Metropolitan France was largely oblivious to the gravity of the Algiers crisis.

Evidence

When the first news reached France, because of army censorship in Algiers, compounded with distraction by their own surfeit of crises at home, ordinary Frenchmen did not at first take in just how deadly was the predicament in Algeria. The country was seized by a bad bout of la grippe; a quarter of the population of Metz was reported stricken. In Paris the spring collections were beginning, amid much speculation about slipping waistlines and vanished sleeves. In New York General Douglas MacArthur was about to celebrate his 80th birthday in his retreat atop the Waldorf Towers, still fuming at his dismissal by Truman at the beginning of the decade. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1106

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with earlier chapters on how metropolitan France reacted to the 13 May 1958 coup—the pattern of mainland indifference to Algerian events. — connects to: Censorship and metropolitan distraction masked the gravity of the Algiers crisis.; The 1960 Algerian debate polarized France between two manifestos.; Algerian integration would numerically swamp metropolitan France politically. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 943 (+1 more)

Related

• Censorship and metropolitan distraction masked the gravity of the Algiers crisis. (similarity 0.94)
• Algerian ultras refused to reckon with metropolitan France’s reaction (similarity 0.84)
• French metropolitan public had grown apathetic about Algeria by late 1961. (similarity 0.83)
• French metropolitan democracy attenuated, while colonial Algeria criminalized, dissent against empire. (similarity 0.82)
• Paris judged Algiers as the gravest mob-seizure threat since 1934 (similarity 0.82)
• Algerian integration would numerically swamp metropolitan France politically. (similarity 0.79)
• De Gaulle’s allies saw Algeria as subordinate to the French state’s crisis (similarity 0.79)
• French metropolitan publics learned almost nothing about the Sétif massacre (similarity 0.79)
• Pied noir denial and metropolitan complacency froze Algeria into a vicious deadlock (similarity 0.78)
• War-weariness reduces metropolitan populations to apathetic indifference toward colonial conflicts (similarity 0.78)