Successful Algiers Putsch , How long does the Junta last

Seems to me wildly unlikely that they could succeed.
1) The vote was pretty overwhelmingly in favour of letting Algeria have self-determination.
2) couping a regular politician? Maybe. However, DeGaulle, the man who led the Free French against the Nazis (and politically against the AngloAmericans, occasionally :) ), was a really tough target for a coup.

I'd think their best plausible result would be seizing all of Algeria and taking control of the Paris airfields (as planned), followed by a short civil war between loyalists and putschists, resulting in the latter's defeat.
 
As long as the Junta could maintain the loyalty of the majority of the French military the Junta could have existed indefinitely. France was close to cracking the indigenous Nationalist resistance in Algeria, and not to mention the situation with the French youth, unions and students could have been much more easily dealt with by the junta, proving a need for it's existence to the middle class. With optimal Junta leadership assumed, it could very well exist today, with the French still maintaining control of Algeria. Perhaps the influence of right wing authoritarianism and the ease of the military taking power would have influenced more militaries in Europe resulting in a much less liberal 20th/21st centuries.

I highly doubt the high minded liberals of Germany would 'soil' themselves with cooperation with the French and would definitely make the European Union a non starter. We would probably see the EEC or some measure of broad economic cooperation without the European Union's supranational and domestic aspects.
 
Couldn't they just ignore it and keep oppressing the Algerians
If it had been a vote of the ALGERIANS, yes. But, as I understand it, it was the vote of the entire population of France.

A military coup against a democratic government, on an issue where the public supports the government isn't going to do well.
 

CaliGuy

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Easily, most people don't realize how well the French handled the Algerian resistance movement.
Yeah, I have read that France ended up "losing" the Algerian war not through military defeat--indeed, it was winning on the battlefield--but because its brutal tactics had alienated both the French population and the Algerian population.
 
How exactly? Apart from a general support from what remained of European populations (that increasingly left the country) in Algeria, they had virtually no support in Metropolitain France (popular or political), no logistical base whatsoever, and barely the shadow of a plan except shouting to the face of the world they were pissed.

Having the putsch being successful would require a mass suicide in the political class, their relatively few troops (they weren't sure they could count on) growing wings and crossing the sea, and making successful critical hits at [Speech], [Charisma] and [Rifle] more than one can say.
 
Had the made the drop into France, it's highly likely the military would have made common cause with the coupist forces. The situation in the 1960's in France was relatively unstable and civil society was under siege by left wing malcontents. You only have to tweak a few circumstances, changes a minor factors before a completely successful coup is possible.
 

Deleted member 94680

A dash of CIA cash and warm words from the US to the coupists for “stabilising the domestic situation”?

Would the coup be pro-US/NATO?
 
Had the made the drop into France, it's highly likely the military would have made common cause with the coupist forces. The situation in the 1960's in France was relatively unstable and civil society was under siege by left wing malcontents. You only have to tweak a few circumstances, changes a minor factors before a completely successful coup is possible.

There is the problem of "then what?" Trade unions and the political left would not go quietly into the nigh. Mass demonstrations, general strike follow not to mention international isolation. Metropolitan army is mostly conscripts at the end of Algerian War and while they might not resist Foreign Legion and Troupes Coloniales, getting conscripts to control on their own population is difficult.

So I would say without massive external support Junta would fall in weeks and USA is not quite insane enough to back military dictatorship in France.
 
Had the made the drop into France, it's highly likely the military would have made common cause with the coupist forces. The situation in the 1960's in France was relatively unstable and civil society was under siege by left wing malcontents. You only have to tweak a few circumstances, changes a minor factors before a completely successful coup is possible.
Not true. Look at OTL, the military (mostly) rallied behind the government. Heck, the Putschistes couldn't even get all the military in Algeria to back them.

French is and was a democracy. Yes, it does have a slightly chequered history with the institution, but the times that they DID devolve, it was an inspiring leader taking over, a 'man on a white horse'. Napoleon and Napoleon III are the obvious examples. Had history been different, DeGaulle himself could have been that man - but he was the man being revolted against.

Might the Putschistes have been successful enough for there to be a short civil war? That I could see. Actually winning? Nope.
 

raharris1973

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Are we talking about the Algiers putsch of the 1960s?

Because wasn't "putsch-y" activity by the military in Algeria a national emergency that brought De Gaulle out of retirement and a new constitution.

What if De Gaulle had died earlier in the 50s and France did not have that card to play. Might the military in Algeria take over there and then take over the metropolis? Could a coup against the pre-De Gaulle politicians work?
 
You can easily write De Gaulle out of the equation as he was IOTL the subject of actual assassination attempts.
 

raharris1973

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You can easily write De Gaulle out of the equation as he was IOTL the subject of actual assassination attempts.

Are you talking about the attempts by the OAS right-wing, pro-Pied Noirs terrorists?

Or were there assassination attempts on him between the end of WWII and 1958, by other factions, during his political "retirement" years.

The reason why I ask, if that I don't think an OAS assassination of De Gaulle helping them to actually seize power....at all.

Rather, an assassination of De Gaulle after the Algerian referendum and start of OAS terrorism, just gives Pompidou the opportunity to rally center-right support by waving De Gaulle's bloody shirt.
 
Might President Nixon, having won in 1960, surround himself with far-right wing advisors who would then convince him to back the junta?
 
Might President Nixon, having won in 1960, surround himself with far-right wing advisors who would then convince him to back the junta?
Giving the pro-gaullist stance Nixon had, it's even less likely than putchists even having a foot on metropolitain France, let alone controlling the army inAlgeria.
 

raharris1973

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The prospect of no De Gaulle at all available to check the military command during the Algerian War is the one worth exploring in more detail.

The putschists of 1961 could have commanded sufficient loyalty to stay in power for any length of time.
 
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