General Massu receives police powers during the Battle of Algiers

A decree set out exceptional measures for restoring order, protecting persons and property, and safeguarding Algerian territory. Its neutral administrative language concealed an expansion of...

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...

The FLN called a general strike that began on 28 January during the United Nations debate on Algeria. Many Algerians closed shops and withdrew from public life despite threats and military coercion....

French paratroopers arrested Larbi Ben M’hidi, a central FLN leader, during the Battle of Algiers. He was interrogated in military custody and later killed extrajudicially. French authorities...

Larbi Ben M’hidi was killed by French forces after being held in custody; the death was disguised as suicide. His killing was part of a wider pattern of torture, disappearance, and extrajudicial...

FLN fighters attacked villagers in the Melouza area, many of whom were associated with Messali Hadj’s rival Mouvement national algérien (MNA). The killings formed part of violent competition between...

French paratroopers arrested Maurice Audin, a mathematician at the University of Algiers and member of the Algerian Communist Party. He disappeared in military custody after torture. Authorities...