Demographic arithmetic made Algerian integration untenable for France by 1958

Evidence

On demographic calculations alone, Aron reckoned that within twenty-five years an integrated Algeria 18 million strong would swamp a metropolitan France of 48 million, politically if not numerically. Acting as a bloc, the seventy-five Muslim deputies which it would be Algeria’s right to send to the Palais Bourbon could provide a balance of power to whichever side of the Assembly they wished, thus preventing it from functioning normally. Integration would also slow down, if not halt, any rise in the French standard of living, and he concluded, “An Algerian France, if it pretends to regenerate France by governing it, will irremediably tear asunder the nation.” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 943 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Demographic reversal will erode France’s capacity to back the CFA currencies — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 337; Algerian integration was only ever workable before 1958; Franco-Algerian coexistence was destroyed by accumulated missed chances — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1611 (+10 more)

Related

• Algerian integration would numerically swamp metropolitan France politically. (similarity 0.94)
• Integration would have demographically swamped metropolitan France (similarity 0.93)
• Algerian integration was only ever workable before 1958 (similarity 0.89)
• Integration was feasible in 1936 but a delusion by 1958 (similarity 0.85)
• Algeria’s separate electoral colleges made 60,000 Muslims equal to 500,000 French (similarity 0.84)
• Demographic reversal will erode France’s capacity to back the CFA currencies (similarity 0.83)
• Algeria’s independence had become irreversible by 1959 (similarity 0.83)
• Both Muslims and pieds noirs read integration through self-serving demographic math. (similarity 0.82)
• France could not contemplate Algerian withdrawal because Algeria was legally part of France (similarity 0.82)
• Demographic pressure rather than French presence produced Algerian misery (similarity 0.82)
• Pieds noirs read integration as a path to numerical submergence of Muslims (similarity 0.81)
• French metropolitan democracy attenuated, while colonial Algeria criminalized, dissent against empire. (similarity 0.81)
• French settlers never exceeded thirteen percent of Algeria’s population (similarity 0.80)
• Granting Tunisian and Moroccan independence without Algeria was a strategic error. (similarity 0.80)
• Franco-Algerian coexistence was destroyed by accumulated missed chances (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Integration would have demographically swamped metropolitan France #corroborates (0.75)
• Algerian integration would numerically swamp metropolitan France politically. #corroborates (0.75) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 943
• Algerian integration was only ever workable before 1958 #corroborates (0.70)
• Algeria’s independence had become irreversible by 1959 #corroborates (0.60)
• Franco-Algerian coexistence was destroyed by accumulated missed chances #expands (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1611
• The ‘Algeria is France’ consensus spanned nearly the whole French political spectrum #corroborates (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 317
• France could not contemplate Algerian withdrawal because Algeria was legally part of France #contradicts (0.30) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1649