The outbreak of the Algerian revolution of 1954
The night of November 1, 1954 was a turning point in the history of the Algerians' confrontation with the French occupation. In it, the first bullets were fired and a fierce war began that lasted nearly seven years. Great epics were made, despite the lack of equipment, numbers and weakness of armament. However, some of the Algerian youth managed to lead this liberation project and force destructive France to recognize sovereign Algeria.
First, the circumstances of the outbreak of the liberation revolution:
1- International conditions:
- The emergence and spread of liberation movements
- The defeat of France in the Battle of “ Dien Bien Phu ” in Vietnam, May 1954
- * The emergence of armed struggle in Tunisia and Morocco.
- * The breakthrough of international relations and its march towards peaceful coexistence
- France's status as a military power declined after World War II.
- * The emergence of international covenants that recognize the right of peoples to self-determination
2- Internal conditions:
* Algerians' conviction of the need for armed struggle after the failure of political action.
Dispersion of the national movement and the crisis of the movement for the victory of freedoms
* The continuation of the colonial policy and ignoring the demands of the national movement
* Committing massacres against the Algerian people as the massacres of May 8, 1945
Secondly, preparing for the outbreak of the revolution
1- Establishing the Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action:
The committee was established on March 23, 1954 by members of the private organization and some centralists. They limited the objectives of the committee to:
Work on party unity and preserving its revolutionary principles
* Work on assembling the organization's own frameworks
* Contacting the bases of the movement and convincing them of the necessity of adhering to neutrality. Why did the centralists fail to achieve their goals? The members of the special organization remained determined to take armed action.
2- Committee 22 meeting:
This meeting was held on 07/25/1954 in Algiers, at the home of Mr. Elias Drich . The most important points raised were:
* Reviewing the history of the private organization from its establishment to the date of its dissolution
* Work done by the private organization between 1947-1950
* Explanation of the status of those gathered within the Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action and their position on the members of the Central Committee
* The war in Tunisia and Al-Aqsa Morocco
- Mohamed Boudiaf was elected as a national coordinator and the members of the national office were elected: “ Mostafa Ben Boulaid – Mohamed Elaraby Ben M’hidi – Didouche Mourad – Rabah Bitat .
3- Secret meetings:
A- A meeting held on 06/23/1954 in the house of Al-Manadhel Issa Kashida on Barbaros Street in the capital, and it contained:
** Gathering the veterans of the private organization and integrating them into the new organization
** Military preparation for the revolution and conducting training experiments and training in making explosives
**Contacts with activists in Cairo: ( Ahmed Ben Bella - Mohamed Khaider - Hussein Ait Ahmed )
B- Meeting at the end of August:
At Mr. Buchoura Murad 's house in the capital, the committee's activities were reviewed
C- September 1954 meeting: Mustafa bin Boulaid was assigned to make the last attempt with Messali Al-Hajj
D- Meetings from 10 to 25 October 1954: in which:
The final touches were put to prepare for the outbreak of the liberation revolution in the meetings of 10 and 24 October 1954 in Algiers by the Committee of Six. The meeting discussed important issues:
- Giving a name to the organization that they were about to announce to replace the Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action, and they agreed to establish the National Liberation Front and its military wing represented by the National Liberation Army. The front's first mission aims to contact all the political currents that make up the national movement in order to urge it to join the revolution's march, and to recruit the masses for the decisive battle against the French colonialists.
- Determining the date of the outbreak of the liberation revolution: Choosing the night of Sunday to Monday, the first of November 1954 as the date of launching the armed action was subject to tactical-military factors, including the presence of a large number of soldiers and officers of the occupation army at the weekend, followed by their preoccupation with celebrating a Christian holiday, and the need to introduce the factor of surprise.
Determining the map of the areas and appointing their leaders once and for all, and finalizing the map of the offensive plan on the night of the first of November, the map of the most important operations of the first of November 1954.
The first region - Aures: Mustafa Ben Boulaid The second region - North Constantine: Didouche Mourad The third region - The tribes: Karim Belkacem The fourth region - The middle: Rabih Bitat The fifth region - West Oran: Larbi Ben M'hidi
Determine the password for the night of the first of November 1954: Khaled and Oqba
4- Internal and external communications:
A- Contacting party members, especially the secret organization, to reintegrate them into revolutionary work.
