De Gaulle’s political delays gave the F.L.N. a vital respite before Challe

Evidence

If de Gaulle could have followed up the momentum of his first weeks with a concerted peace drive, or if the Challe offensive had begun in 1958 instead of 1959, the prospects would have looked incomparably bleak. But, as it happened, the long build-up to the referendum and the November legislative elections, followed by the run-down from the paix des braves olive-branch, had given the F.L.N. an invaluable respite in which to regain its breath. And when in 1959 the A.L.N. was confronted with the gravest military threat to its existence, it was already moving in—and under—a new direction. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 994

Categorization

• XREF: Counterfactual hinge (paix des braves timing) echoes the book-wide ‘what if’ thread of the war. — connects to: de Gaulle’s backing of moderates collapsed as hard-liners took over the F.L.N.; French military bureaucracy caused fatal delays on the revolt’s first night; De Gaulle’s slow pace in 1958 squandered momentum to the FLN — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 929 (+5 more)

Related

• De Gaulle’s slow pace in 1958 squandered momentum to the FLN (similarity 0.88)
• de Gaulle’s backing of moderates collapsed as hard-liners took over the F.L.N. (similarity 0.85)
• Political crisis in Algiers interrupted Challe’s offensive just as the A.L.N. neared collapse (similarity 0.85)
• Challe’s focus on battlefield offensives blinded him to his colonels’ plotting (similarity 0.83)
• De Gaulle’s Algeria offensive aimed partly to distract the army from politics (similarity 0.83)
• De Gaulle’s conciliatory gestures angered the army while winning no concessions from the F.L.N. (similarity 0.83)
• The F.L.N.’s suspension of French terrorism encouraged de Gaulle’s peace initiative (similarity 0.83)
• De Gaulle’s mystical self-assurance blinded him to the F.L.N.’s political character. (similarity 0.83)
• France’s Algerian military dominance coexisted with its political weakness at home (similarity 0.82)
• French offensives shattered the F.L.N.’s interior command-and-control network by 1959 (similarity 0.82)
• de Gaulle’s self-determination offer came too late to save Algérie française (similarity 0.82)
• Challe aimed to disrupt rather than annihilate the F.L.N. (similarity 0.81)
• Challe confined the coup to Algeria to keep fighting the ALN (similarity 0.81)
• The F.L.N. hard-line reshuffle doomed de Gaulle’s ‘association’ option (similarity 0.81)
• De Gaulle’s calculated ambiguity prevented civil war and French collapse. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Political crisis in Algiers interrupted Challe’s offensive just as the A.L.N. neared collapse #corroborates (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1159
• French military pressure by 1958 drove A.L.N. morale collapse and mass defection #corroborates (0.75)
• De Gaulle’s calculated ambiguity prevented civil war and French collapse. #complicates (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1658