Decolonization & the French

1998 World Cup Champion French National Soccer Team

In recent years, the College Board has made an effort to expand its coverage of European history to include groups that don't fall into the historical mainstream. This includes more coverage of Jews in Europe, women, and, more recently, the millions of immigrants that arrived in Europe as a result of break up of European colonial empires and the labor shortages of the post-World-War-II era. These immigrants, in spite of their struggles within their new countries, have made an indellible impression upon the history and culture of Europe. The process of decolonization that took place after the Second World War seems to appear with increasing frequency in multiple-choice and essay questions, however, our textbooks don't really do great service to this important chapter of recent European history. I thought it might be a good idea to put the Cold War on the back burner for a little while and focus this blog post on a brief case study of one of the most destructive examples of decolonization; France and Algeria.

The Algerian War of 1954 to 1962 was so destructive and chaotic because of the special place that Algeria had within the French colonial empire. The French colonization of Algeria began with the occupation of the city of Algiers in 1830 (during the last days of the reign of Charles X). By 1834 the whole of Algeria became a French possession, and was rapidly settled French farmers. By 1848, the beginning of the 2nd Republic, there were well over 100,000 French settlers living in Algeria and the country was declared an integral part of France and politically integrated within the rest of the Republic. The late nineteenth century in Algeria saw increasing favoritism shown toward Algerians of European descent, known as pied-noirs, over the native Arab population of the territory. French citizenship was offered to pied-noirs and Jews, but not to Berbers or Arabs. French law allowed European settlers to purchase land that had been occupied by Arab farmers for centuries. By the end of the 19th century Europeans, who constituted aproximately 2 percent of the Algerian population, controled almost one third of the farmland in Algeria. This discrimination continued into the 20th century. Despite the contribution of almost 200,000 Algerian workers to the French war effort from 1914 to 1918, the French National Assembly rejected an Algerian Charter granting citizenship to Muslim Algerians who fought in the Great War.

After the Second World War, the cause of independence and self-determination took on a new importance in the colonial world. This war had been fought in the name of self-determination for the nations that had been conquered by the Axis powers from 1939 to 1945. The colonies of the European powers expected the same in return for their service and support during the war. The world after World War II was very different from the world in 1939. In place of the great European powers that dominated the world before the war were the two super powers of the United States and the Soviet Union. In this two-power world, the French saw themselves as a third great power. After all, they were the country of great monarchs, the Enlightenment, beautiful works of art. This attitude was reflected in their continued indifference to the demands of Algerian Muslims, who continued to demand equal treatment under the law after 1945. Downsizing their colonial empire to match the financial and political realities of the post-war world would come at a high price for the French. It would eventually lead to the downfall of the 4th Republic and a reorganization of the government.

The political failings of the 4th Republic were only exacerbated by the difficulties of maintaining a colonial empire in the 1950s. The unwillingness of the French government to make any concessions to the colonies only served to increase resistance to French imperialism around the world. In May of 1954, following the bloody Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the French began the withdrawal from Vietnam (French Indochina). In November of the same year, the FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale), the Algerian revolutionary group, launched attacks across Algeria and presented their demands and grievances to the the National Assembly, beginning a war that would last for 8 years and leave deep scars in the French political and economic landscape. The FLN launched a campaign of terror against Pied-noirs and Colons (French-Algerian farmers) throughout the 1950s, giving them the choice of "the suitcase or the coffin" (What a choice!). By 1958, a stalemate developed in the Algerian War that lead the French government to take desperate measures. French soldiers conducted house-to-house raids in Algeria that lead to the arrest and torture of many prisoners (water torture, electric shock, and mock drownings). Despite these drastic measures, the stalemate continued and the French government, without a strong executive, was hopelessly mired in debate without any solutions being offered. In 1958 they called for a return of Charles De Gaulle and gave him the power to restructure the French government in the hopes of ending the Algerian War.

In spite of his desires to see France retain her status as a world power, De Gaulle understood that the War in Algeria could not result in the continued political domination of France. Using the new powers granted to the President of the 5th Republic, De Gaulle announce plans to turn the task of governing Algeria over to the Algerians, essentially ending almost 130 years of direct rule from France. This plan for Algerian independence had to overcome the resistance of Pied-noirs and an attempted coup and campaign of terror by the OAS (Organisation de l'Armee Secrete), a counter-revolutionary group led by four French generals. A referrendum in April of 1962 secured the approval of the French people for De Gaulle's Evian Accords granting independence with French cooperation for Algeria. France very quickly became the destination for thousands of Pied-noirs and pro-French Algerians fleeing reprisals in Algeria. France was unprepared for this surge of immigration (almost one million people).