B- Contacting the Kabylie region, and in particular the activists "Karim Belkacem and Omar Omran "
C- Contacting the leader of the party, Messali Al-Hajj, through Abdullah Filali and Mustafa bin Boulaid. The aim was for the revolution to start under the leadership of the leader of the movement, Messali Al-Hajj.
D- Contacting the figures of the Central Committee, such as " Bin Yusef bin Khadda - Muhammad Bouzid - Hawally Al-Hussein ", but without achieving any results.
E- Contacting the delegation of the Victory Movement in Cairo was aimed at gaining material and moral support
And - the meetings were repeated between both Ahmed Ben Bella and Mustafa Ben Boulaid with the aim of securing the methods of arming and establishing workshops and installing weapons and storage depots.
Third, the outbreak
The beginning of the revolution was with the participation of 1,200 Mujahideen at the national level, who had 400 weapons and only a few conventional bombs. The attacks targeted gendarmerie centers, military barracks, weapons depots, and other strategic interests, in addition to the property seized by the colonists . Samandou in the second region, Azazga, Tigzirt, Bordj Manayel and Dra’a Al Mizan in the third region. As for the fourth region, it affected Algeria, Boufarik, and Blida, while Sidi Ali, Zahana, and Oran were on a date with the outbreak of the revolution in the fifth region (map of the political and military division of the revolution 1954-1956).
And with the recognition of the colonial authorities, the outcome of armed operations against French interests across all regions of Algeria on the night of November 1, 1954, amounted to thirty operations that left 10 Europeans and agents dead, 23 wounded, and material losses estimated at hundreds of millions of French francs. As for the revolution, it lost in its first phase its best sons who fell in the field of honor, such as Ben Abdel-Malik Ramadan , Qurain Belkacem , Baji Mokhtar , Didouche Murad and others.
Fourth, the statement of the first of November 1954
The armed action was preceded by the announcement of the birth of the National Liberation Front, which issued its first official statement known as the “Manifesto of the First of November.” This appeal was addressed to the Algerian people on the evening of October 31, 1954 and distributed on the morning of the first of November, in which the revolution defined its principles and means, and set its goals. represented in freedom and independence and laying the foundations for rebuilding the Algerian state and eliminating the colonial regime. In the statement, the Front clarified the political conditions that guarantee achieving this without bloodshed or resorting to violence. I also explained the tragic circumstances of the Algerian people that prompted
To take up arms to achieve his national goals, highlighting the political, historical and civilizational dimensions of this historic decision. The statement of November 1, 1954 is considered the constitution of the revolution and its first reference that guided the leaders of the liberation revolution and followed on the path of generations.
Fifth, the different positions on the revolution:
After the outbreak of the liberation revolution on the first of November 1954 and the announcement of the birth of the National Liberation Front as the sole and legitimate representative of the struggle of the Algerian people, according to what was stated in the statement of the first of November, the Algerian parties existing at the time differed between supporters, opponents and reservations. France also had responses and measures to confront the revolution, which it considered acts of terrorism and sabotage.
1 - The position of the Algerian parties on the liberation revolution
A- The central position
On the eve of the outbreak of the liberation revolution, the centralists considered the work undertaken by the National Liberation Front an adventure whose results were ignorant, and for this reason they were very wary of taking a position at the beginning. Especially after the French authorities dissolved the Movement for the Victory of Democratic Freedoms in the first week of November and arrested many of the party's activists, including Ben Youssef Ben Khadda , Abdel Rahman Kiwan and Ahmed Bouda . Their contact with Aban Ramadan after their release in March 1955 played a major role in accelerating their joining the liberation revolution. This was tantamount to the official announcement of the end of the central current and the recognition of the National Liberation Front as the sole framework for revolutionary action.
B - The position of the Democratic Union of the Algerian statement
At the outbreak of the liberation revolution, the leader of the Democratic Union of the Algerian Statement, Mr. Farhat Abbas, considered that action "chaotic and a desperate act" with uncertain consequences; He bet on achieving his party's ambitions through the application of the French Algeria Act of 1947 by the Mendes France government .
However, the colonial authorities resorted to rigging the provincial elections in April 1955 to block the way for the candidates of his party, and the meeting that brought together Farhat Abbas with the two masters, Omran and Aban Ramadan, in addition to the success of the attacks of August 20, 1955; Farhat prompted Abbas to issue a statement to the elected members of his party, calling on them to withdraw from all French councils. This statement was followed by mass resignations of the party’s deputies, until the mass enrollment of the party’s leaders and militants in the revolution in Switzerland was officially announced on January 30, 1956. On April 25, 1956, Farhat Abbas arrived in Cairo, where he held a press conference in which he announced the official dissolution of the Democratic Union of the Algerian statement and its accession to the National Liberation Front.
