The 1954 Algerian revolt nearly collapsed during its first winter
Evidence
In the whole country only the Aurès had responded enthusiastically to the F.L.N.’s call to rise, and there their plight became graver week by week as Ducournau’s paras harried them from one sanctuary to another. It was an exceptionally hard winter, and the civil population, itself badly short of food, was not always hospitable to Ben Boulaid’s men. Constantly on the run, they froze and starved; a week after the tracking-down of Grine, Mohamed Sbaihi, the killer of Guy Monnerot, was himself killed; by February, Ben Boulaid had been captured. The revolt touched bottom, reduced to little more than 350 active maquisards. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 330
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the theme of revolutionary movements nearly dying before consolidating — echoes early setbacks of other insurgencies the reader follows. — connects to: Before 1954 speaking Arabic was a daily act of national existence for Algerian militants