Chronography of Algeria
Page last modified 26/5/2022
For events in North Africa,
e.g. Libya, Algeria, relating to the Islamic
World and Arab Spring see also Islam & Middle
East
See also Africa
1/4/2019, Algerian President Bouteflika, who had been in poor
health, and faced by protests against his rule, announced that he would step
down before his term ended on 28/4/2019.
16/2/2019, Protests against President Bouteflika began in
small Algerian towns. By 22/3/2019 these protests had spread to the capital,
Algiers.
22/2/2011, Arab
Spring protests in Algeria.
2004, President
Bouteflika was re-elected.
2002, The
Berber language, Tamazight, was
recognised as a national, but not official, language.
31/5/2001, In Algiers, 300,000 Berbers marched demanding rights
as the original non-Arab inhabitants of the country.
1999, Bouteflika
was re-elected, however the poll was boycotted by the opposition.
1/1998, Some
2,000 civilians were massacred in Algeria by Islamic Fundamentalists.
Islamists gain in elections; State attempts to
suppress their advance
20/8/1997, Guerrillas massacred
60 and kidnapped 15 women in the town of Souhane, Algeria. This resulted in a
mass abandonment of the town, reducing its population from 4,000 to 103.
21/4/1997, In Algeria,
Islamists massacred 93 at a farming community at Baouch Bouchelef-Khemisti.
6/4/1997, In Algeria, Islamists
massacred 52 people in the village of Thalit, near Algiers.
28/11/1996, Algerians endorsed a
new Constitution recognising the Islamic, Algerian and Berber cultures as the
main constituents of the Algerian nation. It also effectively banned political Parties with an Islamic
foundation, thereby igniting Fundamentalist anger.
11/1995,
Presidential elections were won by Liamine Zerouai. However the Opposition
boycotted these elctions, so they did not give Zerouai a popular mandate.
9/12/1993. Foreigners began
leaving Algeria after death threats by Islamic militants.
7/2/1993. Algeria announced
that the state of emergency imposed a year ago because of Islamic
fundamentalism would continue indefinitely.
14/12/1992. In Algeria, Muslim
extremists ambushed and killed five policemen.
2/7/1992, Ali Kafi became the new
President of Algeria.
29/6/1992, The 73 year old
President of Algeria, Mohammed Boudiaf, was assassinated whilst
making a speech at a political rally.
4/3/1992, The Supreme Court of
Algeria declared the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) �illegal. It was poised to win control of the
Parliament of Algeria in runoff elections.
11/1/1992, The Algerian Army,
alarmed by the electoral victory of the Islamists (see 26/12/1991), mounted a
military coup, forcing Benjedid to resign.
26/12/1991, The Islamic
Salvation Front (FIS) easily won Algerian elections.
12/10/1988, A week of
rioting concluded in Algeria, against corruption in the FLN Government. Government buildings
and ;luxury goods shops were targeted; Government troops killed 280 rioters.
1987, Algeria signed a co-operation agreement
with the USSR.
1971, The Algerian oil
industry was nationalised.
29/7/1965, The governments of Algeria and France signed an agreement which allowed
French petroleum companies to retain their concessions for the right to drill
for oil in Algeria, but required also that they cooperate with Algeria's
government-owned oil and gas consortium.
Ben Bella
administration, 1962-65
4/7/1979, Algerian leader Ben Bella was released after
14 years in jail.
20/6/1965, Police in Algiers broke up demonstrations by people who had
taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ben Bella.
19/6/1965, The President of
Algeria, Ben
Bella,
(born 1918) was overthrown in a military coup by his Minister of Defence, Colonel Houari Boumedienne. Ben Bella� was imprisoned, and released in 1979.
20/2/1964, Ceasfire in the
border war between Algeria and Morocco. The French, former colonial power in
both countries, had drawn the border without local consultation, and in 10/1963
a border war began. The two countires had a further border conflict in 1967,
and clashed again in 1976 over the fate of Spanish Sahara.
8/9/1963, A new Constitution
in Algeria established Ben Bella� as
President.
26/9/1962, Ahmed ben Bella
was elected Prime Minister of Algeria.
25/9/1962, Ferhat Abbas was elected the President of
Algeria by the new Constitutional Assembly.
22/8/1962, President
De Gaulle of France escaped an assassination attempt by the OAS, a terrorist organisation of White
Algerian settlers opposed to De Gaulle�s policies there.
Algerian War of
Independence
3/7/1962, France
recognised Algerian independence, after a referendum; this also entailed
the departure of Algeria from the EU..
The referendum result was 2,605,293 in favour of independence and a tiny 6,732
to stay with France. In many voting districts not a single non-independence
vote was cast. Algeria had been under French rule for 132 years. French
property was taken over by Algerians.� Ben Bella was the first Prime Minister of
Algeria.� De Gaulle had begun peace talks
with the FLN
on 30/3/1961 and peace was concluded mostly on the FLN�s terms on 18/3/1962.
