I have been a long time student of Algeria’s war of independence, which took place from 1954 to 1962. Repeated viewings of Gillo Pontecorvo’s brilliant 1966 film The Battle of Algiers, as well as Florent Siri’s 2007 film Intimate Enemies, have made a lasting impression on me. The conflict is not well known in the West, for a variety of reasons, and my goal here is to provide a general outline of the war, as well as the tactics of the protagonists.
Background on the war
Algeria had been essentially a French protectorate since the 1830s, and by the early 20th century it had become entirely integrated into the French colonial system. It was actually considered part of France. The system, however, was based on pitiless exploitation of the native population and the perpetuation of what would today be called an apartheid social structure. France justified this state of affairs by portraying itself to the world as the bringer of civilization and egalitarianism to a backward indigenous population.
By the early 1900s, Muslims made up over 90% of the population but were saddled with paying 70% of the direct taxes. The French government installed settlers (called colons) on Algerian lands, who dispossessed the native population and treated them little better than serfs.
The early twentieth century had seen the organization of some groups that agitated for Algerian independence. None of them achieved much success. Groups like the Star of North Africa and the Party of the Algerian People were formed by European-educated Algerians in the 1920s and 1930s, and infused with the ideology of modern nationalism.
These parties were banned by French authorities by the 1930s and never had much influence outside of intellectual circles. The PPA did, however, succeed in creating a network of cells around the country that would be of use to it later.
The end of the Second World War brought with it the end of old notions of European colonialism. The old ways of doing things were on the way out, and the more astute European powers like Britain and The Netherlands realized that colonialism was a casualty of the war. France, however, insisted on retaining its holdings in North Africa and Indochina by force.
In the early 1950s, a patriot named Ahmad Ben Bella created the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action (CRUA) in Cairo. With the support of Egypt’s anti-imperialist leader Gamal abd al-Nasser, Ben Bella and his associates created the National Liberation Front (FLN), with its military arm in Algeria being the National Liberation Army (ALN).
The insurgency
The insurgency began in 1954 with armed attacks on French government and military targets all over Algeria. The FLN leadership in Cairo at the same time called on all Algerians to support the fight for full independence from France. The French responded with a campaign of counter-violence in an attempt to crush the insurgency before it could gain momentum. It was inconceivable to them that Algeria could secede from France; it had been actually integrated into the structure of the French republic.
French settlers (colons) formed vigilante groups to fight the insurgents. The FLN strategy was: (1) win the support of the local population by disseminating information and propaganda; (2) separate the French government from the Algerian people by methods both peaceful and violent; (3) gain control of the countryside; (4) destroy the network of French collaborators and informers; and (5) establish an alternative social system and government that would be ready to take power once the French left.
By day, the FLN would attack soft targets in an attempt to provoke overreactions from the government. By night, the insurgents would melt into the local population. These were classic guerrilla tactics, and they worked.
The conflict was brought to the cities in 1957 with calls for a nationwide strike. France also began to train a cadre of native loyalists called harkis to assist in fighting the FLN. By 1957 the French had over 400,000 soldiers in Algeria, but it appears that of these about 170,000 were Muslim Algerian volunteers with little stomach for fighting their countrymen.
In 1957 and 1958, French general Raoul Salan divided the country into sectors with permanently stationed troops. Under a system known as quadrillage, each military sector was responsible for controlling its own territory. This marked the beginning of large-scale “search and destroy” missions against the FLN.
But the overreactions of the French military forces, and the widespread use of torture and other questionable tactics, alienated many otherwise apathetic Algerians from France. On the international front, the French government was unable to gain the moral high ground. None of the major world powers were much interested in helping France retain what was rightly seen as a colonial anachronism.
There were those in France who could see the writing on the wall, and who knew that France’s days in Algeria were numbered. Charles De Gaulle, in an act of great political bravery, had the courage to argue for withdrawal from Algeria. In 1958 he called for a new constitution for France’s Fifth Republic, in which Algeria would have self-determination, and asked for a referendum from Algerian voters.
De Gaulle was elected president in 1959, and called for a negotiated end to the conflict. He envisioned a loose association between the two countries, one in which France would apparently play the role of “older brother.” The FLN refused to stop the conflict on any terms short of complete and total independence.
But the end was fast approaching. The French public were tired of the conflict and wanted it brought to a conclusion. In 1961 peace talks were opened. The Evian Accords, completed in 1962, brought an end to the war. Hostilities were to end, and the hundreds of thousands of French colonists were given a period of time of equal rights with Algerian natives. After this period, however, they would either have to become Algerian citizens or be classed as foreign nationals.
In the end, fewer than 30,000 Europeans chose to remain. Around 400,000 were repatriated to France, never to return.
The Algerian War of Independence was a brutal and bitter struggle, one which continues to haunt both countries today. Even today, the war is known in the Arab world as the “revolution of a million martyrs” in honor of the high Algerian casualty rate.
From the perspective of military tactics and strategy, it offers an outstanding example of how a small, dedicated minority can successfully confront an established system of power. Without doubt, FLN tactics were studied in Hanoi, and adapted to local conditions in Vietnam during its own conflict with the United States.
Read More: Two Fathers
I’ve read quite a bit on the history of post-colonial Africa. I highly recommend it to anyone, it’s very interesting. The greatest point I’ve learned is that the colonial powers didn’t decolonize due to social pressure as much as it was fiscally untenable to keep the colonies.
“Frantz Fanon: Voice of the Third World”
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1S649BU0JT6EQ
“The Source” Magazine
http://www.latticetheory.net/media/pdf/Source_Magazine.pdf#page=8
Highly interesting. For obvious reasons, I would advise everybody to study up on exactly these kinds of topics. Learn from winners, and remember that in war, it often comes down to ‘kill or be killed’. We are at war. ‘Have been since the 1700s.
I’m glad someone drew the subtext conclusions from this article. Well done.
Are there wars where it doesn’t come down “to kill or be killed.”
Not really. The closest you get are cultural wars, but in the end one culture dies off while the other reigns.
I would argue we have been at war since 623 AD (the first raids against the Meccans, a year after the hijra).
Why can’t the world just learn to love Americans for that?
Incidentally, read the Centurions by Jean Larteguy. It’s a man’s book by a man’s man.
Sorry, I had written my comment without seeing yours and the trailer above. There’s some great minds here at this ROK website! Carry on, gentlemen!
Must have been extremely difficult for you to choose sides here Quint. I mean white nationalists versus Muslims , your 2 faves dukin It out .
François Genoud was a supporter of the FLN:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Genoud#Algerian_Liberation_Front
This is a very interesting history, and everyone reading this website should have an understanding of 1960s revolutionary movements. I second Quintus’s recommendation of “The Battle of Algiers” movie It is a long movie, but a masterpiece of film making. Absolutely beautiful cimematography and music. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca3M2feqJk8
It me pains to watch this and reflect on our inept leaders making the same mistakes in the Mideast today. Not only that but going so far as to ridicule the French for not wanting to join America in these useless wars, by inventing ridiculous “Freedom Fries” and criticizing those who did not want to join America in invading and murdering strangers in the mideast. This was all done in the name of terror, and yet look at the terror and destruction that they have created today.
