WI: Algeria remains French?

POD: Someone keeps his head after the Sétif massacre and prevents mass reprisals (multiple trials and hangings do occur, over 100 civillians did get killed). Charles de Gaulle, deciding that the rule of law needs to apply to all frenchmen, manages to strongarm the post WWII government into formally recending all restrictions on the franchise/citizenship rights and the vestigies of the Code de l'indigénat in the departments of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. Upon the founding of the Fifth Republic, with even greater effort, he refuses to oppose a move formally establishing Arabic as a language in which government business may be conducted.

Needless to say, the greatly weakens support for the FLN. Indeed the biggest security/insugency problems in the fifties and sixties was from teh various colons who felt most threatened by the overthrow of the psuedo-apartheid social order.

This does slow down negotiations for the establishment of the EEC, but not by much as growth in A/O/C (as the place in nicknamed north of the Med) seems rather impressive.

Long term ramifications?

HTG
 
The only way to keep Algeria French is to put a stack more Frenchmen there, and convince the Arabs that staying part of France will help their lives and standard of living. That would be quite hard after the Setif massacre.
 
The only way to keep Algeria French is to put a stack more Frenchmen there, and convince the Arabs that staying part of France will help their lives and standard of living. That would be quite hard after the Setif massacre.

Yeah, I agree. Eventually France would have to let go of Algeria, no matter if the opposition to French rule came from Algeria, from inside France, or from the international community. Remember that there was a huge movement post-WWII for independence for all colonies.
 
The only way to keep Algeria French is to put a stack more Frenchmen there, and convince the Arabs that staying part of France will help their lives and standard of living. That would be quite hard after the Setif massacre.
Why do you think part of the POD was spiking that nastiness?

And yes I am shooting for the latter more than the former (the FLN hardliners strongarming people will help in that direction).

HTG
 
It would seem to me that it might have been possible to have kept Algeria as a part of France if the majority of the people felt that they were being all treated as Frenchmen.
 
One possible way might be to make France lose the Great War.
If, say they lose the other colonies, but not Algeria, in the peace (unlikely, but not entirely implausible), that would mean that a significant portion of the OTL post-1918 emigration to the other French colonies is likely to go to Algeria, which would make Algeria more French. Not enough to keep it in the end, but it might help (that is, give it a chance, however small it may be).
 
After a long history of the French being on bad terms with Algerians, I really cannot see this happen. Even if they do hold on, it'll be a very nasty business, and eventuallky they'll let go. Maybe i we do something to change this pre-1900... The grievances and differences are just too large.
 
Short of making Algeria's population majority European, I'm not sure there is a way. As to how to do that, massively increased French (and Italian, Spanish, etc.) immigration - but what pulls an extra several million Europeans to Algeria?

Alternatively, you can integrate the Muslim population, give them seats in the National Assembly and full legal rights, but eventually they'll still at least wonder "Why are we part of France?"

Hm. Maybe an early POD where the local population is emancipated and integrated from the beginning. European ettlement takes place, but the Muslims are on the same legal level as the colons. By the post-war period (assuming this doesn't butterfly away WWII), Algeria really is just another set of French departments with a population that's about 1/3 European and 2/3 Arab or Berber.
 
Short of making Algeria's population majority European, I'm not sure there is a way. As to how to do that, massively increased French (and Italian, Spanish, etc.) immigration - but what pulls an extra several million Europeans to Algeria?

Alternatively, you can integrate the Muslim population, give them seats in the National Assembly and full legal rights, but eventually they'll still at least wonder "Why are we part of France?"
Some may, I am shooting for more asking if cutting loose is worth the headache given the labor and capital mobility and being part of the EEC/EU.
Hm. Maybe an early POD where the local population is emancipated and integrated from the beginning. European ettlement takes place, but the Muslims are on the same legal level as the colons. By the post-war period (assuming this doesn't butterfly away WWII), Algeria really is just another set of French departments with a population that's about 1/3 European and 2/3 Arab or Berber.
I put forth that idea on the pre 1900 board a while back. No real interest....

HTG
 
I think you need more Frenchman in Algeria for it to work. I think there is a critical mass needed for a minority to rule over a majority, and I don't think the French had it in Algeria. My guess is if Algeria was 20% French it could have kept on being French. That was the percentage of whites in South Africa at the time.

Personally, I don't buy the "Arabs need more rights track". Look at South Africa for example. Apartheid lasted until the 1990s. Also the Arabs were taxed much more heavily than the Colons, something that did not occur in South Africa.

(IIRC if you made under 350 rands a year, you did not pay taxes. For whites the threshhold was twice as high, and the tax burden was much more heavy on the whites. There were taxes and permits for just about everything in South Africa.)
 
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