The echos of the Algerian War and decolonization can be heard in France today. In 2005, following the deaths of two North African teenagers in an incident with police, the northeastern suburbs of Paris erupted in violence. The riots in these mostly North African neighborhoods were fueled by the continuing problems of unemployment of young North Africans and the persistent poverty in their communities, and by claims of unacknowledged discrimination in the job market in France. The French government considers all French citizens to be French, and therefore equal under the law, and does not officially distinguish Algerian-French, or any other minority from the general population. Many minority groups in France claim that this allows discrimination in the job market to go unnoticed by the French government. This is an issue that France and many other European countries that invited the immigration of millions of "Guest Workers" will have to face as their populations continue to diversify.

 

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The Second World War and the AP Exam

American tanks enter Nürnberg in 1945

With as much time as we dedicate to World War II in our culture (Band of Brothers, Valkyrie, and every second not dedicated to Ice Road Truckers and Pawn Stars on the History Channel), you would think that it would be a bigger part of the AP European History exam. The truth is that it really hasn't ever loomed large as its own subject on the exam. Very few multiple-choice questions are dedicated solely to the war, and absolutely no essay questions have been designed around it. For us, to be honest, the topic might be too easy. After all, this is "our war," the one of which we are proudest, and the one we cannot stop reliving through film, television, and literature. The reality of the situation for a survey course like AP Euro is that the Second World War is the final chapter in a much bigger series of events that serves as the opening act of the twentieth century. UCLA's Eugen Weber referred to this period as a "second Thirty Years' War" that began with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 and ended in 1945 with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Just as the first Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) had its various phases, and the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) was made up a series of wars and relatively peaceful interludes, this second Thirty Year's War was marked by a first phase that finally ended the remaning vestiges of the Ancien Regime, a relatively peaceful interlude that saw Europe try to piece itself together in a new order, and a final catastrophic phase that saw the balance of power obliterated and ended European hegemony in the world.

Many of the causes of the Second World War can be traced back to the settlements made during the Versailles Peace Conference and the economic shockwaves caused by the end of the war in 1918. Many Germans were angry with the conditions of peace imposed upon them at Versailles. The felt that the terms of the treaty were harsh. The forced demilitarization of the Rhineland made many Germans feel vulnerable, at the mercy of a vengeful France. These feelings were amplified by the French occupation of the Ruhr Valley from 1923 to 1925. This occupation was the result of another term of the Versailles Treaty requiring the Germans to accept full responsibility for the Great War and to make full reparations for the damages and loss of life that resulted from the war. These reparations, totaling 132 marks (close to $33 billion in 1921), seemed extremely high and nearly impossible to pay to most Germans. The hyperinflation caused by the Weimar government in response to the French occupation ($1 = 4 trillion DM!) may have allowed German industrialists to wipe clean their foreign debts, but it absolutely destroyed the life savings of the German middle classes. The misery caused by the Great Depression in the years before the rise of the Nazi Party (1929-1932), when unemployment in Germany may have been as high as 35%, compounded the anger of the middle classes toward the democratic Weimar Republic. Adolf Hitler used this middle class anger to drive a wedge between the Weimar government and the middle classes, and to increase his own popularity by promising a recovery under National Socialism. He created a vision in which Germany was a weak, disarmed country surrouned by stronger enemies on every side. In this way, he gained the support of the German people in repudiating the Treaty of Versailles, rebuilding the German armed forces, and forcing territorial concessions from neigboring states (Austria & Czechoslovakia in 1938, Poland in 1939).

These are the kinds of connections that you should be able to make on the AP Exam in May. You should be able to identify the long-term causes of WW II, and the consequences of this new type of warfare that made the civilian populations that supported the armies of the warring nations the targets of aerial bombardments. Take a look at this sample multiple-choice question:

Which of the following resulted from the close relationship between science and government in industrialized nations during the Second World War?

(A) The pace of discovery and invention noticeably slowed.

(B) Specialization decreased.

(C) Much scientific research became financially dependent on military funding.

(D) Fewer students were interested in scientific training.

(E) The benefits of scientific advances were no longer questioned.

