Torture in Algeria threatened France with state self-destruction
Evidence
That which is true for Algeria may very soon be true for France…. The most serious problem is not the atrocities themselves, but that as a result of them the state is engaged in a process of self-destruction. What we are witnessing in Algeria is nothing short of the disintegration of the state; it is a gangrene which threatens France herself…. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 734
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the book’s recurring motif of revolutionary violence consuming its own state — the French Revolution theme the reader is tracking. — connects to: Torture’s contested truth made it a lasting canker for France; Algeria would be lost on France’s interior political front, not on the military front; Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (+9 more)
Related
- Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.89)
- Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (similarity 0.89)
- Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system (similarity 0.88)
- Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war (similarity 0.87)
- The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France (similarity 0.87)
- Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. (similarity 0.87)
- Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France (similarity 0.87)
- Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it (similarity 0.87)
- Torture’s contested truth made it a lasting canker for France (similarity 0.86)
- Perpetrators of torture carried its moral damage home to France in person (similarity 0.85)
- Torture’s Nazi echoes caused France’s defeat despite its military supremacy (similarity 0.84)
- Torture became institutionalized in the French army during the Battle of Algiers (similarity 0.84)
- Torture destroyed the Muslim third force and turned French opinion against the war (similarity 0.83)
- Algeria would be lost on France’s interior political front, not on the military front (similarity 0.83)
- Conscripts forced to commit torture brought psychological scars back to metropolitan France (similarity 0.83)
Broader Connections
- Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war.
#corroborates(0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1659 - Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat
#expands(0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 51