De Gaulle’s pursuit of national grandeur dictated abandoning Algeria

Evidence

In his enigmatic utterances the saviour did little to dispel such tenets, so that the eventual disillusion would be all the greater. Critics and adversaries of de Gaulle could—with reason—accuse him of every manner of volte-face in his handling of Algeria, but with their eyes blinkered by the immediacy of the war itself they were unable to see on what de Gaulle’s gaze was fixed. From his great height the eyes quested far over the heads of lesser humans to the peaks of a distant promised land. If there was one thing in the pursuit of which he was unwavering all through his life, it was the grandeur de la France, dreamed of in those solitary years in the wilderness. In the long term nothing else mattered, or would be allowed to stand in its way, and this should be retained in the mind as a key to all the enigma of his subsequent actions. He would achieve his dream; even though in the course of it Algeria would be lost, had to be lost. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 913 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Louis Joxe, one of de Gaulle’s closer confidants, was perhaps nearer to the truth when he noted in conversation with de Gaulle shortly before his return to power that “he spoke of everything but Algeria—because he didn’t want to come back for Algeria only”. As Brian Crozier aptly remarks in his biography of de Gaulle: “For the army and the settlers, Algérie française was all; for him, it was only one element in the complex picture of his deferred ambitions….” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 853 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: De Gaulle took power in June 1958 offering no Algerian solution.; De Gaulle abandoned the Sahara as an artificial construction in September 1961.; De Gaulle’s pursuit of national grandeur required sacrificing Algeria. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 913 (+4 more)

Related

• De Gaulle’s pursuit of national grandeur required sacrificing Algeria. (similarity 0.96)
• Algeria was only one element of de Gaulle’s larger ambitions. (similarity 0.95)
• De Gaulle leveraged Algeria to demand France’s nuclear and NATO independence (similarity 0.86)
• De Gaulle took power in June 1958 offering no Algerian solution. (similarity 0.85)
• Porous frontiers shaped the Algerian War’s outcome and de Gaulle’s rise (similarity 0.85)
• De Gaulle’s allies saw Algeria as subordinate to the French state’s crisis (similarity 0.85)
• De Gaulle’s true intentions on Algeria remain a fundamentally contested riddle. (similarity 0.85)
• De Gaulle’s true intentions on Algeria remain irreducibly ambiguous even to his closest associates. (similarity 0.84)
• De Gaulle’s triumphant Algeria slogans masked his private conviction the colony was doomed (similarity 0.84)
• De Gaulle abandoned the Sahara as an artificial construction in September 1961. (similarity 0.84)
• De Gaulle’s Algerian independence was framed as a victory over French self (similarity 0.83)
• Gaulle hid his Algeria intentions to avoid capsizing French public opinion. (similarity 0.83)
• De Gaulle presented secession as one of Algeria’s three possible futures. (similarity 0.82)
• De Gaulle declared nostalgia for colonial Algeria was a death sentence. (similarity 0.82)
• de Gaulle’s self-determination offer came too late to save Algérie française (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• De Gaulle’s pursuit of national grandeur required sacrificing Algeria. #corroborates (0.95) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 913
• Algeria was only one element of de Gaulle’s larger ambitions. #qualifies (0.35) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 853