1/7/1962. Referendum on independence in Algeria. The result was decisive; 5,993,754
voted for independence, and 16,748 opposed it. Most Europeans opposed to
independence did not vote. Initially both Muslim Algerians and Europeans
celebrated, but within a few days there was violence between fundamentalist Muslims and
resentful Europeans in Oran.
6/1962, Morocco invaded the Colomb-Bechar
border region of Algeria. The Algerian-Moroccan border had never been formally
delineated during French rule of Algeria, and Morocco coveted the iron-rich
Tindouf region of far-western Algeria, which Morocco also attacked in August
1962. By October 1962 the Moroccans had the upper hand; however that month Emperor Haile
Selassie of Ethiopia� mediated
between King
Hassan of Morocco and President Ben Bella of Algeria in Mali. The
war cost some 60 dead and 250 wounded on the Algerian side; there is no record
of Moroccan casualties. The border remained unchanged.
26/3/1962. The
French Army launched an offensive to crush an armed uprising in Algeria. See
3/7/1962.
11/7/1961, The French rebel leaders were tried and sentenced to death
(see 21/4/1961).
26/4/1961, French troops loyal to the French Government retook Algiers
.
21/4/1961, Rebel French troops unwilling to see Algeria gain
independence , led by General Maurice Challe, seized Algiers.
8/1/1961, France
held a national referendum
on whether Algeria should be granted independence. The result was in favour of
independence.
16/10/1960, In
the fiercest fighting in Algeria in two years, 277 Muslim Algerian fighters and
40 French soldiers were killed during weekend battles.
24/1/1960. Revolt against
French rule broke out in Algeria, after General
de Gaulle dismissed the pieds noir hero General
Massau. French settlers felt they lacked protection against FLN terrorists
and those who had supported De Gaulle 2 years earlier
now demonstrated against him. De Gaulle ordered in
paratroops who debated whether to open fire on fellow Frenchmen. The order was
never given and by February 1960 the revolt had collapsed and many insurgents
arrested.
13/12/1959. The UN decided not
to intervene in Algeria.
16/9/1959, Charles de Gaulle, French President, offered Algeria a
referendum on independence.
4/6/1958, To
the dismay of those who wanted the FLN crushed, Charles de Gaulle appeared to offer the
prospect of reconciliation in Algeria.
2/6/1958, French
President Charles
de Gaulle was granted emergency powers for three months in respect
to the Algeria crisis.
13/5/1958. Rioting
by French settlers in Algeria led to the French army seizing power.
1957, The French attempted to halt
supplies from Tunisia reaching the FLN by constructing the Morice Line, a mined electrified fence along the northern section
of Algeria�s border with Tunisia, from Tozeur northwards to the Mediterranean.
18/7/1957, The French National Assembly voted to give the Government
special powers to deal with the FLN�
insurgency in Algeria.
15/6/1956, Oil was first struck in Algeria.
1956, The French Parliament � with the support of its
Communist Party � granted General Jacques Massu and his 10th
Parachute Division absolute authority to do �whatever was necessary� to crush
the FLN.
31/12/1955, In
response to mounting violence in Algeria, France had increased the number of
its troops stationed there from 76,000
at the beginning of 1955 to 170,000
by the end of 1955.
20/8/1955, Algerian
independence fighters (FLN, Front Liberation National) committed
atrocities against Europeans in the Constantine area of Algeria. Simultaneous
attacks in 25 towns were co-ordinated by former councillor Zirout Youssef; French military
posts, police stations, and the homes of Europeans were hit. ^0 Europeans died
in Philippeville. The French responded harshly, with villages suspected of
harbouring rebels being razed and 500,000 French troops being sent to maintain
order. Barbed wire was erected along the borders with Tunisia and Morocco
because these two newly-independent states were aiding the rebels. The French
mounted a retaliatory raid into Tunisia, sparking UN intervention.
23/12/1954, France
sent 20,000 troops to Algeria.
1/11/1954. A nationalist uprising began against the French in
their colony of Algeria.
On 23/12/1954 France sent 20,000 troops to Algeria. By September 1955 there
were about 120,000 French troops in Algeria, a number quadrupled by December
1956 with still no end to the troubles in sight.� The war continued until the Evian agreement
of March 1962.
6/1954, Pierre Mendes-France became head
of the French administration in Algeria.
8/5/1945, During French VE celebrations in Setif, Algerian nationalists again
agitated for independence. An Algerian carried the forbidden Algerian green and
white flag; he was shot dead by French police. The French aftermath was heavy
handed, with mass arrests, and the deaths of several tens of thousands of
Algerians; 103 Europeans also died.
