Algeria, a North
African country, was conquered by France
in the 1830s and was formally annexed in 1842. French immigration
was encouraged and the Arab population had virtually no political
rights. In 1919 a small group of Arabs were allowed to become French
citizens and given the vote in return for abandoning their Islamic
traditions.
During the Second
World War Algeria remained under the control of the Vichy
government. On 8th November 1942, the US
Army, under the command of General Dwight
D. Eisenhower, invaded Algeria as part of Operation
Torch. After brief resistance from Vichy forces the country was
captured by the Allies.
!n
1949 Ahmed
Ben Bella became the leader
of Organisation Speciale, the paramilitary wing of the Party of the
Algerian People. Ben
Bella was captured in 1952 but he escaped to Egypt where he founded
the National Liberation Front (FLN). Under the leadership of Ben Bella
the FLN fought a long war of independence from France.
In
1962 Algeria gained its independence and Ahmed
Ben Bellabecame
the country's first prime minister and in 1963 was elected president.
However Ben Bella was deposed in 1965 in a military coup led by General
Houari Boumedienne and was kept
under house arrest until 1979. He spent the next ten years in exile
but in 1990 he returned to live in Algeria.
In
1962 Algeria gained its independence and Ahmed
Ben Bella
became
the country's first prime minister and in 1963 was elected president.
Ben Bella attempted to establish a system similar to the one led by
Gamal
Abdel Nasser
in
Egypt.
However
in 1965 General Houari Boumedienne
led a military coup against Ahmed
Ben Bella
in
1965. He established a Islamic socialist government and presided over
the Council of Revolution. Over the next ten years he kept good relations
with both sides of in the Cold War. Under
his leadership Algeria experienced rapid economic growth. In his final
years Boumedienne was unsuccessful in trying to establish a North
African Socialist Federation.
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