On the other hand, the tactics used by the rebels are quite simple, but difficult to defeat. The masculinity movement doesn’t have the overwhelming numerical superiority the way most colonial nations do (men are only 50% of the population, and we do not have all men on our side), but the 1) tactics of winning individuals and small groups over slowly (blogs, Roosh’s media appearances, discussions with friends), 2) using propaganda (ditto), 3) creating divisions between the leaders and their followers (exposing the millionaire feminists in Canada), 4) destroying the old institutions and lines of communication (they are doing this to themselves), are quite effective and extremely difficult to fight.
I think one are where the masculinity movement needs to focus is on 5) establishing an alternative social system to replace the corrupt one we have now. It doesn’t necessarily have to resort to the old methods of social shaming and brutal legal repression, but we must be creative and all inclusive in searching for solutions, given all the tools at our disposal.
Just the other day, a beta friend of mine openly criticized a millennial female for playing on facebook on her smartphone while the rest of us were trying to have a conversation. We should constantly reward successes wherever we find them, revel in them, and, to quote George Dub, “catapult the propaganda” to victory!
Ahh yes I believe the term was “Cheese eating surrender monkeys” funny how all Yank insults to the Frogs are about food
Guerrilla tactics, made possible by cheap portable weapons requiring little to no training, have basically made every country in the world unconquerable by any enemy unwilling to engage in complete and utter genocide.
French officer David Galula who wrote the book on insurgency tactics after his experience in the Algerian War observed that modern armies hemorrhage cash when fighting an insurgency movement. He cited a firefight where the French soldiers hit the dirt and called in an artillery strike. Thousands of dollars worth of shells were expended to kill several enemy combatants.
O-BL’s dream was to draw America into war in the Mideast so that he could extract as much cash as possible. Considering his actions resulted in giving us the TSA, Dept of Homeland Security, and 15+ years of straight warfare with over a trillion dollars spent, I would say he was successful beyond his wildest dreams. The plan was to destroy America by bankrupting it, the same way the USSR was destroyed. We are getting dangerously close to that happening.
Ain’t that the truth.
I suspect that a new isolationist movement will arise if the country manages to survive. It’s unacceptable that we have to choose between warmongering Neo-Conservatives with savior complexes and Cruise Missile Liberals. The Zionists would shit themselves in rage, but their power seems to be waning as evidenced by their failure to stop the Iran deal.
One would think so, and yet so many of the Republican candidates are doubling down on more military, going to such absurd lengths as claiming that the US military is now “small” or “weak”. Mitt Romney wanted to build something like a dozen new battlecruisers for the navy (to fight what other navy, exactly?). Princess Lindsey Graham answered every question in the presidential debates (including what would you do about social security, what is your immigration plan, etc.) with new declarations of war on foreign powers ( I guess we don’t need to worry about winning the wars we are already struggling with in year 15).
At some point basic economics comes into play and the guns vs butter scale tips so far that the citizens no longer have any butter to spread on their bread. Given zero interest rate policies, massive government debts, and aging infrastructure, we are rapidly approaching that point.
arm the kurds properly and isis will be defeated
Is-is didn’t even exist until the US thought it would decide to intervene. Chances are we would end up with something worse if we took that advice.
I support an independent Kurdistan but it’d be only a matter of time before insurrection began in the Kurdish-majority regions of Turkey.
Can’t do that; Need’em weak so our staunch allies in Ankara can keep them in line.
lol Turkey is the true enemy and shouldnt even be in Nato…such staunch allies they failed to let the US have use of the Acrilik airbase and they (turkey) bomb the kurds instead of isis.
“O-BL’s dream was to draw America into war in the Mideast so that he could extract as much cash as possible. Considering his actions resulted in giving us the TSA, Dept of Homeland Security, and 15+ years of straight warfare with over a trillion dollars spent, I would say he was successful beyond his wildest dreams.”
Plane, must, kite, hit, steel, plane, must (an example of how magic rituals and blood sacrifices are hidden in plain sight):
All Seeing Eye ceremony at Ground Zero:
Don’t believe in God and Satan? Don’t believe in magic and the occult? Well, the Satanic elite who run Mystery Babylon do and they even purposefully leave clues both behind and in advance (as if required by God, and/or to enhance the spiritual power created and harvested):
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JrGNfJEhv7A/T_5lg1UpDUI/AAAAAAABE40/i_qXv7amJIw/s1600/ipetgoat5-e1341615818358.jpg
http://s43.photobucket.com/user/tlthe5th/media/510px-CIAsvg.png.html
Definitely some fishy shit going on and we are not being told the truth. I know OBL was a CIA contract agent, and there is the saying “once CIA, always CIA.” Tim Osmond right?
Still, the sentiment remains that those opposing the US government have been hoping to draw it into a prolonged battle where it spends (wastes) trillions which accelerates its collapse. I mean its not like the army of Afghanistan is going to invade New Jersey.. this is exactly how they achieve victory.. by getting the US to waste its precious blood and treasure over there, thus accelerating its decline at home. In that sense Iraq and Afghanistan have been total and utter losses by the US (not to mention military failures as well).
“Still, the sentiment remains that those opposing the US government have been hoping to draw it into a prolonged battle where it spends (wastes) trillions which accelerates its collapse. I mean its not like the army of Afghanistan is going to invade New Jersey.. this is exactly how they achieve victory.. by getting the US to waste its precious blood and treasure over there”
You can’t make an omelet without cracking an egg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ThF-C5hl48
Revelation 18:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+18&version=KJV
Hehe you might wanna fine tune yoursarcasm detector Chris. I know, they did jackshit to help us until they got bit and then use the situation for their own little plans. And still do pretty much jackshit. Obama sold the Kurds for a landing strip. Greatest president evah.
sorry – i missed it
Np
Damn internetz did it again.
In any case anyone who can disagree with facts and postulates instead of the usual omgyoufailedfool stance automatically earns my respect. Cheers.
Those poor Algerians. Why did France take Algeria to begin with? Well prior to to the colonialist boots on the ground, the Barbary States had a good run of terrorizing the seas attacking any non-Muslim ships they found and carrying off white slaves. The USA went to war with them before the French landed the death blow. The jihadist oppressors then became the oppressed.
Bin Laden died in 2001 and had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, as he clearly explained in the letter he wrote on the matter immediately afterward in which he denied involvement. After he died he became a digital boogie man for the CIA to put in a new scary propaganda video every few years to drum up support for war and expansion of the surveillance state from the American public.
ISIS was covertly armed and funded from the beginning by the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar in order to destabilize Syria and attack Assad, with the added benefit of creating a new propaganda boogieman to drum up support among the American public.
Benghazi was a CIA base for exporting jihadists and weapons from Libya to Syria to create ISIS. The men famously killed in Benghazi by jihadists were knowingly involved in that mission to create ISIS in Syria. They were double crossed by their own jihadist clients.
The bankster cabal intentionally bankrupted the Soviet Union and they are intentionally bankrupting the USA. That’s what banksters do, they intentionally bankrupt people to steal their property. The endgame is to bankrupt the entire world in order to steal all power and thus consolidate government into NWO.
Those poor Algerians…. Why did France take Algeria to begin with? Well prior to to the colonialist boots on the ground, the Barbary States had a good run of terrorizing the seas attacking any non-Muslim ships they found and carrying off white slaves. The USA went to war with them before the French landed the death blow. The jihadist oppressors then became the oppressed.