Notice this question, like most questions on the AP Exam, is conceptual in nature. It is not asking you to show specific knowledge, like who invented the atomic bomb. It is asking you to show your understanding of the consequences of a change in the role of governments that occured during the Second World War. So, if we think about this relationship between science and government in relation to the greatest scientific project of the war, the Manhattan Project (atomic bomb), we should be able to find the answer. First, let's eliminate the answer choices that we know to be incorrect. Answer choices A and C should be eliminated. After all, World War II came in the middle of the "heroic age of physics," when the pace of scientific education and discovery were on the rise. Answer choice B should also be eliminated. Specialization in industry and in science increased dramatically after the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution (Think of the assembly line). So, that leaves us with answer choices C and E. If we relate answer choice E to the horror and disgust that the world felt in the aftermath of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then we are left with answer choice C. Scientific programs like the Manhattan Project and Hitler's Wunderwaffen (Wonder Weapons) were huge, and secret, military programs that stand as examples of the dependency of scientific research upon military funding during the war.

German V-1 Flying Bomb

Remember, the details make great concrete details in essays, but it's the big-picture ideas that will help you to construct stronger arguments and to understand the multiple-choice questions.

 

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A Closer Look at Point-of-View: Part 2

So far, we have examined analyzing point-of-view (PoV) by relating the author's point of view to his or her place in society and by evaluating the reliability of a source. This time we will explore a couple of other methods of examining PoV in a DBQ.

As you read and examine each document it is important to keep in mind that different types of documents serve different purposes. The purpose of a document may have a profound effect on the opinion (PoV) offered by the author. If the source happens to be a public lecture or speech, take note of the audience for the occasion. A speech to a democratic parliament and one given to a croud of protesters may have different purposes; one may be intended to arouse support for a cause, the other to stir people to direct action. A private journal may have a different purpose than a published memoir; the first records the daily thoughts and actions of the author, the other may be intended to create a favorable image of the author's involvment in the events it describes. Either way, the purpose of the document may have affected the author's PoV, and it is your job to connect these two things. Take a look at this example from Document 2 of the 2006 DBQ (Alsace-Lorraine).

Prompt: Analyze the ways in which the national and cultural identity in Alsace-Lorraine were percieved and promoted during the period from 1870 to 1919.

Example of Acceptable PoV:

"This declaration to the National Assembly of the nation from which they were being forcibly removed was intended to stir the defeated French to action to save these two territories and therefore makes the incredible claim to represent the "unanimous will" of Alsace and Lorraine."

This analysis of PoV does a good job of identifying the source of bias in the document and the effect it has upon the opinion given in the document. Is it reasonable for us to assume that this document unanimously represents the wishes of every citizen of Alsace and of Lorraine? Probably not. The clue to the bias in this document is the word "unanimous." Look for these all-encompasing words (everybody, all, none... etc.). They are usualy clues to some sort of hyperbole, or exaggeration of the situation. They are clues to the agenda of the speaker and the purpose of the document.

Example of Unacceptable PoV:

"Because this was written in a declaration to the French National Assembly by French citizens it is biased."

Why is this unacceptable? It clearly makes the statement that the document is biased. So, doesn't that automatically make it acceptable? No, not really. There is no analysis of the point-of-view offered by the document at all. It simply makes the statement that the document is biased because it was written by French citizens. This statement could be applied interchangeably to any document written by the citizens of France to their National Assembly. It doesn't make any attempt to explained why the authorship or the purpose of this particular document makes it a biased source.

You may also choose to analyze the tone of a document. Some documents may be sarcastic in tone. Or. they may use highly inflammitory language. The tone of a document may indicate the purpose of the author. It is important to remember when analyzing PoV in this manner that it is not enough to simply point out the tone of the document. You must be able to connect that tone with a purpose. Take a look at this example from Document 11 of the 2003 DBQ (Burgfrieden):

Prompt: Describe and analyze changing views toward the concept of a "civil peace" (Burgfrieden) in Germany from 1914 to 1918.

"General Groener berated striking German workers who broke the civil peace as 'stinking dogs' in an attempt to induce other workers to pressure their comrades back into the factories."

This analysis of PoV does a good job of connecting the tone of the document to the intention of the General Groener. He "berated" the German workers in order to get other German workers to apply some good old-fashioned peer pressure. A good way to point out the tone of the document is to find a more exact way to say "he said" or "he stated." Check out page 39 of the AP Achiever for a great list of these "Tone Words," like "berated."

I'll leave the conversation about analyzing point-of-view here for now. The way to get better at writing DBQs is to practice writing them. In the next couple of week we will take some time to practice. Your next DBQ is scheduled for Tuesday 16 April.

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