European liberals and Muslim Algerians shared hopes for a negotiated peace before 1956.

Evidence

More than ever, Salan was now the hero of the hour, and this sudden access of popularity and influence could not help but affect him as indeed it had Soustelle two years previously. The next day, 16 May, the euphoria of the moment occasioned one of the more remarkable and inexplicable phenomena of the whole war. Into the excited pied noir crowds that thronged the Forum, which had now become well-established as the centre of the daily entertainment, that evening there merged dense groups of Muslims. Waving tricolours and crosses of Lorraine, and banners that proclaimed “We demand a Government of National Unity”, or even “Vive Massu!”, they came in their thousands from the Algiers Casbah and from douars throughout Algeria; old men sporting wartime decorations, young students, pregnant fatmas in haiks. A voice from the “G—G” balcony shouted, “Here are our Muslim brothers! Make a place for them!” and there followed extraordinary scenes of mass emotion. Pieds noirs linked arms with Muslims, embraced them; European girls lifted the veils of acquiescent Muslim women; all together sang the Marseillaise and the military Chant des Africains. From the famous balcony the stentorian voice of Massu rang out, welcoming “with pride” this “spontaneously organised” assemblage of Muslims, and asserting, “Let them know that France will never abandon them.” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 888 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Almost alone among the grands colons to remain in Algeria after independence, Jacques Chevallier, the liberal ex-mayor of Algiers, became vice-president of the Algiers Chamber of Commerce from 1963 to 1966, greatly respected by the Algerians and a token that, had they been genuinely prepared to co-operate and share responsibility with the Muslims, some future for the Europeans could have existed. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1672 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cooperation between settlers and Muslims could have preserved a European future in Algeria — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1672; De Gaulle privately favored negotiating with the Algerian rebels as early as 1957; De Gaulle offered amnesties and an honorable truce to the Algerian rebels in 1958. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 940 (+3 more)

Related

• De Gaulle paired Muslim representation guarantees with a peace offer to the FLN (similarity 0.86)
• Thousands of Muslim Algerians joined pied noir crowds in mass pro-France fraternisation (similarity 0.86)
• De Gaulle privately favored negotiating with the Algerian rebels as early as 1957 (similarity 0.86)
• By late 1958 Muslim sentiment had hardened toward independence (similarity 0.85)
• Cooperation between settlers and Muslims could have preserved a European future in Algeria (similarity 0.84)
• By late 1960 both Muslim and European Algerians had lost faith in de Gaulle (similarity 0.84)
• A liberal colonia could have kept Europeans in independent Algeria. (similarity 0.83)
• De Gaulle offered amnesties and an honorable truce to the Algerian rebels in 1958. (similarity 0.83)
• Pieds noirs faced Europe while Muslim Algerians faced inland Africa (similarity 0.82)
• De Gaulle took power in June 1958 offering no Algerian solution. (similarity 0.82)
• De Gaulle’s 1958 arrival threatened the F.L.N. through fraternisation and a Muslim third force (similarity 0.81)
• De Gaulle’s 1960 tour divided Algeria’s European and Muslim communities openly (similarity 0.81)
• The 6 February collapse discredited French promises among Algerian Muslims (similarity 0.80)
• French metropolitan opinion rallied behind de Gaulle against the Algiers insurgents (similarity 0.80)
• Algeria’s liberal European third force collapsed once the French Left aligned with settler fascism. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Thousands of Muslim Algerians joined pied noir crowds in mass pro-France fraternisation #exemplifies (0.75) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 888
• Cooperation between settlers and Muslims could have preserved a European future in Algeria #corroborates (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1672
• De Gaulle privately favored negotiating with the Algerian rebels as early as 1957 #corroborates (0.50)
• By late 1960 both Muslim and European Algerians had lost faith in de Gaulle #complicates (0.45) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1276
• De Gaulle offered amnesties and an honorable truce to the Algerian rebels in 1958. #corroborates (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 940
• De Gaulle paired Muslim representation guarantees with a peace offer to the FLN #corroborates (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 937