Bin Laden died in 2001 and had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, as he clearly explained in the letter he wrote on the matter immediately afterward in which he denied involvement. After he died he became a digital boogie man for the CIA to put in a new scary propaganda video every few years to drum up support for war and expansion of the surveillance state from the American public.
ISIS was covertly armed and funded from the beginning by the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar in order to destabilize Syria and attack Assad, with the added benefit of creating a new propaganda boogieman to drum up support among the American public.
Benghazi was a CIA base for exporting jihadists and weapons from Libya to Syria to create ISIS. The men famously killed in Benghazi by jihadists were knowingly involved in that mission to create ISIS in Syria. They were double crossed by their own jihadist clients.
The bankster cabal intentionally bankrupted the Soviet Union and they are intentionally bankrupting the USA. That’s what banksters do, they intentionally bankrupt people to steal their property. The endgame is to bankrupt the entire world in order to steal all power and thus consolidate government into NWO.
Those poor Algerians. Why did France take Algeria to begin with? Well prior to to the colonialist boots on the ground, the Barbary States had a good run of terrorizing the seas attacking any non-Muslim ships they found and carrying off white slaves. The USA went to war with them before the French landed the death blow. The jihadist oppressors then became the oppressed.
Bin Laden died in 2001 and had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, as he clearly explained in the letter he wrote on the matter immediately afterward in which he denied involvement. After he died he became a digital boogie man for the CIA to put in a new scary propaganda video every few years to drum up support for war and expansion of the surveillance state from the American public.
ISIS was covertly armed and funded from the beginning by the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar in order to destabilize Syria and attack Assad, with the added benefit of creating a new propaganda boogieman to drum up support among the American public.
Benghazi was a CIA base for exporting jihadists and weapons from Libya to Syria to create ISIS. The men famously killed in Benghazi by jihadists were knowingly involved in that mission to create ISIS in Syria. They were double crossed by their own jihadist clients.
The bankster cabal intentionally bankrupted the Soviet Union and they are intentionally bankrupting the USA. That’s what banksters do, they intentionally bankrupt people to steal their property. The endgame is to bankrupt the entire world in order to steal all power and thus consolidate government into NWO.
Bin Laden died in 2001 and had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, as he clearly explained in the letter he wrote on the matter immediately afterward in which he denied involvement. After he died he became a digital boogie man for the CIA to put in a new scary propaganda video every few years to drum up support for war and expansion of the surveillance state from the American public.
ISIS was covertly armed and funded from the beginning by the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar in order to destabilize Syria and attack Assad, with the added benefit of creating a new propaganda boogieman to drum up support among the American public.
Benghazi was a CIA base for exporting jihadists and weapons from Libya to Syria to create ISIS. The men famously killed in Benghazi by jihadists were knowingly involved in that mission to create ISIS in Syria. They were double crossed by their own jihadist clients.
The bankster cabal intentionally bankrupted the Soviet Union and they are intentionally bankrupting the USA. That’s what banksters do, they intentionally bankrupt people to steal their property. The endgame is to bankrupt the entire world in order to steal all power and thus consolidate government into NWO.
You didn’t even have to mention the issues at home for us to know that already.
Yeah, nothing like an “omelet” that costs millions of lives. Are Christian fanatics THAT psychotic? You are certainly evidence of just that.
In Afghanistan air strikes are called in to kill snipers….even more expensive.
Even genocide wouldn’t work.
Genocide wouldn’t work. Complete and Utter genocide would. There’s a difference.
Divide and Rule is the key….latch onto the structures already in place, have clients and patronage, and take it away where necessary.
In a way an example of total genocide is the USA and the absolute destruction of the Indians. If there were 60 million Indians today it would be a different story.
yeah but that is virtually impossible. And not desirable when you consider the goals of the USG.
Sure enough, that’s the proven corporate, er, CIA, er, U.S., formula for breaking down 3rd world political structures to gain access to their precious resources.
The Algerians were as good as beaten on the battlefield. It was a political victory, not a military one.
So was Vietnam. Your point?
Sod off prat.
Lol.
Unfortunately for the Palestinians, that is not an obstacle to Israel.
That’s just it, though. The only people who really have strong enough moral objections to committing genocide (and are perhaps less willing to expend many of their own men to achieve that genocide) are the Europeans and the white North Americans, Australians and New Zealanders.
The rest of the world still lives very much by the primitive principles of what I like to call ‘population push’. If one population becomes too much of a burden on its own agricultural sector, infrastructure or land, a significant section of that population will attempt to migrate into the lands of other populations. Then follow struggles, and the group that wins those struggles will push the other group out and perhaps damn it to total destruction.
Unfortunately, the arid and war-torn regions of East Africa and the Middle East are currently exterting a population push on Southern and Western Europe.
Excellent as usual Quintius. I look forward to studying the Algerian War of Independence further. As we seek historical inspiration for neo-masculinity and how to proceed to the future, I think its critically important to highlight the the cases of insurgent movements that started off well but were eventually crushed. We don’t remember them as much as victorious insurgent struggles like Vietnam, Algiers, or the American Revolution. But truth is that more often than not in history, the insurgent minority loses. We want to make sure we avoid the mistakes. I recently watched “Invisible Front” – a documentary about Lithuanian struggle for self-determination from USSR post WWII, centering on Juozas Luksa, the leader of the Lithuanian resistance. I was humbled by the patriotism, cunning, grit, and sacrifice of Luksa – he was a giant among men and fought for his country’s freedom until his last breath. It’s on Netflix – great war documentary but tragic ending as you would expect.
You get it. Good work, Eric.
Invisible Front? I haven’t heard of it but thanks for the recommendation. I’m going to check it out.
Sounds like a good name for operations against feminists.
invisible…”front-bottom”
Both this and Vietnam, remember, were ultimately won through propaganda. Not just within the country, but for the international community to win support.
Because of the American ideology of independence throughly saturating popular consciousness, revolution against foreign powers was seen as just and altruistic in nearly all cases.
And leading further still to a “we won, let’s go home and never look back” attitude which South Africa and Rhodesia know all too well.
Like in Vietnam, the Western forces could easily have achieved a victory on might alone.
But they lost the popular sentiment.
And I would not be shocked if Moscow had a hand in this.
Today America has an even more powerful military force than in the 1960s, while it faces a smaller enemy than ever before to fight. And at the same time, its skills in the propaganda, goodwill, and leadership departments are incredibly low. All this would indicate that America is extremely weak in terms of its ability to conquer and defeat enemies (which 15+ years ongoing in Iraq / Afghanistan without a victory in sight proves).
It’s part of the failure to understand the enemy.
The Ugly American. I mean the novel not the trope.
“All this would indicate that America is extremely weak in terms of its ability to conquer and defeat enemies…”
…unless they are the Left’s bitter enemies, also. But the Left’s only enemies are its fellow citizens.
You are drawing the wrong conclusion.
I disagree. I think that the USG’s ability in propaganda is without parallel in history. They have the domestic population completely sown up and sold on the idea that foreign wars provide national security. American’s naively trust their government like no other population I have seen to the point where a guy can publically provide proof that the USG snoops on you in complete violation of the Constitution and nobody raises an eyebrow because “it keeps you safe”.
That’s a very valid point, and the American public today are at least as brainwashed as the German people were under the Nazis. But the moral power that the US once held outside its borders is all but gone.
