Although war was never formally declared, the Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It caused six French governments to fall, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, brought De Gaulle back to power, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict and as many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by an unholy marriage of revolutionary terror and state torture.

The war made headlines around the world, and at the time it seemed like a French affair: Now, this brutal and intractable conflict looks less like the last colonial war than the first postmodern one — a full-dress rehearsal for the sort of amorphous struggle that convulsed the Balkans in the 1990s and that is now ravaging Iraq, and in which religion, nationalism, imperialism, and terrorism assume previously unimagined degrees of intensity.

Originally published in 1977, A Savage War of Peace was immediately proclaimed by experts of varied political sympathies to be the history of the Algerian War, a book that not only does justice to its Byzantine intricacies, but that does so with intelligence, assurance, and unflagging momentum. It is these qualities that make A Savage War of Peace not only essential reading for anyone who wishes to investigate this dark stretch of history but a lasting monument of the historian's art.

"When Americans talk about the raging insurgency in Iraq, they often draw parallels with the Vietnam War, but a better analogy is probably the French war against nationalist rebels in Algeria from 1954 to 1962. That's one reason why the landmark history of that conflict, Alistair Horne's 'A Savage War of Peace,' has been an underground best-seller among U.S. military officers over the last three years,... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) with used copies selling on Amazon.com for $150. Indeed, 'Algeria' has become almost a codeword among U.S. counterinsurgency specialists — a shorthand for the depth and complexity of the mess we face in Iraq. Earlier this year, I referred to Horne's book while conversing with one such expert in Taji, Iraq, and got a grim nod of agreement.

Now a new paperback edition of Horne's 1977 classic has been issued, cutting the price of wisdom to a more reasonable $19.95. In a new preface, Horne makes the connection to Iraq explicit. First, he notes, the Algerian insurgents fighting to end France's colonial control over the country avoided taking on the French army directly; instead, they attacked the police and other more vulnerable targets, thereby demoralizing local supporters of the French presence. Second, Algeria's porous borders greatly aided the insurgents, who could receive reinforcements, arms and sanctuary from neighboring countries such as Tunisia and Morocco. Third, and most emphatically, he writes that 'torture should never, never, never be resorted to by any Western society.'

Those three parallels are provocative enough, as far as they go. But many other, perhaps less obvious points in Horne's lucid, well-organized history may do even more to deepen our understanding of the Iraq War.

Again and again, Horne wrote passages about the French in Algeria that could describe the U.S. military in Iraq. As I wrote about the U.S. Army's big 'cordon-and-sweep' operations that detained tens of thousands of civilian Iraqi males in the Sunni Triangle in the fall of 2003, I remembered Horne: 'This is the way an administration caught with its pants down reacts under such circumstances. ... First comes the mass indiscriminate round-up of suspects, most of them innocent but converted into ardent militants by the fact of their imprisonment.'

Like the Americans in Iraq, the French in Algeria consistently misunderstood the nature of the opposition, focusing too much on supposed foreign support and too little on the local roots of the insurgency. Horne also detected a distinctly familiar pattern of official optimism among French officials, who were quick to declare their war 'virtually over' four years before it ended in their defeat.

Moreover, 'A Savage War of Peace' draws an important distinction between torture by the police and torture by the military. The former damages mainly individuals and need not be hugely damaging to the war effort; the latter, Horne quotes a former French officer as saying, involves the honor of the nation — as it did at Abu Ghraib and other facilities where Iraqis were abused by American soldiers in 2003-04.

Along the way, Horne offers three other comments that are not particularly encouraging. First, when considering the Bush administration's policy of having U.S. forces stand down as newly trained Iraqi forces stand up, it is worth noting that throughout the eight years of the Algerian war, more Algerians were fighting on the French side than on the rebel side — and the French still lost.

Second, when trying to understand Iraq's current violence, it is good to recall Horne's comment that 'such a simultaneous internal `civil war'' often rages alongside a 'revolutionary struggle against an external enemy.'

Finally, when we hear U.S. military officers arguing that they achieved their mission in Iraq but that the rest of the U.S. government failed or the will of the American people faltered, remember Horne's quotation from a French general, Jacques de Bollardiere, who was critical of his army's performance: 'Instead of coldly analysing with courageous lucidity its tactical and strategic errors, it gave itself up to a too human inclination and tried — not without reason, however — to excuse its mistakes by the faults of civil authority and public opinion.'

To be sure, there are huge differences between the two wars. Most notably, the United States isn't a colonial power in Iraq, seeking to maintain a presence of troops and settlers as long as possible. Rather, in Iraq, victory would consist of getting U.S. personnel out while leaving behind a relatively friendly, open, stable and independent government. And while elements of the French military tried to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle for pulling out from what he termed 'a bottomless quagmire,' there is little fear that U.S. officers will go down that rebellious road.