C- The position of the Algerian Muslim Scholars Association
The position of the Association of Muslim Scholars regarding the revolution, when it broke out, was not formally and publicly defined, despite its desperate defense of the fundamentals of the Algerian people since its foundation in 1931. Its position was initially characterized by hesitation and oscillation, and it was divided into two currents:
* Supporters of the first trend believed that the revolutionaries lacked seriousness in their demands, and this trend called on the French authorities to accelerate comprehensive reforms based on justice, equality and respect for the fundamentals of the Algerian people.
As for the second movement, it announced its support for the revolution, calling on the Algerian people to respond to the call of the National Liberation Front. This movement issued a statement in this regard, which was signed by about 300 teachers of the association. Signed by Sheikh Al-Bashir Al-Ibrahimi in Cairo on November 14, 1954, in which he called for rallying around the revolution.
And with the beginning of 1956, Sheikh Al-Arabi Al-Tibsi, who was one of the most prominent enthusiasts of the revolution, began to make contacts with the National Liberation Front. On February 12, 1956, the official announcement was made of the support of the Algerian Scholars Association for the revolution and the joining of its supporters to the National Liberation Front.
D - the position of the Algerian Communist Party
Unlike the previous parties, the Algerian Communist Party, which is linked to the French Communist Party, announced its opposition to the revolution since its outbreak and showed a negative attitude towards it, as it issued a statement on November 02, 1954 in which the political bureau of the party declared its condemnation of the revolution and its refusal to join it. The Algerian Communist Party also tried to show the people that it was keen on the interest of the nation.
Despite the victories achieved by the revolution at home and abroad, the Algerian Communist Party remained opposed to it and questioned the principles of the National Liberation Front. He tried to incite the toiling classes of the Algerian people to boycott and oppose them.
He also sought, on the other hand, to form a parallel armed force under the name of “fighters for freedom”, but the experiment failed in the cradle, and thus the Algerian communists put an end to their national struggle.
And - the position of the Masaleen
As for the Masalians, they explicitly declared their rejection of the liberation revolution from its inception, as they were hostile to the National Liberation Front and Army. And they founded, following the dissolution of the Movement for the Victory of Democratic Freedoms, a new party they called the " Algerian National Movement" MNA on December 22, 1954, to become a political and military organization hostile to the National Liberation Front and Army.
And they took the initiative to carry out military operations, with human and logistical support from the French army, against the militants of the National Liberation Front in cities and villages, as well as the brigades of the Liberation Army. They worked to sow confusion among the people, aiming to separate the masses from the revolution.
As for Europe, the Messalis worked to mislead the immigrant fighters by claiming that the revolution was organized by them, but the confidence of the Algerian immigrants in the Liberation Front was too strong to mislead them, and victory returned to the Front in France and other countries after it eliminated the organizations of the Messali movement and its supporters.
The third, fourth and sixth regions suffered from the criminal acts of the Musaleen, led by the agent Muhammad Belounis . In terms of battles, armed military confrontations took place in several regions of the country between the National Liberation Army and the MNA movement. One of the most important of these confrontations is the incident of Malouza in Beni Yelman , and thus the Masalians put themselves in the category of opponents of the revolution.
2- French political reactions after the outbreak of the revolution
France confronted the outbreak of the liberation revolution on the first of November 1954 with various means: military, political, media, propaganda and diplomacy. French reactions came quickly to contain the situation and mislead public opinion. It included political responses, military responses, and media responses.
A - French military reactions after the outbreak of the revolution
France initially tried to downplay the shock of colonial France by considering the events of limited impact and the actions of some outlaws. However, the development of the revolution and the intensification of its flames made the politicians and military leaders of France make a statement after a threat, and order the doubling of the number of the occupation forces stationed in Algeria to confront the events (a map of the spread of the military activity of the revolution).
The French government also approved the allocation of large financial resources to support the war effort, which was directed to eliminate the revolution and strangle it in the cradle before it got worse.
The French army initiated land and air military operations in December 1954 and January 1955 against the strongholds of the revolution in the Aures, northern Constantinople, Kabylia, and western Algeria; Besieging the population, launching combing and inspection campaigns, and establishing forbidden areas.