The US as a nation no longer commands respect or even has a positive image. I have seen polls where the US is seen as the greatest threat to world peace, because of its continued belligerence and stupidity. Any study of history shows that trust, honor, and respect are important tenants of keeping and holding a victory.
Napoleon Bonaparte brought about real and meaningful changes to his conquered lands, reinvented the way the law worked to benefit the people and reorganized bureaucracies and institutions, and the people were happy and thankful for it.
Even the Nazis benefited from anti-Stalin sentiment as they liberated eastern soviet territories (they squandered this quickly and the freed citizens soon became anti-Nazi partisans).
But do you think any Middle Eastern nation trusts America at all? Do you think even our long time allies the Saudis have any respect or since of honor for America, after seeing how we act and what terror and destruction we brought to a land of relative peace?
So while the USG has incredible power over its citizenry, and will probably not face any insurrections or rebellions any time soon, its external power in military endeavors is extremely weak, because it has none of the “bully pulpit” strengths it once had, and is no longer respected by others.
Hell, I’ve even tried to get second world girls to come up here with a free ticket, and they’re like, No Thanks, come visit me here again. People used to jump at the chance to visit the USA. While we were once known for the Grand Canyon and Levi’s jeans, we are now known for Caitlin Jenner and mass incarcerations.
Tourism plummeted after Homeland Security began terrorizing tourists, and droning wedding parties, and having no plan for what to do with a conquered nation after you explode all of its tanks and planes has made the US look petty, juvenile and weak.
Mate, I don’t even like to visit Amerika anymore. It is very uncomfortable going through airport security.
Tell me about it. Foreign tourism and domestic travel are both down below 15 years ago. I only fly if I can’t drive there in a day. To me the most anti-tourist rules are the banning of water and liquids. Most recently the security goons stole my jar of peanut butter, claiming that it was somewhat close to a “gel”. If I wasn’t half asleep at 5 AM I would have forced the guy to tell me he was legitimately afraid of my peanut butter before confiscating it, but at that hour the best I could do was say, hey, that was an $8 jar of PB, guess you’ll have a gourmet lunch now.
When I think of the huge ramifications this has on tourism purchases (no longer can we purchase bottles of wine when visiting California, or liquor when visiting a cool distillery) but realize that matches and lighters are still allowed (because the cigarette industry lobbied for this after they were briefly banned, because profits might decrease 0.1% if people couldn’t have a smoke upon landing) it really infuriates me.
Of course, all over the world, liquids are allowed on plane flights. It’s only domestic to domestic American flights which ban liquids (same with removing shoes). It’s completely a matter of terrorizing and scaring the public.
And to be clear, I’m talking about one of the annoying but least invasive parts of the TSA. Far worse are the radiation body scanners (which I always opt out of), long lines, separation of families from travelers, authoritarian behavior, and general totalitarian feeling they contribute to the travel experience makes air travel awful. But actually preventing me from purchasing and having certain souvenirs when I visit cool foreign countries really pisses me off.
Banning liquids is ridiculous. No plane has ever been blown up with a liquid in someone’s hand baggage. But they have been blown up with bombs inside suitcases. Have suitcases been banned?
There is no firm definition of what a liquid is. Is mayo a liquid? (I had some confiscated). I pointed out that it is measured in grams and doesn’t pour (a liquid pours and is measured in liters) but to no avail. More to the point though, it is quite disturbing that our protectors don’t know the difference between a bottle of Evian and a bomb. But really the reason they do this is to push you around.
I also opt out.
Wars are never fought by military might alone. War is, as Clausewitz said, “the continuation of policy by other means”. Saying that the French in Algeria, or the US in Vietnam, “could easily” have won, while they didn’t , is quite meaningless. These wars were fought to the point where the colonial powers found the price to high in terms of material costs, propaganda and military losses, compared to what they had to gain from continued presence. Of course the Algerians and the Vietnamese knew this very well, and adapted their strategies thereafter.
This is a nice fantasy but completely absurd.
elaborate
Your suggestion that the US lost in Vietnam because they lost the “propaganda war” is absurd on its face. No amount of propaganda is going to persuade people that killing millions of their countrymen is acceptable.
Furthermore, the US could not have used much more “might” if they dropped an atomic bomb (which was considered).
Dude. You don’t know what I am talking about.
The war was the first ever televised and the graphic nature of the war turned the public off.
Moreover leaked pentagon reports saying that the Viet Cong were not north vietnamese soldiers and had the support of the peasants helped turn the population even further away.
Turns out of course that the VC were a part of the North Vietnamese army and maintained their power through terror and were crippled after the Tet Offensive.
It was purely a war where public sentiment turned against the war.
Interesting reinterpretation of this frequently used phrase. That said, I know exactly what you are talking about and ironically you have fallen victim to the US propaganda about their reasons for losing the war. Its hard to know where to begin with someone so completely taken in.
2.6 million troops fighting for a decade, with 360,000 casualties, carpet bombing the opposition, chemical warfare, against an opposition who lost as many people as the US had troops and you think the reason the US lost is because of the news?! Americans watched it on TV but the Vietnamese lived it and yet they still continued to fight. Short of wiping Vietnam from the face of the Earth, the US was never winning that war.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t know what you are talking about.
“And I would not be shocked if Moscow had a hand in this.”
Weapons, money and pilots (most of the migs were flown by soviet pilots), yes. The military leadership in the field was provided by China. My father saw the corpses of 2 Chinese officers in uniform in 68′ after an attack on their FOB.
Thank you for the fine article. You and Roosh V are who I come to ROK for.
I was 13 when the war ended, and I saw the movie on the big screen when I was
15 or 16. But for young people today, it is indeed fairly unknown.
We have our own “colonial anachronisms” in Puerto Rico and Hawaii.
Puerto Rico is a mess, but I’ve never been there and don’t know it’s details.
Hawaii on the other hand I do have some interesting dope on,
but I don’t have any way to prove it to you.
I had an old friend, now deceased, who worked at Honolulu’s 1st TV station from ’55 to ’75. He knew everybody of importance there. Among the people he knew were Stanley Armour Dunham, Barack Obama’s grandfather, and his wife Ann.
According to my late friend Bob, there was supposed to be an election in 1959,
by UN authority, to choose between statehood, territory status, or independence.
By that agreement, stationed military personnel were not to be allowed to vote.
Only occupant landowners and native Hawaiians; no corporate representatives
and no soldiers.
But when the vote came down in 1959, it was only between statehood and territory status. Independence was left off the ballot, and every soldier was allowed to vote.
According to my late friend, it was CIA agent Stanley Armour Dunham
who masterminded this treason against the Hawaiian people.
Now I understand Obama plans to retire to Hawaii.
I wonder how that’s going to work out for him?
I can offer you no proof. This is just a story I was told by a man 30 years my senior,
who I knew and trusted for many years. There are other people who know this story,
and someday light shall shine upon it.
let Puerto Rico have independence
I wouldn’t object to that.
If things keep going the way they are, you may see a future history about the french war of independence from the Algerian colonists.
That’s a fucking stupid thing to say.
not a stupid thing to say – there should be no muslims in europe…there are 35 million but give me one year in power and they would all be gone.
