Saharan oil discovery added an economic motive to France’s Algerian war

Evidence

Already in 1945 French oil companies had begun prospecting in the Sahara, and shortly after the beginning of the Algerian war a major strike was made at Edjelé on the Libyan frontier. With the opening up of the Hassi-Messaoud field, French oilmen predicted euphorically that they had at their fingertips resources similar to those of the Middle East. From 5 million tons in the first year, 1958, it was reckoned production would reach 14 million in 1962, and that it would suffice to satisfy all France’s oil requirements by 1980. With the menace that Suez presented to Middle East oil supplies, here was a glowing prospect of securing the nation’s need for the future, as well as solving her acute balance of payments problem. Quite quietly, France now found herself with a new motive for winning the Algerian war that went far beyond any consideration for the one million pieds noirs. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 753

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in the economic underpinnings of colonial war — parallels oil interests in other colonial/extraction contexts. — connects to: Saharan oil gave France a vastly increased economic motive for retaining Algeria; The Algerian war cost France ten times what the oil was worth; France’s Sahara claims rested on cartographic fictions until oil made it valuable. (+9 more)

Related

• Saharan oil gave France a new economic motive to win the war (similarity 0.96)
• The Algerian war cost France ten times what the oil was worth (similarity 0.92)
• Saharan oil gave France a vastly increased economic motive for retaining Algeria (similarity 0.91)
• France’s Sahara claims rested on cartographic fictions until oil made it valuable. (similarity 0.91)
• The Sahara dispute turned on oil wealth rather than geography or history. (similarity 0.90)
• Severing Algeria proved a net economic gain for France (similarity 0.88)
• Aron argued the Algerian war cost ten times the oil’s value (similarity 0.88)
• The French economy’s prosperity rested on Saharan oil and gas (similarity 0.88)
• Saharan oil drew Anglo-American and Italian interests into the Algerian conflict (similarity 0.87)
• Algeria’s oil nationalization triggered French economic retaliation (similarity 0.86)
• France claimed the Sahara was artificially drawn and never integral to Algeria (similarity 0.82)
• Algerian independence coincided with the start of France’s economic miracle. (similarity 0.80)
• The Constantine Plan made unprecedented economic investment in Algeria (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Saharan oil drew Anglo-American and Italian interests into the Algerian conflict #expands (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 755
• Aron argued the Algerian war cost ten times the oil’s value #complicates (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 754