B - French political reactions after the outbreak of the revolution
Immediately after the explosion of the situation in Algeria as a result of the outbreak of the revolution, the French occupation authorities arrested a large number of activists of the Movement for the Victory of Democratic Liberties (MTLD). The French government also hastened to take the decision to dissolve the party and close its offices and clubs in Algeria and France on November 05, 1954. Some members of the Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action, CRUA , have fallen victim to the arrest campaign .
It was clear that the French government was not aware of the preparations for the revolution and did not have information about its perpetrators, and therefore it proceeded to arrest everyone who had a relationship with the national movement, especially the independence movement.
As for the official statements, they took the form of official statements and statements to the French and foreign media by French ministers and officials.
On the diplomatic level, the French government hastened to accuse "foreign parties" of being behind the armed actions in Algeria and propaganda for them on the global level. France was pointing fingers at Egypt and some Arab circles
Sixth, the problems that faced the revolution at its inception
The problems that faced the revolution in its first months are:
- Weapon scarcity.
- The field of jihad was mainly confined to the Auras, which colonialism mobilized large forces to besiege and liquidate the mujahideen there. To meet this challenge, the leadership of the revolution decided to launch a major attack in the North Constantine region (Northern Constantine Attacks) led by the hero Zygot Youssef from 20 to 27 August 1955 AD.
- Propaganda for the colonizer.
Seventh, the most important events of the launch phase:
1- The North Constantine Attacks August 20, 1955 (Mujahid Day)
The attacks on the north of Constantinople were not an impromptu act. Rather, they were prepared for, their date was set, and an agreement was reached on the method of their implementation and the objectives envisaged behind them. For this purpose, the first meeting was held to which the fighter Zigoud Youssef was invited in the period between June 25 and July 1, 1955 in the outskirts of "Pomegranate" called Gardens in Skikda. It was attended by one hundred Mujahideen members of the second region, including: Al-Akhdar bin Toubal, Mustafa Ammar bin Odeh, Ali Kafi, Muhammad Al-Saleh Mihoub and Boudhraba Ammar. As for the conduct of operations, it was agreed that they would last for three days.
On the first day: August 20, 1955, the army and people will attack the cities.
On the second day: August 21, 1955, colonialism comes to protect the cities and strengthen the military centers, so confronting it is through ambushes on all roads to strike it and protect the centers of the Liberation Army, in addition to gaining weapons from the operations of those ambushes.
On the third day: August 22, 1955, the execution of all traitors in the cities. In this meeting, the locations and objectives of the operations were determined, so 40 targets were chosen. In cities and villages, the National Liberation Army, with the support of the people, carried out several successful operations in the north of Constantinople during the period from 20 to 27 August 1955 under the leadership of Zigoud Youssef. French economic interests.
goals of these operations
Objectives of the events of August 20, 1955 AD:
A - internal goals
- Lifting the military siege imposed on some areas, especially the first region (Auras region).
- Shattering the myth of the invincible French army.
- Establishing confidence in the hearts of the Mujahideen and the people.
- Revitalizing the work of the National Liberation Army. The martyr hero Zygot Youssef
Refuting the false propaganda spread by France among the Algerian people, claiming that it was able to put an end to the revolution.
- Expanding military operations to disperse the ranks of the enemy and expand the scope of the revolution.
b- External goals
- Confirming effective solidarity with the brotherly Moroccan people, as it came on the second anniversary of the exile of Sultan Mohammed V to the island of Madagascar.
- He drew the attention of the world before the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, especially since the Asian-African bloc at the Bandung Conference decided for the first time to present the Algerian issue to the United Nations, and the leadership at home thought of taking military action because the internal work is a support for the representatives abroad.
Notify the world of the power of revolution.
- Convincing French public opinion, and international public opinion, that the Algerian people have adopted and supported the Liberation Front
The patriot is ready to liberate the country, whatever the price and sacrifices.
Refuting the false colonial propaganda that France is in control of the situation.
Gaining diplomatic and military support for the revolution.
its results
Despite the massacres that resulted from those attacks organized by the colonizer, as confirmed by one of the colonial executioners at the time (A and Saris ), and the doubling of the number of enemy elements to more than 400,000 soldiers who were recruited after the colonizer’s withdrawal from Vietnam after the Geneva Accords, these attacks had positive results for the future. The most important of the revolution are the following:
A- It achieved the goals set for it militarily, politically and in the media.
B - eased the siege imposed on the Auras region.
