasks, they will think less…!” de Gaulle had declared at one of his first cabinet meetings. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 952

Categorization

• XREF: This is a permuted form of the ‘Savage War of Peace’ concept — war as pacification of internal discontent, echoing the French Revolution’s use of war to consolidate domestic control. — connects to: Algeria would be lost on France’s interior political front, not on the military front; Challe’s focus on battlefield offensives blinded him to his colonels’ plotting; France’s Algerian military dominance coexisted with its political weakness at home (+7 more)

Related

• France’s Algerian military dominance coexisted with its political weakness at home (similarity 0.91)
• Challe’s focus on battlefield offensives blinded him to his colonels’ plotting (similarity 0.90)
• Charles X invaded Algeria to distract from domestic unpopularity (similarity 0.87)
• De Gaulle’s conciliatory gestures angered the army while winning no concessions from the F.L.N. (similarity 0.86)
• Challe aimed to change Gaullist policy, not remove de Gaulle (similarity 0.85)
• De Gaulle’s allies saw Algeria as subordinate to the French state’s crisis (similarity 0.85)
• Algeria was only one element of de Gaulle’s larger ambitions. (similarity 0.84)
• The French army in Algeria transformed from clumsy to effective by 1956 (similarity 0.84)
• De Gaulle symbolically asserted civilian control over the military in Algeria (similarity 0.84)
• Challe’s loyalty to the republic collapsed only when de Gaulle shifted toward Algerian self-determination (similarity 0.84)
• By 1956 the French army’s overriding aim became political, pushing Algérie française. (similarity 0.84)
• De Gaulle sought army success to reconcile it to Algerian independence (similarity 0.84)
• The Algerian army command openly threatened to replace de Gaulle over self-determination. (similarity 0.83)
• De Gaulle’s political delays gave the F.L.N. a vital respite before Challe (similarity 0.83)
• De Gaulle’s decolonisation rhetoric was the final trigger for Challe’s decision. (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• De Gaulle sought army success to reconcile it to Algerian independence #expands (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1002
• Charles X invaded Algeria to distract from domestic unpopularity #exemplifies (0.45) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 84