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Killers in the Casbah

The revolt against the French in Algeria proved to be one of the most influential campaigns of violent resistance. Fergal Keane finds out how the battle was won.

For Nelson Mandela's ANC and Yassar Arafat's PLO the Algerian war of independence was a shining example of how a powerful government could be defeated by a highly motivated group of activists.

In 1954 Algeria was an integral part of France, with a million long-established settlers dominating the local Arab majority. The decision of a new revolutionary group, the FLN, to use violence in the struggle for Algerian independence began a period of savagery which would result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a decade of chaos in the politics of France.

Fergal Keane and historian Martin Evans explore the roots of the conflict and its legacy of terrorist violence around the world.

Producer: Alasdair Cross.

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15 minutes

Last on

Wed 16 Oct 2013 13:45

Broadcast

  • Wed 16 Oct 2013 13:45