William Tyler
France’s Bloody Withdraw from Algeria

The French first became involved with Algeria, then part of the Ottoman Empire, in 1830. French rule was always of a rather precarious nature, and the post-World War II world began with a massacre of nationalists by French forces. Full-scale war erupted in 1954, and continued for eight years. The effects on France of the bitter war were more than damaging, and France itself was only brought back from the brink by the return of de Gaulle.