The Oran massacre resulted from a European provocation amid otherwise smooth transition

Evidence

Despite the total anarchy threatened by the sudden departure of the Europeans, the takeover was effected with almost miraculous smoothness. Disciplined troops arrived to assume point duty from French gendarmes; from somewhere technicians appeared who could maintain the essential services of gas, electricity, water and sewage that had been deserted by the Europeans; in the hospitals A.L.N. doctors and nurses from the field arrived to help the few Europeans who had remained. Tense as were the last days, they were marred by only one major incident against the pieds noirs in Oran, at the beginning of July. As seven katibas moved triumphantly into the city, some Europeans opened a suicidal fusillade. Out of all control, a wave of Muslims swept into the half-empty European quarters, indiscriminately cutting the throats of men, women and children; some of them within sight of French troops strictly obeying the edict of non-intervention now imposed on them by the Evian Agreements. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1620

Categorization

• XREF: The suicidally provocative European fusillade echoes the O.A.S. scorched-earth ethos and the psychology of the last-ditch settler intransigence seen across the book. — connects to: The national conflict canalized Algerian anger that had previously surfaced as common crime — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1241; Colonial authorities forced Europeans into a stark for-or-against choice at the outset — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 545; Sétif reprisal casualties overkilled Europeans ten to one — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 75 (+1 more)

Related

• Sétif reprisal casualties overkilled Europeans ten to one (similarity 0.83)
• F.L.N. atrocities escalated to blood-draining of European victims in response to O.A.S. outrages (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Colonial authorities forced Europeans into a stark for-or-against choice at the outset #expands (0.50) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 545
• Colonial subjects act out violently to end unbearable psychological tension #complicates (0.45) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 553
• The national conflict canalized Algerian anger that had previously surfaced as common crime #expands (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1241
• Sétif reprisal casualties overkilled Europeans ten to one #complicates (0.35) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 75