The Algerian War proved too recent for any definitive historical account

Evidence

Perhaps the best of much advice I received in the preparation of this book came from another of Algeria’s top ambassadors abroad. “Be absolutely honest,” he said, “and admit it if you have only seen part of the picture.” For the very real difficulties outlined above, I cannot claim to have seen anything like the “whole picture”; but it may be open to doubt whether anyone—French, Algerian or outsider—could do so at this moment. Possibly now no one ever will. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 17 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The high walls that surround the houses in Algeria, the delightful courtyards concealed in total privacy behind squalid exteriors in the Casbah, hint at an Algerian characteristic that also does not ease the path of an historian. This natural instinct for secretiveness, developed over the five generations of French suzerainty, was further heightened to the point where few inklings leaked out during the eight years of clandestine warfare of the many internal splits that repeatedly threatened to rive the FLN leadership. It is no less difficult to discover the truth of such divisions today. Compounded with secretiveness there also remains some degree of apprehension. Factionalism of the Revolution continued long after Independence in 1962, and as late as 1967 there was an abortive coup against Boumedienne. Two of the neuf historiques founders of the revolt against France have been mysteriously murdered in exile in Europe; Ben Bella remains in prison, who knows where? Several other former revolutionary leaders live, like Trotsky, nervously in disfavour abroad. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 14 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Algerian war sources even disagree over key meeting dates; French official archives still held Algeria war secrets long after the conflict; Political rivalries shaped how Algerian war history was written (+2 more)

Related

• Algeria’s ingrained secretiveness and post-independence factionalism still obscure the revolution’s history (similarity 0.92)
• Algerian war sources even disagree over key meeting dates (similarity 0.91)
• French official archives still held Algeria war secrets long after the conflict (similarity 0.91)
• The full truth of the Algerian war may now be permanently unknowable to anyone (similarity 0.90)
• Wartime Algeria indelibly shaped the post-1962 regime. (similarity 0.83)
• Boumedienne remained almost entirely unknown despite becoming Algeria’s president (similarity 0.83)
• Algeria’s 1984 amnesties excluded traitors to the revolution. (similarity 0.82)
• Rapidly shifting loyalties in wartime France weakened Algerian trust in any authority (similarity 0.82)
• French colonial war archives remained sealed while memories and witnesses faded. (similarity 0.81)
• The Algerian war was simultaneously a war of peace and one of extreme savagery (similarity 0.81)
• Algeria descended into a secret civil war parallel to the main front (similarity 0.81)
• Algeria’s war was primarily anti-colonial, not religious. (similarity 0.81)
• Algeria’s post-independence ‘peace’ proved as savage as its war (similarity 0.81)
• Wartime Algeria’s traits persisted in Boumedienne’s postwar single-party dictatorship. (similarity 0.81)
• The Battle of Algiers marked the end of any possibility of negotiated settlement (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• The full truth of the Algerian war may now be permanently unknowable to anyone #corroborates (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 17
• Algeria’s ingrained secretiveness and post-independence factionalism still obscure the revolution’s history #expands (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 14