French escalation was matched by rising FLN strength and expertise

Evidence

Through 1956 and into 1957 the overall military picture of the war did not improve for the French. It may have looked rosier in some areas (notably General Beaufre’s command), but it worsened in others; while all the time those blotches on the “smallpox chart” were spreading. With the arrival of Mollet’s reservists and national servicemen numbers on the ground increased, and so did the efficiency of the paras; but at the same time the numbers of the F.L.N., and their expertise and equipment, were also on the upward path. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 512

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s core question — the mutual-escalation dynamic the book traces. — connects to: French leaders saw new arms inflows as the main threat to military victory; FLN gained most from French brutal strike-breaking methods.; Aurès rebels held a decisive intelligence and mobility edge over French columns (+2 more)

Related

• French leaders saw new arms inflows as the main threat to military victory (similarity 0.92)
• French forces reached 160,000 and intelligence on the F.L.N. improved late in 1955 (similarity 0.90)
• Aurès rebels held a decisive intelligence and mobility edge over French columns (similarity 0.87)
• French operations had reduced the interior A.L.N. to 8,000 scattered men (similarity 0.84)
• FLN gained most from French brutal strike-breaking methods. (similarity 0.83)
• The French army in Algeria transformed from clumsy to effective by 1956 (similarity 0.82)
• Massive French troop increases failed to halt the rebellion’s spread in 1955-56. (similarity 0.81)
• The A.L.N. reached peak military strength in 1958 despite heavy losses (similarity 0.80)
• By 1960 French operations had destroyed most regular A.L.N. katibas inside Algeria (similarity 0.79)
• Algerian fighters in Tunisia outnumbered the infant Tunisian army. (similarity 0.79)
• Heavy-handed military reprisals in Algeria drove more Algerians to join the rebels. (similarity 0.78)
• The A.L.N. peaked in 1958 even as French killed or captured 25,534 effectives. (similarity 0.78)
• French offensives shattered the F.L.N.’s interior command-and-control network by 1959 (similarity 0.78)
• French army sweeping operations drove Algerians into the F.L.N. (similarity 0.78)
• F.L.N. attrition tactics stalled the war in the Aurès and frustrated the French (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• French forces reached 160,000 and intelligence on the F.L.N. improved late in 1955 #expands (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 391