I'd like to extend my thanks to those who patiently listened through and I hope I haven't bored you to death. I will be on vacation when part 2 comes around, so I'll add a general note now:

The Algerian War and the Indochina War are two very complicated conflicts. This podcast only tells the general story out of a military perspective. I had to leave many things out, in particular regarding the Indochina War which we simply tried to sum up and that I was actually not prepared to talk about in length considering that the podcast was originally thought to be only about the Algerian War (with the French Indochina War in passing). I had to go entirely by memory, which is why it might seem slightly more superficial. I also keep repeating myself regarding the Algerian War, but it's for a good reason and it is in my opinion one of the "keys" to understand the conflict out of a French perspective. The "epilogue" part is unfortunately shorter than I would have wanted, but we didn't want the podcast to be all too long! I was hoping to speak about the 1966 movie La Battaglia di Algeri by Gillo Pontecorvo as well as the limited amount of books on the Algerian War in English.

I'll make an additional post where I'm going to write a bit about the Indochina War but if you have any questions of what I've talked about in the podcast, please do ask!

Here's a very brief reading list:

Alistair Horne's A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. This is usually seen as the standard work on the conflict and while it is a bit outdated in some regards, it is still very valuable in understanding the conflict.

Martin Evan's Algeria: France's Undeclared War. A great recent work on the war which is an amazing companion to Horne's book. It takes all the modern scholarship into the war, France and Algeria during the period and combines it into a very readable work that in some regards is better than Horne. Some interesting previous posts on the Algerian War:

The use of torture during the Algerian War.

On David Galula.

A bonus extra:

The British events company Secret Cinema held a series of screenings of 'La Battaglia di Algeri' in London 2011. Secret Cinema doesn't just stop with a screening of the movie but also includes an immersive cinematic experience. This video from the event shows some of the scenes that would have expected you had you gone to see the event.

Subscribed, and added. Does anyone else have any podcast to recommend? I fear I will get through these in a week

This was incredibly interesting.

I actually feel a bit ashamed that I, as a French, don't know that much about Indochina and Algeria. Of course it comes from the fact that these are not my biggest interests but also that as far as I can remember we never talked about it that much in school. Sure we learned about it but not too much into details ( for many reasons ).

Can't wait for the next episode ! Thank you for this podcast ( and the AH podcast in general ; ) )

This is perfect! I've recently gone on a bender reading about the French Foreign Legion's participation in the French Indochina pacification campaign, which naturally lead me to read about the FFL at large, making me extremely curious about the incidents in Algeria as well as the aftermath, particularly the rise of the OAS.

And of course, just as luck would have it, /u/Bernardito graces me with his knowledge just as I'm getting into the thick of it.

Excellent.

First time listener here. That was excellent, absolutely fascinating. Many thanks /u/Bernardito for all your efforts.

A few years ago in a bookshop, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam by Martin Windrow. I found the subject fascinating and it remains one of my top 5 favourite history books. I then went on to read about US involvement in Vietnam, so I'm really looking forward to the next podcast about the Algeria War.

Hopefully, there might also be some good reading recommendations in the podcast discussion.

Thanks again.

Would it be possible for the podcasts to be released in a written form as well?

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I had not actually expected to talk about the French-Indochina War in length (the idea was to speak briefly about it and put the main focus on Algeria) and was going entirely by memory. Due to this, I want to apologize in case I got anything wrong or mixed-up. It is for this very reason that I am adding some of my previous posts on the subject as well as elaborating on two things that I mention in the podcast. As always, questions are more than welcome.

Focusing on a first-hand account on the use of napalm in the French Indochina War, this posts covers the war between 1950 and 1951.

A brief overview of the weaponry used during this time and where it came from.

How, why and when was the Viet Minh formed?

At the eight plenum of the Indochinese Communist Party in the spring of 1941, in the context of Japanese occupied French Indochina, the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong MInh Hoi (Revolutionary League for the Independence of Vietnam) was formed. With Indochina being under Japanese occupation at the time, the opportunity seemed too good to pass on: the French colony was isolated from mainland France and with the presence of the Japanese, there never was a more stronger situation to start pushing for liberation from foreign occupiers - in this case, both the French and the Japanese. The goal of the Viet Minh was national liberation and the Viet Minh was very much in the tradition of the Maoist guerrilla theory: a united and broad front, that was dominated by the Indochinese Communist Party, that would engage all of the Vietnamese people. This would make it easier to not only gain the support of the civilian population but also the Allied powers. As soon as the war had been won and an independent Vietnam with a united front government had been installed, then the road towards communism would begin.

How was discontent about the war shown in France?

In the early period of the war, what attracted most attention amongst the general population was clearly the most dramatic: Atrocities, victories and defeats. French media gave very little focus to the war and there was never a truly broad and passionate discontent about the war in France as during the Vietnam War in the United States with widespread protests and everything that came with it; the French population did have times in which discontent was clearly marked. Historian Martin Windrow writes of some examples: "At various times mobs abused embarking troops; it was felt necessary to omit from the official gazette citations for gallantry decorations won in Indochina, and to announce that blood donated by the public would not be used for transfusing Indochina casualties."

The political left in France were those who were the most vocal and hostile against the 'dirty war' in Indochina. The left was even more encouraged by Viet Minh propaganda coming out of Indochina (which was done very effectively) and even by Viet Minh agents on the ground in France.

As we can all possibly imagine, more than seven years of war can tire out any population and by 1953, only 15 % (according to a poll published in Le Monde) of those asked supported the war.

Just wanted to say thanks for offering this. Been reading this sub for a while, and I just realized how perfect it is for a podcast. I was very happy when I found this here. I'll add it to my current podcast rotation. Hope it's good enough to keep around - if it's anything like the many wonderful posts I've read it should be.