By Christian Morisot
What is this text about? (https://www.legionetrangere.fr FSALE)
This text revisits the French colonization of Algeria, in response to Emmanuel Macron's remarks describing it as a "crime against humanity."

The author disputes this statement and seeks to rehabilitate France's actions.

He reminds us that in 1830, Algeria was not an independent state but an Ottoman province, dominated by tribes, and that the French expedition aimed to put an end to piracy and slavery.

The author then describes the difficult conditions of colonization: disease, poverty, a hostile climate, and local attacks. The settlers, often political prisoners or destitute, transformed barren lands into fertile regions through their labor. Gradually, Europeans from elsewhere settled there, giving rise to a new society: that of the Pieds-Noirs (French settlers).

Finally, the author expresses a painful nostalgia: he believes that France betrayed these colonists by erasing their memory after the war of independence. He sees French Algeria as a civilizing mission unjustly condemned by history.

By Louis Perez y Cid
Algeria was the cradle of the French Foreign Legion, hence our interest in this text.

However, my friend Christian Morisot presents a partial view of French Algeria: he glorifies the colonists but remains silent on the reality experienced by the colonized people.

The suffering and labor of the colonists were real, but the text omits the violence of the conquest, the injustice of the colonial system, and the suffering of the indigenous populations.
It should therefore be read as an emotional testimony rather than a historical analysis.

It expresses the pain and sense of abandonment felt by the former colonists, while also revealing the ongoing conflict of memory between France and Algeria regarding the colonial past.

A more balanced historical approach is needed: presenting colonization without bias, taking into account the lived experiences of each group—colonists, Muslims, Jews—in order to understand rather than judge.
Understanding the Colonial Administration of Algeria (1830–1962)
The history of colonial Algeria is marked by a profound political, social, and economic transformation.

From 1830 to the mid-20th century, the territory became a space administered by France, where laws and institutions structured society according to origin and religion.

Here is an overview of the main stages of this colonial system.
Military Administration (1830–1870)
From 1830 to 1870, Algeria was placed under military administration.

The governors, appointed by Paris, led the conquest, maintained order, and organized the control of the local populations.

This period was marked by violent clashes and profound social changes.
Colonization remained limited to major cities and strategic areas: Algeria was primarily seen as a territory to be "pacified" and exploited.

Many settlers—adventurers, former soldiers, artisans, or the destitute—settled on their own initiative. They bought land or appropriated land confiscated after military repressions.
This colonization, often opportunistic, was based more on economic or social motivations than on a planned state policy. Civil administration was weak, and land redistribution was arbitrary: Algeria at this time resembled a colonial Wild West.
• 1834: The Senatus Consultum organized the military administration.
• 1848: The departments of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine were created. Algeria was integrated into France, but the Muslim population remained subject to their local law.

Under the Second Empire, Napoleon III sought to establish coexistence between colonists and indigenous people. Presenting himself as the “defender of Muslims,” he advocated respect for local traditions while maintaining French domination.
The Senatus Consultum of 1865 offered French citizenship to Muslims who renounced their personal status (particularly Sharia law). Very few accepted.
This period also strengthened the land rights of colonists and regulated the ownership of so-called “vacant or abandoned” land.

State Colonization (after 1870)
After the defeat of 1870 and the fall of the Second Empire, the Third Republic reorganized colonial policy: the state became the main actor in colonization.
• Crémieux Law (1870): This law granted French citizenship to the Jews of Algeria, creating a lasting distinction between Jewish citizens and Muslim "French subjects."
• The State regulated land development, founded new cities, and developed infrastructure (ports, railways, irrigation).
• Expropriation the confiscation of indigenous lands became systematic, and concessions were granted to settlers.

Economic and Land Management
Colonization profoundly transformed rural society.
Collective lands were confiscated and redistributed to European settlers, leading to the dispossession and massive impoverishment of indigenous peasants.
The Indigenous Status (1881–1946)
Established in 1881, the Indigenous Status created an exceptional regime for Muslims, restricting their freedoms and exacerbating inequalities until its abolition in 1946.
A Hierarchical Society
State colonization accentuated inequalities:
local populations lost their lands and rights, while settlers benefited from the support of the administration. This unequal structure became the lasting foundation of Algerian colonial society. It would not be truly challenged until after the Second World War.

From the 19th century onward, several French deputies and senators denounced the abuses and injustices of the colonial system in Algeria.

While colonization was long presented as a civilizing mission, dissenting voices recalled the reality of the violence and inequalities that accompanied it.
As early as the 1840s, Victor Schoelcher and Alexis de Tocqueville criticized the brutal methods employed by the French army and called for more humane treatment of the local population.
Under the Third Republic, figures like Jean Jaurès and others spoke out against the Indigenous Code and the discrimination between European and Muslim citizens.
The Blum-Viollette bill of 1936 proposed granting French citizenship to a minority of Algerians without requiring them to renounce their religious status. Although rejected, it nevertheless reflects a desire for political change. All these parliamentary debates reflect the contradictions of colonial France: between republican ideals and political domination, between the desire for integration and the reality of exclusion.

some parliamentarians acknowledged the need to reform the colonial system following the Sétif and Guelma massacres in 1945. This repression was a response to the massacres of settlers by the FLN. But this kind of response was no longer appropriate in this emerging new world; the colonial era was over, and the USA was secretly ensuring this for its own interests.
The history of colonial Algeria cannot be reduced to the glory of some or the suffering of others. It remains a complex legacy, made up of conquests, resistance, encounters, and still-raw wounds. Acknowledging the injustices of the past without erasing individual experiences allows us to approach this chapter with clarity. Between the memories of the colonists, the independence fighters, and the descendants of those on both sides of the Mediterranean, there is common ground: that of shared remembrance and mutual respect, which should be paramount.

Only under these conditions can dialogue between France and Algeria truly be built for the future, not on nostalgia or guilt, but on understanding and the transmission of knowledge.

“As is often the case in history, when one civilization encounters another, it is the one most advanced militarily and technologically that imposes its will. But material domination never erases memory, nor the right of peoples to exist.”