I’ll be interested to hear your plan but dude, there have been Muslims in Europe for more than a 1000 years.
but never the number that have been here now…my plan would be similar to what Martel the Hammer did, and Richard The Lion Heart or Oliver Cromwell would do…but with modern methods.
you’re the real fuel used by feminists to justify their hate against white males and men on general, and i’m algerian
.. there is no need to ‘fight’ bad people – it’s enough to not work with them…. then when they attack you – you go into defense.. depending on their attacks, it might be necessary to kill them …
You don’t want to ‘fight’ evil… you will lose. You just defend yourself from it… and only react on the evil’s actions.
(I mean after all, the USA is also ‘fighting evil’, axes of evil’ and such.. via killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and what else dirty crap might be behind the scenes… just as an example .. where it’s not defense anymore by any means.. unless you have paranoia and no backbone at all at the same time)
A tiny but VERY important detail.
“…via killing hundreds of thousands of civilians… ”
Source please.
And now Algerians live in an impoverished and chaotic land….Revolutions don’t always turn out well.
Yes, I am of a mixed opinion on whether giving up the colonies was a good or bad thing. Yes, colonies were often exploited for resources, but I wonder how much of that was simply just “the way things were done” back then.. I mean to some degree all subjects of the king were there to create wealth for the kingdom, and for centuries the common folk did not have basic freedoms that we take for granted today.
I mean, look at the way the USA treated its black population in the 1960s, who were full fledged American citizens, not foreign colonists. And yet today, social mores have changed and certain behaviors are no longer seen as tolerable. So I wonder, if colonies existed today, would they treat the colonists better? It seems as though the Algerians were treated better than most African colonies, and were integrated into the French Republic more than any other colony to its kingdom, and yet still they rebelled. But perhaps the conditions for them were still rather poor.
There are countless examples of countries run poorly after they achieved “independence.” America is one of the few success stories, which makes one wonder if America has succeeded in spite of its independence, not because of it.
People will give up their lives for the right to be ruled by someone who looks like them.
I’m fond of bringing this up whenever some Cultural Marxist starts rambling about how someday we’re going to be one big happy mixed-race human family with no nations or borders.
Of course Algeria, as all other former colonies and third world countries, has its own problems and challenges. While it is easy to say that things were better before, I think you would need to look long and hard to find an Algerian (or Indian, Vietnamnese, etc) who would want to return to the old state of matters.
It is a war, like almost every counterinsurgency, that shows you can win the battles but lose at the level of grand strategy.
That said, the movie Battle for Algiers is well worth watching, not least for the Paratrooper General’s speech. Also, the novel the Centurions.
This was a war I became interested in college when I stumbled upon Simon Murray’s memoir, Legionairre.
I’m going to go ahead and plug Alistair Horne’s A Savage War of Peace for anyone interested in reading more about the Algerian War. There was a pretty interesting part talking about how the French army rarely stopped women so the female insurgents were often used to place bombs and deliver messages. White knighting can cost you your life, I guess.
What, and then spend all that profit on artillery shells or what?
I strongly disagree with Quintus Curtius, although I think that studying these periods is a great inspiration for us today.
I am French, ex-soldier and I check your site carefully. Is in a while, I could send you a detailed article on this period with my views?
It’s very interesting, because this subject can address head-on the issue of French SJW, who feel extremely concerned by the “poor Algerian victims” (tied with “poor homosexual and female victims”).
what do you mean by “poor algerian victims” ? the ones in their own country or the french ones ?
anyhow, i’m algerian who lives in algeria, as i always said i feel sorry for white males being bullied by their fellow feminasties using the history and i strongly disagree with that, but this is just an excuse or a facade to hide their “hate” for the entire human masculinity not only whites.
she play the racist card with you to win an argument but in the backscene she may be twice as racist as you.
i just heard a french male reporter saying in the end of covering a feminist meeting in paris : “vive les femmes”, i wanted to punch the screen -_-
Yes, please feel free to send me your article. I will give it to the ROK editor and we will go from there.
France is the most pathetic excuse for an European power in history: shameful surrender to Nazis in WWII, disgraceful loss of the whole Indochina and finally the Algeria debacle. Every time they had superior technology, better logistics and even the support of major powers, like Great Britain in WW2 and USA in Indochina. But they were still crushed like goddamn cockroaches by unwashed partisans. What to expect from cheese-eating surrender monkeys. If you do not have the guts to fight and win, at least do not send thousands of young men to die for nothing-simply negotiate and leave these dilapidated colonies. But if you do have the means to win and decide to go to war, then fight to the bitter end. No wonder France is basically dead nowadays: a weak socialistic state with ridiculous 70-80% taxes, scrawny pussified beta weaklings and millions of violent Muslim immigrants torching the streets and killing journalists with no repercussions whatsoever (unless you count passionate singing of Lennon’s Imagine, of course! That will stop the terrorists!)
They got what they sowed.
They didn’t capitulate to Nazi, it was an armistice (and a coup d’état). They were disarmed by the left before the war, sabbotaged by the reds frenchs in Indochina and in later conflicts, how can you fight outside with your worst enemy at home ?
Remember reading somewhere that the extreme left wing was getting chummy with the nazis as they though the Germans were socialist too. Too bad they were executed. Kinda like SJWs and radical muslims groups; they fight towards the same totalitarian dream but one is gonna get shot in the end.
Simone de Beauvoir, the prominent lesbian Marxist feminist (but I repeat myself) who basically started the whole “second wave” feminism had no problem of actively collaborating with Vichy France and Nazis.
http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/simone-de-beauvoir-a-nazi-a-pedophile-and-a-misogynist/
And yes, no matter what Croissant-eating liberals will tell you, Nazis WERE socialists, especially economic wise.
They were socialists, most of the Vichy government were from the left.
HE HE HE, not surprising. Soros collaborated with the Nazis. All there freaks have a dark past behind them.
You’re a fool. Hitler fought to the bitter end and look what happened. France by the way suffered 200,000 KIA which is nearly double what the US suffered in the same theater. Furthermore, the French Government surrendered but many in the population continued to fight. Ever hear of the French Resistance?
Have some respect you piece of shit.
The US lost over 400,000 fighting in multiple theathers in WWII.
“Ever hear of the French Resistance?”
No more than 4,000 active members until D-Day.
Mate its better to post an argument rather than irrelevant and incorrect details.
Bob the French would take high casualties considering they were actually invaded…and then the southern half surrendered and joined the Nazi side
That’s a gross simplification. But the point is, you don’t take that many casualties in such a short period of time if you are not fighting your arse off.
My point is this man, you can malign the French Government of the time (and now too) all you want and I am right there with you. But to impugn the common man and woman (and children!) who fought and died to liberate their land for the entirety of the war is to me, disgusting. They carried on even after their government abandoned them and they deserve our admiration.
ok…On that angle I completely agree…the individuals who fought on and dies or suffered should not be denigrated. But France on the whole didn’t have a great record. There was never a battle for Paris, or for the Southern half of the country. At the same time we are lucky to have a 20 mile wide moat – which we never had to dig for ourselves, otherwise we would have probably been defeated as well.
There was a Battle for Paris in August 1944. I believe the French lost some 1000 men before being reinforced by the Americans and Free French military. I know what you mean. There is an argument to be made that the French Govt sold out the country.
I meant went Paris was taken by the Germans early on…
I knew what you meant. I guess I am just trying to emphasize that many people in France never gave up even after the French army was annihilated and the Govt capitulated.
