"Day of the Jackal"

ndbilly

One of my favorites. The assassination plot against de Gaulle was sponsored by those French, primarily former military men, who objected to granting Algeria independence. Was wondering if any of our history majors could explain why that was such a contentious issue. European colonialism was at its end anyway. This was an inevitable scenario. Why such high emotions over this issue?

LABWILD

I do not know about that history stuff, but the book is one of my favorites.

kimberkid

ndbilly -
"Day of the Jackal" released back in the late 70's was excellent ...

The new "Day of the Jackal" with Bruce Willis was ok ...
kinda cool, but not deserving of the same name ... [V]

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Chance favors the prepared mind [8D]

mark christian

This is an extremely complex issue and I wrote an entire paper on this and the French experience in Viet Nam when I was wasting time in school rather than selling guns and making money! In a nut shell, the French had controled Algeria since 1830 and had huge investments as well as large military complexes inside the country. 85% of the population were native Arab or Berber Moslems but they had no political rights, although in 1919 a select few were allowed to vote and hold minor public offices. The remaining population were "colons"; French colconists who controled every aspect of life within Algeria as well as nearly all of the coutry's wealth- the majority being sent back to France and not reinvested inside Algeria iitself.

After WWII Algerian nationalists pressed for a greater voice in their own government and were repressed quite harshly. There were two primary groups of nationalists: One was quite moderate but the other, the FLN, was composed of radicals who began to wage a very destructive guerrilla war in 1954 which the French were unable to suppress. There was no middle ground here because the FLN wanted the French out and total independence while the colons would accept no plan giving the Moslems voting rights or any voice in their country. The colons had the support of the conservative parties in France as well as the French military who were unwilling to see the French Empire vanish.

Enter de Gaulle. In 1958, under heavy pressure from the French Army and conservatives, the French legislature authorized Charles de Gaulle, who had been absent from polotics since 1946, to write a new constitution and rule by decree until the new constitution was ratifed. When this was done in late 1958 de Gaulle became premire of France and gained near dictatorial powers. He resented American influence in Europe and promised the French people that he would return the country to its former glory and this included holding onto its empire, Algeria in particular.

The war in Algeria continued and it was costing France far too much in both money and life than its interest in the colony were worth. In 1960, to the shock and disgust of the military men who helped place him in power, de Gaulle offered to end the conflict by giving the Algerian people the choice of either complete independence, self government with ties to France, or a continuation as a colony. Radical French army officers and angry colons then formed their own secret radical guerilla organization known as the OAS who then proceded to terroize Moslems and hoped to provoke such massive riots and law breaking inside of Algeria that the French army could then rule by martial law. The OAS also assinated a large number of Frenchmen, both private citizens and politicians inside France itself, who favored peace and the break up of the French empire. There were several unsuccessful attempts on the life of de Gaulle and one in particular was the basis for the book "The Day of The Jackel"...one of my favorites by the way. On 01 July, 1962 the Algerian vote was held and the choice for complete independece from France was overwhelming. The rest as they say, is history.



Mark T. Christian

offeror

Day of the Jackal is a great, fascinating movie, one of my favorites also. Somebody asked a question a while back about "movies you can watch over and over again every time they are on." I couldn't think of too many off the bat at the time, but this one, and Magnificent 7, are on the list. This is a great movie, and the Bruce Willis version, while a "decent action flick," sure pales in comparison to this one. This is must-see stuff. Thanks for the lesson, Mark. Good info. You do the homework, we get the Cliff Notes (!) [:D]

T. Jefferson: "[When doing Constitutional interpretation], let us [go] back to the time when [it] was adopted. [Rather than] invent a meaning [let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."

NRA Life Member

ndbilly

Thanks, Mark. I knew the military felt that de Gaulle had sold out in some fashion but didn't know why. What a 360, even from that pomopous *.

Last question: Didn't the Foreign Legion have a major presence in Algeria?

mark christian

Prior to 1962 the Legion had its headquaters located in Algeria at Sidi-Bel-Abbes as well as its major trianing center. At that time French law prohibited the French Foreign Legion form having any major presence inside France proper. After the French defeat at the hands of the communist forces in IndoChina nearly all of the captured members of the Legion were returned to Algeria for refit and retraining. Passions about the defeat in Viet Nam ran high amoung these elite forces who felt that their own government had betrayed and abandoned them when they still had the will to fight on. The ferocity and brutality of the legion in its attacks against the FLN forces in Algeria were a result of their dream of maintaining avenging their defeat in Viet Nam and hoping to retain the last of the French empire in that North African outpost which had been their home base for decades.

It has been well documented that many members of the OAS were officers and senior NCO's in the Legion and these men felt that by causing unrest and terror in Algeria they would cause the French government to hand over control of the situation to the French military to handle as it saw fit. By the time the bloodshed ended the Legion lost 1976 officers and men in Algeria and while this was less than 1/3 of their losses in Viet Nam these losses were considered even worse since Algeria was their home. Sadly for the Legion one entire detachment mutinied, countless members joined in the activites of the OAS and a number of officers were implicated in assasination attempts on various political figures in and outside of France. On 26 October, 1962 the Legion left its home in Algeria and moved to its new home located near Marseille.

Mark T. Christian