Eastern bloc nations first armed the Algerian rebels in late 1957

Evidence

This was endorsed the following month when the French navy boarded off Oran a Yugoslav ship, the Slovenija, carrying 148 tons of illegal weapons, including 12,000 arms of Czech origin. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 809

Categorization

• QUESTION: When did Soviet bloc support for the FLN formally begin? The December 1957 Cairo conference appears to mark the shift from promises to actual arms.
• XREF: connects to: Cold War powers angled around the Algerian question for their own strategic gain; France won the 1957 U.N. battle to keep Algeria an internal affair — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 766; Algeria’s war began in the same year France lost Indo-China

Related

• Cold War powers angled around the Algerian question for their own strategic gain (similarity 0.89)
• The revolt began with only 350-400 guns and no Communist-bloc arms (similarity 0.82)
• The Algerian revolt began with only 350-400 mixed firearms (similarity 0.82)
• F.L.N. began its revolt with only 350 to 400 mostly sporting firearms (similarity 0.81)
• Algerian guerrilla warfare became the prototype studied by liberation movements worldwide (similarity 0.79)
• French officers framed Algeria as the next instalment of a global communist struggle (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Algeria’s war began in the same year France lost Indo-China #qualifies (0.50)