Saharan oil drew Anglo-American and Italian interests into the Algerian conflict
Evidence
Henceforth it would focus with sharpest clarity the covetous eyes of the all-powerful Anglo-American oil interests on Algeria. Not always without reason, France would be nagged by suspicions that shady deals were being done with the F.L.N. behind her back, with a view to ensuring that her rivals got in on the ground floor in an independent Algeria. Edward Behr, who was a correspondent in France at the time, recalls how “for a brief spell officer-cadets in French military schools were systematically taught a course in ‘American imperialism’, and it was stated as an incontrovertible fact that the United States had designs on the newly discovered Saharan oil deposits”. In addition to the “Anglo-Saxon” villains in this shadowy oil war, there was also Italy’s maverick oil operator, the unpredictable Enrico Mattei, who was openly to supply the F.L.N. with money and arms in return for future “considerations”. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 755
Categorization
- XREF: Extends the ‘internationalisation of the Algerian problem’ theme — foreign interference as a new dimension beyond France vs. F.L.N. binaries. — connects to: Saharan oil gave France a new economic motive to win the war; Saharan oil discovery added an economic motive to France’s Algerian war — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 753
- SEED: Mattei as a maverick oilman arming the F.L.N. is a ready story angle on how colonial struggles get entwined with corporate rivalry.
Related
- Saharan oil gave France a new economic motive to win the war (similarity 0.90)
- Saharan oil discovery added an economic motive to France’s Algerian war (similarity 0.87)
- Algeria’s oil nationalization triggered French economic retaliation (similarity 0.84)
- Saharan oil gave France a vastly increased economic motive for retaining Algeria (similarity 0.83)
- The French economy’s prosperity rested on Saharan oil and gas (similarity 0.79)
- Severing Algeria proved a net economic gain for France (similarity 0.78)
- The Sahara dispute turned on oil wealth rather than geography or history. (similarity 0.78)