The Algeria War And The Fall Of The Fourth Republic

Decolonization is a very important subject in the research of the world history, especially in the third world history study after the Second World War. The Algeria War which happened during 1954-1962 had a very important influence in the process of the North African decolonization. It directly or indirectly caused three crises, including the Suez Crisis. It was this war that directly caused the fall of the Fourth Republic, Charles de Gaulle returned to power, and the building of the Fifth Republic. It was a very special war also because there were almost one million immigrants who lived in Algeria. These people settled in Algeria since 1830, after nearly 130 years settlement, they had become a very powerful force not only in Algeria, but also in France. They seized the political economic lifeline of Algeria, meanwhile they had a very complicated relationship with the French government. To keep the Algeria French, they tried everything that possible. At the same time, since the beginning of the Algerian War, the French government had to send more and more army to Algeria to suppress the rebellion. To improve the efficiency, the French government also gave the army more and more power. This policy would cause a lot of troubles for the French government in the next 8 years. Separated with the metropolitan for a quite long time, suffered a series of defeats, the French army felt they had been abandoned by their country. And then it was quite easy to understand why the army and the immigrants (who were also called pied noir) would associate with each other. This association made the resolve of the Algerian problem become even more impossible. They caused one after another French governments fell from power, and at last, the fall of the Fourth Republic itself.