Torture destroyed the Muslim third force and turned French opinion against the war

Evidence

For the rest of the modern world (and not least Southern Africa), the French experience in the Algerian War — a prototype of its kind — continued to offer its compelling lessons, most of them painful, for anyone prepared to heed them. There was the failure of a materially mighty Western power to combat a civil insurrection equipped with little more than ideology, without resort to the means one condemns in one’s enemy; in Algeria, the instrument of torture, as well as being fundamentally wicked in itself, was proved to be a boomerang weapon. There was the failure of the West to comprehend Third World aspirations; and the failure of the moderates everywhere to prevail against the extremist minority on either side; the Gironde is sent packing by the Montagne. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1659 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war; Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 51; Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (+9 more)

Related

• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France (similarity 0.94)
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (similarity 0.92)
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war (similarity 0.91)
• Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. (similarity 0.90)
• Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it (similarity 0.89)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.88)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France (similarity 0.87)
• Torture’s Nazi echoes caused France’s defeat despite its military supremacy (similarity 0.87)
• Perpetrators of torture carried its moral damage home to France in person (similarity 0.85)
• Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system (similarity 0.85)
• Torture was effective in winning the short-term battle of Algiers (similarity 0.85)
• Torture’s contested truth made it a lasting canker for France (similarity 0.84)
• French soldiers who saw Belsen recognized the same moral degradation in Algeria’s torture (similarity 0.84)
• Torture in Algeria threatened France with state self-destruction (similarity 0.83)
• France armed defector Bellounis into a private Muslim ‘third force’ army (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war #corroborates (0.90)
• Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. #corroborates (0.90) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1659
• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France #corroborates (0.75)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat #corroborates (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 51
• F.L.N. terrorism and G.P.R.A. assertiveness eroded the French ‘third force’ Muslim strategy #complicates (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1283
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. #corroborates (0.65)
• Torture’s Nazi echoes caused France’s defeat despite its military supremacy #qualifies (0.60)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France #expands (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 580
• A French attempt to revive a third force killed the first Evian talks #expands (0.60)
• De Gaulle’s 1958 arrival threatened the F.L.N. through fraternisation and a Muslim third force #responds-to (0.55)
• France armed defector Bellounis into a private Muslim ‘third force’ army #complicates (0.55)