France's bloody history in Algeria

Algeria was occupied by France in 1837. Unlike other French colonies, Algeria was directly part of France. Therefore, during the colonial period, the oppression and violence against Algeria was higher than other colonies. The violence and oppression that France imposed on Algeria had been one of the most important factors in raising awareness of the struggle against French colonialism in Algeria.

Particularly, there was a hope that the French would give positive answers to the demands of the Algerian nationalists for the reform before and during the Second World War. However, the French government ignored the expected reforms. As a result, protests and uprisings against France began.

One of these uprisings was organized by the People's Party of Algeria in 1945. The purpose of the march was to celebrate the end of the Second World War, and to honor the Algerians who fought and died in this great war in the name of France. Before this march, some ethnical problems already started between the French government and the Algerians. In addition, intellectuals such as Messali Hajj were arrested because of the Algerians' claiming more rights and talking about it. This caused problems to grow even more.

This tense walk started on March 8, 1945. During the march, the police attacked the demonstrators and many demonstrators died. Police could not control the uprising and they asked the military for help. There was a huge increase in the number of dead and wounded by the involvement of air force-backed ground forces on the uprising.

The incidents caused the Algerian independence movement to begin. After the uprising, the people of Algeria began to fight for independence against France. The war of independence, which began in 1954, ended in 1962. Millions of Algerians were killed during the war. The French call this war as "France's Vietnam war".

It was known that during the war there were many massacres by France and human rights were violated by France. However, the French authorities did not accept these crimes. However, the new French president Macron took a big step on this issue.

New President of France officially acknowledged its military’s systemic use of torture in the Algerian War in the 1950s and 1960s, a step forward in grappling with its colonial legacy. This is proof that France has begun to face with her bloody history. However, the question is whether France will accept and recognize the massacres in Algeria or not in future.

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