The reason there was never a battle for Paris was simply that there was no French army left to fight that battle. It had been annihilated on the Belgian front. If France hadn’t surrendered, it would have taken a week or two more for the whole country to be overrun, and no amount of defiant chest-beating would have changed that.
He actually typed “cheese eating surrender monkeys”. *facepalm*
I thought I was back in 2003 for a second.
“were still crushed like goddamn cockroaches by unwashed partisans.” You will never be able to uproot people who are tied to the land and have no other choice. They will fight to their deaths, in droves, for a very long time. Kinda like a cornered dog.
France’s only crime was having the misfortune to live right next door to perhaps the most devastating, well organised military force in human history. Neither the UK or the USA would have had the ability to repel blitzkrieg had it been on their doorsteps in 1940. The USA has always had the luxury of having an ocean on either side of it. Just as well you had some eggheads to build the bomb for you and Russia to do all the heavy lifting.
So much emotion and misinformation here. France was probably in the top 2 European powers, hardly “pathetic.” And several large European nations have gone through ebbs and flows. The Spanish had at one time an incredibly mighty empire, and yet they were so weak and feeble at the end of the 19th century that in 1898 when Cuba rebelled, and the US declared war after suspicious circumstances regarding the US vessel Maine, it was quickly crushed by the upstart yanks. The Spaniards were still trying to run their empire using the navies and armies from 50 years ago, and had not kept up with the times.
While France, like most of the west, is facing problems due to its social policies, it still has one of the strongest militaries per capita in the world, and is one of the largest weaponry producers and exporters. And as far as hanging on until the bitter end, read a little about the battles of Verdun and the Somme. Consider that France is a fraction the size of the USA, and at the height of those battles it was losing 10, 20, up to 30,000 soldiers PER DAY, and it kept on fighting in battles that would go on FOR MONTHS. The US, a far larger nation, is still licking its wounds decades later after losing 60,000 over many years of fighting in Viet Nam. So let’s have a little perspective here.
The French were outmaneuvered when the Germans bypassed the Maginot line, and they quickly fell to the Nazis, as did every country they attacked with the innovative Blitzkreig tactics that no one had any idea how to fight. Indeed the Nazis conquered every country they attacked, except after years of pushing through thousands of miles of ice and snow in Russia, stretching their supply lines too thin, and being worn down by the elements and endless attacks by the overwhelming numbers of Russian troops, they were finally defeated on the Eastern Front, just miles from Moscow. (Incidentally, guerilla tactics in the Soviet provinces, similar to in Algeria, had a lot to do with destroying German supply lines and contributed to defeat of the Nazis)
Now if you want to attack France for something, I would say the failed idea that the common man is equal to all others has proved to be a misstep in human nature, and the French Revolution, which signaled the end of monarchy and the old order, and paved the way for equality, political correctness, and democracy, was the opening salvo in the societal change we are seeing today.
Oh, and John Lennon was British.
Quintus Curtius : Great article as usual! but I would like to highlight that this style of waging war was inspired by the earlier way the berber tribes fought in the Atlas mountains. letting the enemy in. until he reaches to an impractical ground (the one who is not used to in this case the mountains) and then you strike as deadly as you can. look for the Rif war and the Battle of El Herri for more insight on the subject.
Abd el-Krim (1882–83, Ajdir[2] – February 6, 1963, Cairo)[1] (full name: Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd el-Karim El-Khattabi, Arabic: محمد بن عبد الكريم الخطابي, Berber name: Muḥend n Ɛabd Krim Lxeṭṭabi or Moulay Muḥend) was a Riffian political and military leader. Together with his brother Mhemmed, he led a large-scale revolt by a broad coalition of major Rif tribes against French and Spanish colonial occupation of the Rif, a large Berber-speaking area in northern Morocco, culminating in the establishment of the short-livedRepublic of the Rif. His guerrilla tactics are known to have influenced Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara.[3][4]
-Wikipedia-
The Lion of the Rif eh? Legend. Can you recommend some good books on him?
personaly all the informations I have about it are from relatives who participated in these kind of wars. my grandfather used to tell me stories about how they fought against the spanish and the french. I also went personaly to the battlefield near the tribe of Ait Ammar in Al-Hoceima where the spanish got their butt kicked for the first time.
Anyway there are a lot of books and material related to this era and a quick search on google can do the deal.
There’s a book I read called “The Sling and the Stone” by Col. (USMC) Thomas Hammes that discusses insurgencies and how modern military’s are unwilling to adapt to what he termed “Fourth generation warfare,” or in layman’s terms, modern insurgencies. He points how from China in the early 20th century to Algeria, Vietnam, and modern day Iraq and Afghanistan modern armies have completely failed to adapt to the new tactics.
However, there are some success stories such as Israel’s ability to contain Palestinians and Syria holding back IS, but they’re not mentioned since the book was written about ten years ago.
If they knew about 4th gen warfare and didn’t apply it in combat, then it’s pretty clear what their intention was:a long ass conflict for the arms industry to boost their profits.
Having been to Iraq when the whole thing kicked off, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Mercenaries, I’m sorry, military contractors, were paid at least twice the rate of the average soldier there. Additionally, many retired senior officers tend to get jobs in the defense industry and make recommendations for maneuver warfare (how WWII was fought) but recent situations indicate the next war will be another 4th gen with hackers backing them up.
Don’t the mercs also get the cushty jobs?
They do. If say something like the Battles of the Bulge, Stalingrad or Mogadishu happens, the front line troops will be fucked.
What saved lives during those battles was everyone from cooks to supply clerks grabbing a rifle and running to the front.
Mercenaries getting paid way more than regulars is nothing remarkable, it’s been that way pretty much wherever mercs have been part of war. And it being so is not some indication of corruption or war profiteering, but a simple consequence of market economics. Mercs are able to sell their services to the highest bidder in ways regulars aren’t.
Are those really success stories? Is that how you would want to live? Under constant siege?
Myself? No. But in 4th gen warfare the only option for total victory is genocide like what happened in the Balkans in the 90’s. What’s going on in the Middle East will not go away until pic related. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d37658f3486b61f0db867b453c62f415e20f2c94ba4076d34bc560a1eca9a148.jpg
No more ME oil then?
There’s still some in the gulf 😉
No more oil, and as nuclear weapons become ubiquitous, as they assuredly will, you will have guaranteed that same future for your country at some point.
You’re a very ignorant and hateful troll. There was no side with a total victory in the ‘Balkan’ wars. If you’re referring to the Bosnian war, the Serbian aggressors committed the worst genocide since WW2, but within a month or so they were being decimated from all of their western, central and southern fronts by the Bosnian army, who were on their way to taking back all of the lost territories – serbs were deserting and the serb population were already loading their tractors and fleeing – when NATO and the U.S threatened air strikes on the Bosnian army and forced the Dayton Peace process.
Genocides are aimed at unarmed civilians, and only serve to strengthen the fighting cause of the oppressed side, and stand as evidence of the aggressors barbarity for the remainder of history.
it’s actually why i think its a good idea to let Iran have nuclear weapons, because this will cause Egypt, Turkey and Saudi to gain them and along with Israel they will use them on each other….a few hundred million dead plus a few hundred million more from lack of food etc would go a half way to solving the problem.
