France’s effective suppression of opposition guaranteed it would later be surprised by resistance.

Evidence

It was a profound and far-sighted analysis. When France, in extremis between 1954 and 1962, was to cast around for interlocuteurs valables, moderate nationalist representatives with whom compromise solutions might be negotiated, among this “human dust” she was to find virtually none. On the other hand, from earliest days the colonial structure had so functioned as to impede and obviate the emergence of any concerted Muslim opposition body, and for long years it succeeded marvellously; yet again, when the ultimate disaster did occur, France would be taken by surprise, because — for the reasons suggested by Cambon — the resistance movements would be “unknown”. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 107

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Muslim observers saw French lassitude as the source of imminent victory; French military contempt and complacency blinded them to the coming revolt; France’s race policy aimed to dissolve chiefly resistance centers and win loyalty

Related

• Muslim observers saw French lassitude as the source of imminent victory (similarity 0.93)
• Massive French troop increases failed to halt the rebellion’s spread in 1955-56. (similarity 0.82)
• The 1940 defeat fatally undermined French prestige in Algerian Muslim eyes (similarity 0.81)
• French assimilation destroyed Algerian leadership cadres that could have been negotiating partners (similarity 0.80)
• France believed wrongly that toppling Nasser would collapse the Algerian revolt. (similarity 0.80)
• French counterinsurgency repeatedly traded military advantage for political costs (similarity 0.80)
• Heavy-handed military reprisals in Algeria drove more Algerians to join the rebels. (similarity 0.80)
• French army sweeping operations drove Algerians into the F.L.N. (similarity 0.80)
• A lingering Algerian hatred of French rule simmers until it erupts into war (similarity 0.80)
• French metropolitan democracy attenuated, while colonial Algeria criminalized, dissent against empire. (similarity 0.80)
• Soustelle predicted France would lose Algeria on the home front, not militarily. (similarity 0.80)
• Francisation destroyed Algeria’s native political cadres, leaving no negotiating partners. (similarity 0.79)
• Algerians fighting for France outnumbered those fighting for independence (similarity 0.79)
• By late 1956 both France’s military and diplomatic options in Algeria had failed (similarity 0.79)
• The French army’s heavy-handed countermeasures alienated even sympathetic observers (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• French military contempt and complacency blinded them to the coming revolt #corroborates (0.75)
• France’s race policy aimed to dissolve chiefly resistance centers and win loyalty #complicates (0.60)