Examines the depth and scale of the colonization process and explains why the Algerian War was one of the longest and most violent of the decolonization struggles, bringing down four governments, ending the Fourth Republic, and miring the French Army in accusations of torture and mass human rights abuses.

Includes maps of: Contemporary Algeria and France; 1954 - French Algeria; 1954 - French Algeria - the Coast; 1830 - the Conquest of Algiers; 1830-1900 - the Conquest of Algeria and the Sahara; Colonial Transformation of Algeria - Patterns of European Farming and Industry at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century; May 1945 - Algerian Demonstrations and Insurrection; 1 November 1954 - the FLN Insurrection; 1956 - the Six Wilayas of the Armee de Liberation Nationale (ALN); January-March 1957 - the First Battle of Algiers; 1959-1960 - the Major French Offensives in Algeria; 1959 - Western Algeria - French Hearts and Minds Operations amongst the Algerian Population; March-June 1962 - the Bloody End in Algiers.

[Pt.] I. Origins 1830-1945. Invasion -- The long hatreds -- The making of Algerian nationalism -- [pt.] II. Undeclared war 1945-59. Sliding into war -- 'Algeria is France' -- Guy Mollet's war -- The 'Battle of Algiers' and its aftermath -- Complex violence -- [pt.] III. Dénouement 1959-62. Endgame -- Bloody conclusion -- Independence.