Algeria

Monet in Algeria

The painter Claude Monet spent his early twenties as a soldier in French North Africa, yet none of his works or writings from this period survive.

The Bombardment of Algiers, 1816

Derek Severn describes how the assault secured the release of many slaves and much ransom money but Barbary pirates remained a menace until the French annexation.

Camus: Out of North Africa

On the centenary of his birth, Martin Evans looks at the evolving legacy of the Algerian-born French writer Albert Camus

Algeria’s Jewish Question

The Jews of Algeria had lived side by side with Muslims for centuries, but the struggle for Algerian independence presented them with stark choices, as Martin Evans explains.

France 1956: The Decisive Moment

Martin Evans looks at the events of 1956 and the French war on terror, both at home and elsewhere, and how this was a turning point for French fortunes in the Algerian War of Independence.

The Conquest of Algiers

Nigel Falls describes how France became caught up in an unexpectedly complicated imperial adventure in 1830.