La Pacification en Algérie

The Algerian War came within the framework of a very special era of decolonization, soon after the Second World War and the loss of Indochina, as well as of the Cold War tension which led the French army to see the hands of Communism behind the Algerians' fight. The atrocities of the Algerian War are well known. To denounce them was to tarnish the army and France. Pressures were exerted, even by the army chaplaincy, to prevent conscripts from talking once back home. The General de La Bollardière was punished for making his opposition to the use of torture public. Guy Mollet, the then head of the French government, denied any kind of shameful practices before Parliament. As for the army, they sabotaged any attempt at contact with the Algerian leaders. Some generals even attempted to overthrow the government in 1961 in order to block the ongoing Evian negotiations.