Algeria
THE MILITARY HERITAGE
National Liberation Army fighters during the War of Independence
Courtesy Algerian Ministry of Information
Women's unit of People's National Army parading at ceremonies
commemorating November 1, 1954, launch of Algerian War of Independence
Courtesy Embassy of Algeria, Washington
The People's National Army (Armée Nationale Populaire--ANP, known
until 1962 as the Army of National Liberation--Armée de Libération
Nationale--ALN) stems from a long military tradition in Algerian
national life. Throughout their history, the peoples of North
Africa have demonstrated a decided martial prowess, particularly
when called upon to defend their independence. Berber tribesmen
with a warlike reputation resisted the spread of Carthaginian
and Roman colonization before the Christian era, and they struggled
for more than a generation against the seventhcentury Arab invaders
who spread Islam to North Africa by military conquests mounted
as jihads, or holy wars.
Tension, crisis, resistance, dissidence, and revolution have
characterized Algeria's development, at times pitting Berbers
against Arabs and during other periods uniting them in opposition
to a common enemy. The people of the central Maghrib have also,
on occasion, fought on the side of their foreign rulers; during
the 132 years of colonial domination, the French augmented their
pacification forces with Algerian recruits. During World War I,
about 173,000 Algerians conscripted into service with the French
army fought with valor against the Germans; 25,000 of the Algerians
were killed in combat. Algeria also supplied France with soldiers
in World War II, providing the Free French with men in the Italian
campaign. The experience contributed to a growing dissatisfaction
with the French presence in Algeria that in 1954 erupted in the
eight-year struggle for independence.
At a meeting in 1954, the revolutionary leaders laid down the
structure of the ALN. The six military regions, known at that
time as wilayat, were subdivided into zones, areas, and
sectors. Tactical units were assigned, commanders appointed, and
a system of military ranks adopted; the designation of colonel
was fixed as the highest officer grade.
In 1957 a coordinated campaign of strikes and violence in the
cities triggered a brutally effective counterinsurgency campaign
by the French that broke down FLN and ALN organizations inside
Algeria, particularly in urban areas. The military and civilian
revolutionary leadership took sanctuary in Tunisia and Morocco,
leaving the "internal ALN"--composed of guerrillas that operated
under autonomous local commanders--to continue the fight against
the French. Largely unassisted by the revolutionaries outside
Algeria, these internal forces--with a strong Berber component--
suffered heavily. They were never completely destroyed, however,
and their resistance succeeded in demoralizing the French, whose
forces numbered 500,000 at their peak.
The regular ALN units, formed in Tunisia and Morocco with the
tacit approval of the host countries, established bases near the
Algeria border. Unlike the internal forces, the "external" ALN
had a conventional organization and received training and modern
equipment from sympathetic foreign sources. Although estimates
of its size varied, a strength of 35,000 was claimed in 1960.
Increasingly effective French measures to seal the borders hampered
efforts to convey arms and supplies to the internal forces.
The external ALN was decisively defeated whenever it engaged
the French directly. Nevertheless, it emerged as a central element
among revolutionary forces, especially after the FLN leadership
appointed Colonel Boumediene as ALN chief of staff in early 1960.
Well before independence, regional factionalism and fierce personal
rivalries raged among FLN internal and external military leaders
and civilian politicians. Only six days before Algeria's formal
independence on July 5, 1962, the civilian political faction controlling
the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (Gouvernement
Provisoire de la République Algérienne--GPRA) dismissed Boumediene
and the rest of the general staff. Boumediene rejected their authority
and instead supported the candidacy of Ben Bella, one of the "historic
chiefs" of the War of Independence, against the GPRA. Boumediene
led contingents of the external ALN and friendly guerrillas eastward
to Algiers, overcoming resistance from other internal guerrilla
leaders who felt that they had earned the right to shape the course
of the revolution. Joining Ben Bella in the capital, Boumediene
became minister of defense in the government formed in September
1962.
Data as of December 1993
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