The F.L.N.’s planned December demonstration exploded far beyond organizers’ expectations.

Evidence

Sunday, 11 December, was the day for which Larbi Alilat and the reconstituted F.L.N. organisation in Algiers had been so carefully preparing. It was to turn out to be one of the key days of the Algerian war for the Muslim cause. Thousands of green-and-white F.L.N. flags had been sewn together by the women of the Casbah, and distributed — together with banners and placards — clandestinely throughout the Muslim quarters. But the resultant chain reaction far exceeded anything anticipated by the organisers. Partly it may have been sparked by the pieds noirs’ demonstrations of the two preceding days; partly by word on the swift “Arab telegraph” of the racial violence in Belcourt the previous night. At heart, however, it seems to have been one of those inexplicable explosions caused by long-pent-up forces. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1305 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

To Ben Khedda, speaking many years afterwards, the Muslim demonstration of December 1960 represented the “decisive turning-point of the war”, and it is a view with which many French historians concur. To Albert-Paul Lentin it represented a “Dien Bien Phu of official propaganda”. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1319 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Abstention in 1960 Algerian elections evidenced F.L.N. control over the population.; Lifting military pressure let F.L.N. terrorism nearly double from November to December.; The 11 December Muslim mass revolt exceeded even the F.L.N.’s own expectations (+4 more)

Related

• Lifting military pressure let F.L.N. terrorism nearly double from November to December. (similarity 0.91)
• The F.L.N.’s flags in Algiers triggered a mass demonstration exceeding all plans (similarity 0.91)
• The December 1960 Muslim demonstration reversed the war’s momentum (similarity 0.90)
• December 1960’s Muslim demonstrations decisively turned the Algerian war (similarity 0.90)
• Abstention in 1960 Algerian elections evidenced F.L.N. control over the population. (similarity 0.88)
• After December 1960 the army, not the pieds noirs, drove events in Algeria (similarity 0.86)
• The 16 May Muslim fraternisation in Algiers grew far beyond what was staged. (similarity 0.82)
• The 1961 riots proved the F.L.N. controlled most of the population (similarity 0.81)
• F.L.N. mobs directed December 1960 violence against Algiers’ Jewish community. (similarity 0.81)
• F.L.N. terrorism in France alienated even its expected leftist allies. (similarity 0.81)
• Muslim masses openly proclaimed support for de Gaulle and the F.L.N. simultaneously (similarity 0.80)
• December 1960’s riots shattered three founding myths of French Algeria (similarity 0.80)
• The F.L.N. physically extended its Algerian terror and fundraising methods to metropolitan France. (similarity 0.79)
• Indiscriminate F.L.N. bombing alienated the Muslim working class (similarity 0.79)
• The F.L.N. moved its terrorism into metropolitan France in summer 1958 (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The 11 December Muslim mass revolt exceeded even the F.L.N.’s own expectations #corroborates (0.95)
• The F.L.N.’s flags in Algiers triggered a mass demonstration exceeding all plans #corroborates (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1305
• The December 1960 Muslim demonstration reversed the war’s momentum #expands (0.50) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1319
• The 1961 riots proved the F.L.N. controlled most of the population #expands (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1440
• Muslim masses openly proclaimed support for de Gaulle and the F.L.N. simultaneously #exemplifies (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1305