The Algerian War 1954-62 was one of the most prolonged and violent examples of decolonization. At times horribly savage, it was an undeclared war in the sense that no formal declaration of hostilities was ever made. Bringing to an end one hundred and thirty two years of French rule, the Algerian struggle caused the fall of six French prime ministers, the collapse of the Fourth Republic and expulsion of one million French settlers. This volume, bringing together leading experts in the field, focuses on one of the key actors in the drama - the French army. They show that the Algerian War was just as much about conflicts of ideas, beliefs and loyalties as it was about simple military operations. In this way, the collection goes beyond polemic and recrimination to explore the many and varied nuances of what was one of the historically most important of the grand style colonial wars.

NACÉRA AGGOUN Member of the Institut Maghreb-Europe, Paris MICHAEL BRETT Reader in History of North Africa, School of Oriental and African Studies, London PHILIP DINE Senior Lecturer, Loughborough University JACQUES FRÉMEAUX Professor of Contemporary History, University of Paris IV, Sorbonne JEANCHARLES JAUFFRET Professor, Institut d'Etudes Politiques, AixenProvence MOHAMED KHANE Teacher of French Civilization ECKARD MICHELS Lecturer in German Studies, Birkbeck College, University of London HUGH ROBERTS Senior Fellow, Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science BRIGITTE ROLLET Specialist on French Film, Discourse and Culture MARTIN SHIPWAY Lecturer in French Studies, Birkbeck College, London BERNARD SIGG Psychoanalyst ALEXANDER J. ZERVOUDAKIS Department of War Studies, King's College, London