But there are numerous suggestive parallels — mainly relating to conventional Western militaries fighting primarily urban insurgencies in Arab cultures while support for their wars dwindles back home and while the insurgents hope to outlast their better-armed opponents. As such, anyone interested in Iraq should read this book immediately.

Thomas E. Ricks, a Washington Post military correspondent who has reported frequently from Iraq, is the author of 'Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq.'" Reviewed by Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
(hide most of this review)

British historian Horne spent much of his career studying French military history. In this 1977 work, he turned his eye on France's failed colonial war in Algeria. His narrative is constructed through a synthesis of France's secondary literature on the bloody conflict and interviews with many of the key actors. He combines discussion of the conflict proper with analysis of the politics of Algeria's National Liberation Front, the European-Algerian community, and France itself, where the war led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic. In a new preface, the author discusses some of the parallels of the Algerian war with the US occupation of Iraq, including the futility of using torture and other brutal tactics against an insurgency, no matter how bloody that insurgency might be itself. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"There is enough to make this the most complete history of the Algerian war yet written, one which will be indispensable for future historians. It is compelling reading, filled with intimate detail about characters and situations that have served as inspiration for a dozen novels from The Day of the Jackal on." The Los Angeles Times

"[A] highly readable, toughly edited history that blends the pace and sweep of a work of fiction with a relentless pursuit of every main actor still alive and willing to talk about the war." The Washington Post Book World

"An accomplished historian of earlier French wars has written an admirably impartial, lucid and readable book...as full and objective a history of the Algerian war as we are likely to see for some years." The New York Times Book Review

The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It brought down six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, returned de Gaulle to power, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict and as many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by an unholy marriage of revolutionary terror and repressive torture.

Nearly a half century has passed since this savagely fought war ended in Algeria’ s independence, and yet— as Alistair Horne argues in his new preface to his now-classic work of history— its repercussions continue to be felt not only in Algeria and France, but throughout the world. Indeed from today’ s vantage point the Algerian War looks like a full-dress rehearsal for the sort of amorphous struggle that convulsed the Balkans in the 1990s and that now ravages the Middle East, from Beirut to Baghdad— struggles in which questions of religion, nationalism, imperialism, and terrorism take on a new and increasingly lethal intensity.

A Savage War of Peace is the defi nitive history of the Algerian War, a book that brings that terrible and complicated struggle to life with intelligence, assurance, and unflagging momentum. It is essential reading for our own violent times as well as a lasting monument to the historian’ s art.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Illustrations

Map of Algeria

Map of ALgiers

Preface

PART ONE: Prelude 1830-1954

" A Town of Great Interest"

" Ici, c'est la France"

In the Middle of the Ford

PART TWO: The War 1954-1958

All Saint's Day, 1954

The Sorcerer'sCauldron

The FLN: From Bandung to Soummam

The Second Fronts of Guy Mollett

" Why We Must Win"

The Battle of Algiers

Lost Round for the FLN

The World Takes Notice

Le Dernier Quart d'Heure

PART THREE: The Hardest of ALl Victories 1958-1962

A Kind Resurrection

" Je Vous Ai Compris"

The FLN Holds Its Breath

Neither the Djebel nor the Night

" Aux Barricades "

" This Prince of Ambiguity"

Revolution in the Revolution

De Gaulle Caught in the Draught

The Generals' Putsch

Pvertures for Peace

The Suitcase or the Coffin

Exodus

The Page is Turned

Afterword

Colonel Godard's Organogram

Political and Military Abbreviations

Chronology

Bibliography

Reference Notes

Clossary

Index

The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It brought down six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, returned de Gaulle to power, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict and as many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by an unholy marriage of revolutionary terror and repressive torture.

Nearly a half century has passed since this savagely fought war ended in Algeria' s independence, and yet-- as Alistair Horne argues in his new preface to his now-classic work of history-- its repercussions continue to be felt not only in Algeria and France, but throughout the world. Indeed from today' s vantage point the Algerian War looks like a full-dress rehearsal for the sort of amorphous struggle that convulsed the Balkans in the 1990s and that now ravages the Middle East, from Beirut to Baghdad-- struggles in which questions of religion, nationalism, imperialism, and terrorism take on a new and increasingly lethal intensity.

A Savage War of Peace is the definitive history of the Algerian War, a book that brings that terrible and complicated struggle to life with intelligence, assurance, and unflagging momentum. It is essential reading for our own violent times as well as a lasting monument to the historian' s art.

Alistair Horne is the author of eighteen previous books, including The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916, How Far from Austerlitz?: Napoleon 1805–1815, and the official biography of British prime minister Harold Macmillan. He is a fellow at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and lives in Oxfordshire. He was awarded the French Legion d’Honneur in 1993 and received a knighthood in 2003 for his work on French history.