A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony PDF
Preview A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony
A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony AlsobyWilliamGallois THEADMINISTRATIONOFSICKNESS:MedicineandEthicsin Nineteenth-CenturyAlgeria TIME,RELIGIONANDHISTORY ZOLA:TheHistoryofCapitalism A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony William Gallois SeniorLecturerinMiddleEasternHistory,UniversityofExeter Palgrave macmillan ©WilliamGallois2013 Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition2013978-0-230-29431-8 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthiswork inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2013by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN978-1-349-33334-9 ISBN978-1-137-31370-6(eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137313706 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 For Oscar This page intentionally left blank Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 ‘Algeria’:TheArchaeologyofBarbary 25 3 L’arméed’Afrique 52 4 ViolenceinAlgeria,1830–37 81 5 TheEvolutionoftheRazzia,1837–47 100 6 AFuturePaintedinSombreColours 122 7 AnAlgerianGenocide? 145 Notes 172 Bibliography 190 Index 203 vii 1 Introduction On26June1842,NicolasJean-de-DieuSoult,theFrenchPrimeMinister andMinisterofWar,reflectedonthesuccessesofhisGovernorGeneral ofAlgeria,ThomasRobertBugeaud: Bugeaud’s report of 13 June on the operations undertaken by the columns of Chélif and Algiers, along with that of Marshal Changarnier, should be copied and sent to the Message and the Moniteur forpublication,thoughcertainpassagesdetailingtheburn- ing of houses and the attack on the famous caverns ought to be excised. Those paragraphs must be edited. The publication of these quiteremarkablereportswillsurelyhaveasalutaryeffectuponpublic opinion.[...]Imyselfapplaudtheexcellentresultswhichhavebeen obtained,alongwiththepoliticalandmoraleffectswhichtheopera- tionsofM.BugeaudwilldoubtlessproduceacrossAlgeria,andwhich will indeed echo across France and Europe. [...] As is well known, I regret the inopportune skirmish at the famous caves, in which we lostanumberofmenwhohadactedratherrashly.Induecourse,it willbenecessarytoreturntothistheatresothatthelocalpopulation shouldnotthinkthattheyhavebeenabletoforceustoretreat.1 Thisquitetypicalreportintroducesanumberofkeythemesofthisstudy ofviolenceintheearlyAlgeriancolony.Whatitmakesmostplainisthe way in which violence was seen to function as a form of language or conversation, effecting communication with a whole series of groups. Whilethekeydialogueherewaswiththosetribeswhohadbeensenta messagethroughthisseriesofFrenchassaultsontheirpeopleandprop- erty,Soultalsoclaimedthatdisseminatingnewsoftheseattackshadthe potential to affect public and political opinion in Algeria, France and 1 2 AHistoryofViolenceintheEarlyAlgerianColony more widely across Europe. What might have been conceived of as a local action in a military campaign was revealed as being possessed of broadersymbolicsignificanceanditisclearthatthedeclarativepurpose ofsuchviolenceservedaspartofitsrationale.Thiswas,afterall,a‘the- atre’inwhichthewordswritandplayedbyFrenchactorsechoedacross aseriesofstages. It was therefore imperative that these lines were carefully managed and edited. In this particular case, Soult stressed that publication of the details of the burning of houses and an attack on a series of caves wouldbecounterproductive.The‘editing’ofsuchdetailshadtheeffect of writing the particularities of French violence and its effects upon Algerians from the story, such that readers might focus on the effects of such acts rather than on their execution. This allusive approach to the specific qualities of French violence in Algeria was borne from the experienceofmenlikeSoultandBugeaud,whoknewthattheirdomes- ticopponentswouldusesuchinformationasameansofcritiquingthe brutality and futility of the policies of the armée d’Afrique. In particu- lar,France’srelianceontherazzia–aformofraidingsupposedlybased on local norms of violence – was adjudged by critics of the govern- menttobecounterproductiveasameansofpacifyingthenewcolony. It had also been alighted upon by those European critics who con- tended that France was establishing a barbarous empire on the coast ofAfrica. Nonetheless, it is important to register that the regrets which Soult expressedintheletterrelatednottothesufferingimposedonIndigènes buttothesmallnumberofFrenchcasualtiessustainedintheoperation.2 As tended to be the case, the Minister and his Governor General conveyed the impression that any such losses were the result of fool- hardinessorpoorplanning,foritwasplainthatthearmydidnotface a set of concerted foes who could challenge their dominance in the new land they were making. The local population were conceived of as a problem which would need to be solved and it was plain that the burningsandattacksontheirredoubtshadbecomethetacticsbywhich such goals would be achieved. What this constituted in practice, as we shallsee,wasoftenthesystematicdestructionofsettlementsandcrops, along with the seizure of goods and cattle and the massacre of tribes. In the case of such assaults on caves, Soult refers here to the use of smokeasaweaponofasphyxiation,suchthatscoresofvillagersmight bedespatchedinafashionwhichwouldconvincethemthatnohiding places remained in their land, in contrast to their experience of using suchhideoutstoevadetheirOttomanoverlords.
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