C- The people's cohesion with the Mujahideen increased.
D- It changed the French's view of the Mujahideen, after they used to call them "flagships", "bandits" and "outlaws".
Law" they call them revolutionaries.
E - Active in armed action.
F- Gaining more support from friendly and brotherly countries.
N- I worked to raise the voice of the revolution loudly, and made the world aware that what is happening in Algeria is a real revolution. The Algerian issue was discussed in international forums and it achieved successive victories.
The position of the French authorities on these attacks
The enemy's response was brutal, as it launched a massive campaign of repression and abuse against the population, which led to the death of more than twenty thousand Algerians, including 1,500 in the city of Skikda alone.
The steadfastness and continuity of the revolution
Despite the enemy multiplying its forces and escalating its campaigns of brutality, the struggle continued and the revolution won in many confrontations, such as the Battle of Al- Jarf in April 1956, when the Mujahideen ambushed large French forces in the Namamsheh Mountains , killing 374 soldiers and wounding hundreds. They shot down 6 helicopters and a pursuit plane, in exchange for 8 martyrs. . The revolution carried out Operation Palestro (Al-Akhdaria) on May 18, 1956, in which 19 Frenchmen were killed, and Operation " Blue Bird " was thwarted, which ended with 400 armed Algerians joining the jihad on the eve of the Soumam Conference after killing 500 French soldiers and agents.
2- The political development after the events of August 20, 1955
The government of Mendes France was unable to eliminate the revolution, despite its firm promises to achieve this, and it fell on February 4, 1955 AD, after it appointed the criminal " Jacques Soustelle " as a new governor-general of Algeria on January 26, 1955 AD, and it was succeeded by the Edgarfor government , which declared a state of emergency in the country, and brought in additional forces . But the extension of the flames of the revolution with the end of 1955 and the beginning of 1956 caused the government to lose the confidence of the French voter, and it fell to be replaced in January 1956 AD by the socialist government of "Guy Mollet" , who began searching for the appropriate formula to implement what he promised to his voters (working to establish peace in Algeria).
On February 6, 1956, the criminal “ Robert Lacoste ” was appointed as resident minister in Algeria, and he gave the French administration in Algeria special powers, and strengthened the forces present in it until the number of French forces in our country reached 400,000 military personnel, in addition to the militias of the centenarians, and Sustel ordered to launch large military campaigns against Auras and Kabylie.
Despite these severe measures, the people did not hesitate to rally around the revolution, and many activists of other movements joined it. Farhat Abbas joined the National Liberation Front in Cairo on April 22, 1956, and the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars also joined, and the General Union of Algerian Workers was established on February 24, 1956. The resignations of Algerian employees and representatives in the various councils followed, forcing the French authorities to dissolve the "Algerian Council" on the 12th. April 1956. Gains continued in the same year with the students’ strike on May 19, 1956, the establishment of the Muslim Students Union on July 2, the national strike in the same month, and the establishment of the Merchants and Craftsmen Union in September.
Battle of Dien Bien Phu :
It was the first engagement of the Indochina War between the French Confederation's French Far Eastern Corps and the Viet Minh's communist rebel front. The events of the battle took place between March and May 1954 under the leadership of General Giap. It culminated in the defeat of the French, then negotiations were held in Geneva to determine the future of Indochina. This battle gave a lesson to destructive France and that it could be defeated, so it was the title of victory.
The crisis of the movement for the victory of democratic liberties
The crisis within the movement appeared clearly since April 1953 when its second conference was held, in which the core issues in the dispute between the Central Committee and Messali Al-Hajj and his supporters became clear. The conference resulted in a decision defining the powers of the head of the movement, introducing a kind of democracy within the leadership of the movement, and adopting the decision of the majority, and Messali was insisting that he be given absolute powers to run the movement. , and the election of Ben Youssef Ben Khadda as Secretary-General of the movement and the selection of Hussein Lahul and Abd al-Rahman Kiwan as his assistants.Messali Al-Hajj soon rejected the conference's decisions, and in Messali's message to the militants of the Victory Movement, he stripped his confidence from the Central Committee, and the conflict intensified between the centralists and the Messalis, as each party became intransigent to its position, and this will result in the emergence of a new movement in the name of the Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action, which will work to reconcile the two parties. To no avail, as Messali's supporters met at a conference of the movement in Belgium on July 14-15-16, 1954, and they made adjustments to the structure of the movement.