I now wish we had let the serbs get on with it and clear bosnia and kosovo.
Syria’s doing a lousy job of holding back IS. Rebels control most of the country and the Syrian Army is down to 40,000 effectives.
They did what the Iraqi army sure as shit didn’t do, and that was put up a fight. The majority of the territory they claim is open countryside grabbed with U.S. equipment taken (or given, depending on which conspiracy theorist you listen to) from the Iraqi army.
Considering the speed once they mobilized with the U.S. equipment, Syria’s actually done a decent job when compared to the Iraq army in ’03 despite them having outdated Soviet equipment and forced to stand on their own.
Notice all of this is going on next door to Turkey who have modern U.S. equipment with a professional military and yet they have done absolutely nothing except rattle their swords at IS. If the neighboring states in that region were serious Turkey and Jordan would put boots on the ground instead of half assing it from the air.
There is a big difference between Iraq and Syria. Syria is an independent state essentially fighting a civil war (in which some argue that the insurgency is actually a US proxy force i.e. not Syrian) whereas Iraq has a puppet government with the strings being pulled quite transparently by the US. Naturally anyone signing up for the Iraqi Army is only there to pick up a check and not shoot their countrymen (similar to the situation faced by the French in Algeria).
It wouldn’t surprise me if IS really was a proxy army because the U.S. has done that numerous times in the past. We’re either seeing “blow back” as the CIA would put it or in hush way they managed to convince some radicals to carve their own territory.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-17/officials-admit-isis-al-qaeda-was-creation-us-foreign-policy
One important distinction is that Paul Bremer, the US Bureaucrat in the Bush/Cheney administration, completely dissolved the Iraqi army so they essentially had no organized national defense. This is one of the largest criticisms of mistakes that administration made in Iraq, although it is quite a long list. Syria still had a functioning government and armed forces.
For them it was criticism, on the street it was unforgiving. The original Iraqi army alone would have kept a lot of pressure off of the troops on the ground and probably would have shortened our stay there. Might have even have kept that power vacuum from being created as well.
That was done intentionally to induce the Shiite/Sunni civil war. The intent to fracture Iraq into Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish areas was planned by Zionists in the 80s. Google “Oded Yinon Plan”.
That is why the Iraqi Army was intentionally dissolved, to create the power vacuum and induce chaos, to prolong “our stay”.
ISIS was covertly armed and funded from the beginning by the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar in order to destabilize Syria and attack Assad, with the added benefit of creating a new propaganda boogieman to drum up support among the American public.
Benghazi was a CIA base for exporting jihadists and weapons from Libya to Syria to create ISIS. The men famously killed in Benghazi by jihadists were knowingly involved in that mission to create ISIS in Syria. They were double crossed by their own jihadist clients.
Important to note that around 40% of the muslims in France are of Algerian descent.
they need to be removed
I hear Serbia is good at kebab removal
sadly at the time I thought the Serbs were the bad guys…now I understand they understand muslims the most and would give them free reign to clear any land of muslims…many of the muslims who survived now go to the middle east and fight for isis..
Guess who was fighting on the side of Bosnia’s Muslims while NATO was bombing Serbs? Al Qaeda – now ISIS. I hear bin Laden was there too.
Orthodox are the best kebab removers https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/124530017be53e214dd07c3ebcd253524751c207e5f997ef1fc4fdc8bdac62b6.jpg
“We bombed the wrong side…”
-some Canadian General on the Balkan theatre at the time
Edit: from the horse’s mouth.
Don’t blame yourself the conflict was so totally depicted as a one way genocide. I cannot remember a single news report that mentioned the Serbs had to deal with atrocities as well.
Why should I be removed ? I’m a French citizen born in Paris of Algerian descent and I absolutely fit in the French Republic’s values ( an obsession of France )
Islam is incompatible with Western European values.
You may well be a great person and a good citizen but it has been proved that firstly generally the Muslim population’s opinions on free speech and their support for Islamic terrorist attacks are unacceptable. Far too high a percentage have support or sympathy for Islamic terrorist attacks like 911 and Charlie Hebdo.
Many Muslim’s idea of free speech seems to include shutting down free speech on their murderous prophet and going mad every time someone draws a picture or cartoon of the said prophet.
I am not saying every Muslim, not even a majority in some cases but a large enough minority. Also your record as a good citizen has been proved not to preclude your children or grand children from being fundamentalist Muslims themselves.
I always look at how other problems are solved. When there is a risk of say 10% of cattle being infected by disease or 2% of a certain food product being high risk – all the cattle are destroyed and all of the particular food product is removed.
I simply think the same with Muslims. A far higher % support restrictions on free speech, support terrorism or have sympathy with it than 2% or 10%. They should simple be given 6 weeks to leave with the proceeds of the sale of property and possessions or be removed and lose their property and possessions.
Europe would be a far nicer place for it.
Great article Quintus, but you should follow up what happened to Algeria after gaining their independence and the fact that after signing the armistace, those “liberators” (FLN) continued to exteriminate betwen 100 – 150k people. Considering how many Algerians live/ are running to France, it should be obvious.
Of note: In my freshman year of college (92′) my roommate’s father was a French officer in Algeria and he told me that is a subject you could never bring him near him. He told me alot of officers were planning a coup after DeGaulle stabbed them in the back and those officers responsible found themselves reassigned to a far off place called Vietnam. Unsettling trend how leftwing governments always fuck over their military personnel by giving them battles they never intend to win or when it is no longer poltically convenient.
I think you’ll find politicians of all stripes fuck over their military personnel. Its how they operate. The servicemen are always shafted and shoved in the corner like an embarrassing relative if they come home injured. It is a shame because servicemen themselves believe all the propaganda about how glorious it is to serve until they finally realize how little of a shit the government gives about them.
I come from a long line of combat vets and know all about it. Spend time at a VA hospital and it says it all actually.
“It is a shame because servicemen themselves believe all the propaganda about how glorious it is…”
I disagree on this point. Servicemen volunteer for a varied amount of reasons (biggest is usually an admired male relative served), but is there anything more red pill than putting your ass on the line in a fight? You will find out alot about yourself and others. I also understand the miiltary is an experience that isn’t for everybody.
I also have vets in my family. I decided against joining in the end because I don’t do well with authority.
That said, putting your ass on the line is red pill but putting your ass on the line for the government is as blue pill as it comes.
Not sure, about your point with propaganda. I’ve known a lot of vets and they really do seem to buy the government story. I’m not talking about reasons for signing up (although knowing how the government will eventually screw you would surely put you off?) but rather the righteous of military intervention and how the US is the exceptional country.
Sorry for the late reply Bob.. on the road.
“–and how the US is the exceptional country”
It is an exceptional country because of the conditions it was formed and the Constitional and Bill of Rights set. As a subject of the Queen, I understand how you do not krok that.
PS- I spent the week in France and this is what all the media there was talking about.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11818934/France-train-attack-Moroccan-terrorist-Ayoub-El-Khazzani-linked-to-Isis-live.html
Yes I heard about that. Yet another debt the French owe the Americans.
“From the perspective of military tactics and strategy, it offers an outstanding example of how a small, dedicated minority can successfully confront an established system of power. ” <<< This conclusion is wrong. French army won this war and the FLN was military defeated.
The point is that it was politcally not possible, to keep Algeria in the French Republic. De Gaulle has seen that arabs people never could became french.
