F.L.N. terrorism backfired against France more than against Algeria itself

Evidence

As for France, if at every hand in Algeria one could detect the roots, and pattern, of the war of 1954–62, so too in a similar fashion did the civil war between Algerians of the 1990s soon overflow across the Mediterranean. In 1995 and 1996 feuding between rival clans of the GIA brought terrorism to the Paris Metro, killing and wounding over eighty persons. Supposedly aimed at dissuading the French from backing the repression of the Algiers government, in what could have been a hideous preview of 9/11, an Air France plane hijacked, pointedly, on Christmas Eve, 1994, was evidently programmed to be flown suicidally into the Eiffel Tower. The problem of immigration became an ever hotter issue for any French government to handle, as carnage in Algeria—on top of overpopulation—persuaded increasing numbers of Algerians to seek refuge, and employment, in France. In the winter of 2005–6, outbursts of rage in the overcrowded banlieues, with their substandard housing, gave the lie to the Gaullist notion that, with the end of the war in 1962, France could wash its hands of the “Algerian Problem.” Now there are over five million of Algerian extraction living in France. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 46 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Outrages of terrorism by the F.L.N. such as Mélouza and the Algiers bombings would indeed produce a momentary revulsion in the United States, but the eventual reaction would, perversely, somehow end up as one of irritation against France as being responsible for the war in which such horrors could take place; a psychological process not dissimilar to that in the 1970s where the spate of Palestinian hijacking and terrorism against innocent targets did nothing to make the world less hostile towards Israel. One of the F.L.N. lobbyists at the United Nations is quoted by Edward Behr as saying: “You must realise that every time a bomb explodes in Algiers we are taken more seriously here.” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 765 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Metropolitan terrorism alienated the French Left that supported Algerian independence; F.L.N. terror backfired against France, not the F.L.N., abroad; Algeria’s civil war terrorism carried the conflict into France itself — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 46 (+6 more)

Related

• F.L.N. terrorism in France alienated even its expected leftist allies. (similarity 0.93)
• F.L.N. terror backfired against France, not the F.L.N., abroad (similarity 0.93)
• Algeria’s civil war terrorism carried the conflict into France itself (similarity 0.91)
• Metropolitan terrorism alienated the French Left that supported Algerian independence (similarity 0.90)
• Terrorist attacks boosted the F.L.N.’s diplomatic standing despite revulsion (similarity 0.90)
• The F.L.N. moved its terrorism into metropolitan France in summer 1958 (similarity 0.88)
• The F.L.N. coerced Algeria’s Jews through terrorism and economic sanctions (similarity 0.87)
• F.L.N. shifted its terrorist focus to metropolitan France (similarity 0.86)
• F.L.N. France terrorism avoided indiscriminate civilian bombing (similarity 0.85)
• F.L.N. attacks on French schools were targeted war against French culture, not random savagery (similarity 0.85)
• The Algerian War’s aftermath migrated with émigrés into France’s banlieues (similarity 0.85)
• The F.L.N. physically extended its Algerian terror and fundraising methods to metropolitan France. (similarity 0.85)
• The O.A.S. terror campaign backfired and sped French withdrawal from Algeria. (similarity 0.83)
• Indiscriminate F.L.N. bombing alienated the Muslim working class (similarity 0.83)
• F.L.N. terror silenced Muslim informants and paralyzed collaboration with the French (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• F.L.N. terror backfired against France, not the F.L.N., abroad #corroborates (0.95)
• Algeria’s civil war terrorism carried the conflict into France itself #corroborates (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 46
• Terrorist attacks boosted the F.L.N.’s diplomatic standing despite revulsion #contradicts (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 765
• F.L.N. terrorism in France alienated even its expected leftist allies. #qualifies (0.40)
• F.L.N. terror silenced Muslim informants and paralyzed collaboration with the French #complicates (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 323
• Brutal French reprisals backfired by deepening Algerian hatred of France #complicates (0.35) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 525