1/5/1945, During May Day celebrations in Algiers, Algerian nationalist
demonstrators staged an unauthorised march, with banners demanding independence
from France. French attempts to halt the march led to the deaths of 10
Algerians and one Frenchman.
3/6/1943, Charles de
Gaulle of France set up the Committee of National Liberation,
through which he promised that Algerians would have a full say in how their
country was run after World War Two. De Gaulle�s failure to honour thos promise after the War was a major
factor in the hardening of Algerian desire for independence.
1924, Ferhat Abbas (1899-1985) founded the Muslim
Student�s Association in Algeria. He served as a volunteer in the French Army
from 1939 but after France was defeated, in 1942 he campaigned for
Algerian independence, joining the FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale) in 1955.
After Algerian independence was achieved in 1962 he became president of the
National Constitutent Assembly. He subsequently fell out of favour with the
Algerian Government, but was rehabilitated shortly before his death.
1913, Indigenous Algerians
were effectively second class citizens in their own country; French subjects
but not full French citizens. Akgerians paid the bulk of the taxes but most
mayors and other administrators were French, so most of the government revenue
was spent on French interests in Algeria. It was an offence for an Algerian
Arab to answer back to a French official, and firing guns in the air (a
tradition at Arab wedding celebrations) was also illegal.An Algerian could
apply to become a French citizen, but would have to renounce their religion to
do so, an act of apostasy.
15/4/1908, French
troops in Algeria repelled Moroccan raiders.
8/6/1903, The French bombarded the town of Figig,
Algeria, in retaliation for indigenous attacks on French colonists.
26/5/1883, Abd
el Kader (born 1807), died. He led Arab resistance to the French
occupation of Algeria. He also took steps to protect the Christian minority in
Algeria, during an anti-Christian uprising in 1860.
1875, Between 1830 and 1875 French colonists had killed some
875,000 Algerians, around 30% of the population. Several hundred thousand more
died in famines, exacerbated by European land seizures. Meanwhile by 1881 some
385,000 European settlers had arrived in Algeria.
1871, In the wake of France�s defeat by Prussia, Arabs in Algeria
rebelled against the French colonists.
French
colonisation of Algeria Wars of Abd el Kader
1848, The first French (Roman Catholic)
settlers arrived in Algeria. They seized the best, coastal, lands.
1847, The Sultan of
Morocco no longer supported Abd el Kader, who now surrendered, with few
men left, to the French General Christophe Lamoriciere. This ended the
Third War of
Abd el Kader (1840-47)
5/12/1844. The French garrison
at Biskra, Algeria, was massacred by the Arabs.
14/8/1844, The French under Bugeaud
defeated el
Kader�s 45,000 strong army at the Isly River. Abd el Kader again took refuge
in Morocco, from where he mounted continued attacks against the French.
1841,
French military action drove el Kader into Morocco, where he enlisted the
Moroccans as allies against the French.
12/1840, France sent Marshal Thomas R Bugeaud (1789-1849) to
Algeria to regain control of the interior from Abd el Kader, who had been
building an Islamic anti-French coalition of the peoples there.
1837,
The French signed the Treaty of Tafna,
ending the Second
War of Abd el Kader (1835-37), and recognising el Kader as having sovereignty
pover the interior of Algeria. The French controlled just a few ports.
28/6/1835, The French were defeated at Makta, Algeria, by Abd al Qadir.
1834, Under duress, the
French signed the Treaty of Desmichels,
rcognising Adb
el Kader as the Dey (Governor) of Msascara, controlling Oran and the
inland regions of Algeria. This Treatry ended the First war of Abd el Kader
(1832-34). The French hoped to co-opt el Kader as an agent for French influence in
the interior of Algeria, but French military opposition to el Kaders forces continued, the
French losing many battles. This led to the Second War of Adb el Kader )1835-37).�
5/7/1830. Algiers
capitulated to a French invasion force. France had maintained economic
relations with the Algiers
coastal area (Barbary coast) since the 16th century. French
coral fishermen had operated there, and wheat was bought from Algeria to send
to France. In 1827 a dispute arose between the French and two Jews of Algiers, Bakri
and Busnach.
In the course of the negotiations in April 1827 the Dey of Algiers struck Deval,
the French consul, with a fly whisk. This was used by the French as an excuse
for armed intervention. A three-year blockade of Algiers followed, followed by
38,000 French troops landing at Sidi Ferruch on 5/7/1830. Algiers capitulated
on 5/7/1830. However the French found that occupying Algiers by no means gave
them control over the interior of the country and its indigenous Berber �population. Only by 1848 was the French
conquest of Algeria complete.
1509, The Spanish occupied Oran, which had been founded
in the 900s by Moors.
944, Foundation of the city of Algeirs.
683, Arab invasions brought Islam to
Algeria.
429, Vandal invasions ended Roman
rule.