| This dissertation analyzes the fight between the North Africans and the French for the support of foreign governments, their publics, and international organizations in Algeria's war for independence. Based on multiarchival research and interviews in Europe, the U.S., and North Africa, it is argued that the Algerians won the war in that international arena, where the perception as much as the reality of foreign aid and sympathy succored the nationalists and was ultimately decisive in driving de Gaulle to concede independence. In their efforts to contain the conflict French governments only ensured that it would have far-ranging repercussions--contributing to the independence of Tunisia and Morocco, the Suez crisis, the fall of the Fourth Republic, decolonization in sub-Saharan Africa, and the beginning of de Gaulle's withdrawal of French forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. While dividing France from its allies, Algeria was a rallying point for the non-aligned movement and Arab nationalism. Indeed, by winning recognition as a legitimate government despite their failure to control any territory the Algerians helped to rewrite the rules of international relations. Analyzing the international aspect of their struggle and its ramifications abroad also illuminates how global economic and technological integration was contributing to generalized political and cultural fragmentation, exacerbating conflicts both within and between societies. From population growth to the proliferation of racial and religious strife, from mass migration to the pervasive influence of new means of communications, the Algerian war serves as a laboratory to measure the direction and velocity of trends that were sweeping the Cold War world and came to shape the contemporary era. |