As he said “It’s great that there are yellow French’s, black French’s, browns French’s.
They show that France is open to all races and has a universal vocation. But provided they remain a small minority. Otherwise, France would not be France. We are still primarily a European people of white race, Greek and Latin culture and Christian religion.”
I followed the red brick road after reading up many counter insurgency manuals. I’m from Belfast and my family were major players in the IRA and the movement, so it’s not uncommon to read things like this. I downloaded a bunch of PDFs on urban guerrilla warfare. It was there I discovered the enemy. I went from being an anti racist, feminist Marxist, Irish republican to well….
hallelujah, the kings are writing about my mother country 🙂 , 1,5 millions were dead, i just want to add this : France promised us of independence if we fighted with them against germany in ww2, in 1945 germany lost the war 20.000+ algerians died in nazi germany, algerians went out in the streets celebrating and asking for the gift (freedom), french army shot and killed 45.000 civilians in two or three days.
And only that day were algerians started to consider seriously a revolution, and who were those who started it all ? the algerian soldiers in french army that survived from the ww2, they were the first who had modern military experience, and thanks to russia for the weapons.
Who knows, maybe the recovering mangina would help us in our future masculine revolution against the evil female supremacists.
Where are you from author ?
hallelujah, the kings are writing about my mother country 🙂 , 1,5 millions were dead, i just want to add this : France promised us of independence if we fight with them against germany in ww2, in 1945 germany lost the war 20.000+ algerians died in nazi germany, algerians went out in the streets celebrating and asking for the gift (freedom), french army shot and killed 45.000 civilians in two or three days.
And only that day were algerians started to consider seriously a revolution, and who were those who started it all ? the algerian soldiers in french army that survived from the ww2, they were the first who had modern military experience, and thanks to russia for the weapons.
Who knows, maybe the recovering mangina would help us in our future masculine revolution against the evil female supremacists.
Where are you from author ?
this is the martyr monument, for all of those who died, may they rest in peace.
Great article, and good lessons to take, it seems like history is the only thing that has no gender bullshit in it, only glorious masculine men
Algeria offers one of the rarest examples of modern military history: how to wage a successful insurgency (1954-1962) and how to wage a successful counter-insurgency (1994-2005). Maybe next week we will discuss how the Algerian government crushed the Islamist insurgency of the 1990s.
Current Western politicians always say how difficult it is to defeat a terrorist insurgency, yet they always fail to mention how the Algerian goverment successfully defeated one. As a result, Algeria is relatively stable compared to its neighbours, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
Ignorant on this, please consider writing an article on it.
Your article ,Quintus , is a good summary or introduction to the War of Independance or ” The Events ” as the French State used to say .
It took more than ten years to the government to ” defeat ” the Front Islamique du Salut ( Salavation Islamic Front ) and the Groupe Islamique Armé ( Armed Islamic group who has joined now Aqmi ) with a national forgiving farce : la Concorde Civile , but indeed it’s another story to tell what the fierce FLN’s members have become
Giant phallic statue to commemorate fallen men, good work boys!
The Algerians were militarily neutered by the French. It was because De Gaulle decided the cost was too great and effectively offered them independence by a referendum that they ‘won’.
Which is the case for pretty much all wars of colonial independence. The rebels win by politics and attrition of will to fight, not by victory on the battlefield. The US War of Independence wasn’t much different, it was mostly won by avoiding decisive battle and waiting for something to happen in Europe that would give Britain something more important to do.
But now it’s brought immigration problems to France, with the French being systematically emasculated.
How should that be solved?
It is a voluntary self-emasculation. Why should it be solved?
Systematically emascualted? You have no idea. Of all European countries with significant immigrant populations, France is by far the least multiculturalist and accepting of differences. Immigrants are coerced to conform on pain of social exclusion.
It’s no coincidence that French Muslims have some of the highest rates of ISIS-joining of any Muslim population, including the populations of almost every Muslim-majority country.
Alistair Horne’s “A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962” is a good one-volume account of this war, which included particularly nasty uses of torture. Horne was a good Brit who loved French history but did not pull punches in writing about it. His book “To Lose a Battle: France 1940” is an excellent, if exhaustive, account of the two week Blitz past the Maginot Line.
Pretty cool article. You should check and maybe write something about polish underground army AK, scouts etc during World War 2. Russia, Germany and Austria fucked us over 3 times from the map of the world and we came back as a nation. Our fathers and grandfathers were great man. The sacrifice of those men will never be forgotten. GOD, HONOR, NATION was the motto. You can check the polish hussars too etc. Ive read many stories and letters of these people when they were in cells etc. Many of us in these days dont even have a grain of their manliness. Cheers.
… And your Sobieski contributed to stop the advances of the Ottoman Empire as much as our Martel did.
You guys are some tough sonofbitches. Respect.
Yup. Thats why turks respect us and we respect them. We never ever in the history of our country invaded any country and slaughtered people. Even when we won in defending war.
Cool story bro. I guess that humongous territorial blob that was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth just spontaneously came down from the sky and was absolutely not gained through conquest?
Respect to you my friend.
I don’t understand “Muslims made up over 90% of the population but were saddled with paying 70% of the direct taxes. ” You mean the Muslims paid less than their fair share of the taxes? Why use such a loaded word as “Saddled” to describe this situation?
I wondered the same thing myself but figured it was a misprint or editing error. We all know no one edits anything before posting on the internet!
But they SHOULD!
Muslims were paying a higher tax rate than the French citizen-colonists, being under a different legal system. If the citizen-colonists paid more taxes per capita (as those numbers would suggest), it might have been because they had higher incomes to begin with. Also, all the tax money went to the same treasury, from which public spending disproportionately benefited the citizen-colonists.
Not knowing what Quintus meant, just describing the situation.
Good read!
Those poor Algerians. Why did France take Algeria to begin with? Well prior to to the colonialist boots on the ground, the Barbary States had a good run of terrorizing the seas attacking any non-Muslim ships they found and carrying off white slaves. The USA went to war with them before the French landed the death blow. The jihadist oppressors then became the oppressed.
Keep dreaming you bastard, we kicked your ass, French land of the cowards that lost every war 🙂
Guerrilla tactics made by us government . Take a apache 30mm anti tank weapon and use it for vaporising soft targets. Once u see the defragmentized remains of a human body after a attack with 30mm caliber arms you are sure this had to be forbidden . The same as nerv gas is forbidden this 30mm machine gun is so much overkill its effecting to much trauma to everbody been involved. Enemys are no longer able to surrender with these mass destruction weapon. Seeing this gun in use on YouTube and on wickileaks its no longer human to use this weapon . Been designed to hit armoured vehicles and tanks its nowadays hunting down sheppards and civilains in the mountains of Mali Afganistan Jemen Syria Irak and many more countries to come.Wenn this is the new standart of killing humans the Geneve Convention is a joke
I doubt Algeria is better of for ‘shoving of the coil of colonialism’ but most folks would rather be incompetently and corruptly be ruled by people of their own culture and race than ruled more correctly by those of another. We see that in Sth Africa and Zimbabwe.
I take the point of guerrilla tactics nevertheless.
Unsubscribe.
Thanks.
FLN scum destroyed Algeria.
The film “The Battle of Algiers” made me an unapologetic champion of colonialism.