A decree activates exceptional measures under the special-powers law

Coordinated attacks and the FLN’s declaration marked the beginning of the war for independence. The uprising challenged French claims that Algeria was an integral part of France and demanded...

Mourad Didouche, one of the FLN’s historic organisers and a commander in the northeast, was killed during a French military operation. His death demonstrated the risks faced by the movement’s early...

The FLN and allied villagers attacked police, military, and settler targets in North Constantine in an effort to break the image of a contained rebellion and draw attention to Algeria internationally....

French prime minister Guy Mollet was confronted by a hostile settler crowd in Algiers while seeking to install General Catroux as minister-resident. The confrontation and his retreat under pressure...

The National Assembly voted special powers for the Mollet government to act in Algeria. The measure enabled emergency policies and facilitated the transfer of broad policing authority to the military....

French authorities executed Ahmed Zabana and Abdelkader Ferradj in Algiers. Their executions became a defining moment for the liberation movement and intensified Algerian opposition to colonial...

Delegates met in the Soummam Valley and adopted a platform that strengthened the revolution’s political and military organisation, established national bodies, and divided the country into wilayas....

Bombs placed by FLN militants in the Milk Bar and Cafétéria in Algiers killed and injured civilians, including European settlers. These attacks targeted public places and must be named as violence...

French authorities intercepted and forced the landing of a civilian Moroccan aircraft carrying Ahmed Ben Bella, Mohamed Boudiaf, Hocine Aït Ahmed, Mohamed Khider, and Mostefa Lacheraf. The five...

French authorities transferred policing powers over Algiers to General Jacques Massu and the 10th Parachute Division. The military campaign used mass arrests, torture, forced disappearance, and...