How could Congo gain independence so quickly without much sense of nationalism in the years before?
Congolese decolonization occurred so rapidly because Belgium, surprised by the rapid pace of decolonization elsewhere in Africa, were unwilling to buck the trend. Portugal insisted on keeping its colonies long after the British and French because it was governed by a dictatorship immune to public opinion, committed to an ideology that justified even protracted costly warfare in order to keep colonies which were essential to national identity. The Congo, in marked contrast, was not so important to Belgium, which took the territory over only as a way to end the shocking and embarrassing atrocities committed there by the Belgian king. Especially seeing the cost of colonial warfare in adjacent France (Indochina, Algeria), very few people in Belgium were interested in risking the prospect of fighting an anti-colonial war in central Africa for the benefit of the wealthy people and groups who ran the country. When adjacent French Equatorial Africa was slated for decolonization, the Belgians were quick to follow, even their lack of effort in preparing the Congolese for a separate future doing nothing to slow them down.
How prepared was Algeria for independence?
I assume you mean the Algerian War of Independence -1954 - 62 . Algeria had a massive French settler population and was widely regarded as an extension of mainland France. The French government committed itself to defend Algeria at all costs , this put them on a collision course with the FLN the rebel Algerian group ( National Liberation Front ). The FLN operated as a guerrilla army . It rapidly became clear to the French settlers that the French government was going to grant Algeria independence ( De Gaulle ). The settlers formed the OAS ( Secret Army Organisation ) in an attempt to stop independence , by the end of the war , 20,000 French soldiers had been killed , hundreds of thousands of Algerians lost their lives .1,000,000 French settlers lost their homes and fled Algeria . If you are relating to the recent uprising in Algeria , I believe there some who masterminded the uprising , but events took over and it became a spontaneous popular revolt
Why do Palestinians keep fighting for an independence when it's clearly futile?
Because it is, in my opinion, a conserved part of the human nature.Very clearly stated at the start of the movie “Gladiator”:Q: “People should know when they are conquered”M: “Would you, Quintus? Would I?Why would the Avengers continue to resist Thanos?Why would humans try to resist the Borg?==> Therefore, this very idea even appears to be a part of the contemporary culture.And so on. It’s an universal part of the human character. And always was.
What is the most realistic way for France to have permanently kept Algeria?
As the fellow Quorans have mentioned, there was not a realistic way to keep all Algeria under French control, without giving citizenship and full rights to the entire Algerian population, something really hard to see happening.However, about 10% of the entire Algerian population before independence was composed of pied-noirs: for example, almost half of the population of Oran was of European origin (the population was 433,000 of which 213,000 were Europeans and 220,000 were Algerians). From Wikipedia:Blanc : 0 à 2% --> Départements des Oasis, de la Saoura, de Batna et de Tizi-OuzouBleu clair : 2 à 5% --> Départements de Sétif, Médéa et OrléansvilleBleu : 2 à 5% --> Départements de Constantine, Mostaganem, Tiaret, Saïda et TlemcenBleu foncé : 10 à 30% --> Département de BôneNoir : + de 30% --> Départements d'Alger et d'OranFrance was unable to hold on all Algeria, but maybe could have separated Oran from the rest of Algeria and turned into an Overseas department , populated by the colons, akin to Spain's Plazas de soberanía?
How important was Algeria to a French victory in World War One?
How do you think they filled all those sand bags ?It had to be imported by the ship load from the Sahara.Anyway , it was important enough that the French fought an INCREDIBLY vicious war to keep Algeria in the 1950s and 60s.Algerian exports to France for the war effort saved France 800 million, with little or no benefit to Algeria.The amount of food requisitioned from Algeria , together with a drought , caused Famine.Conscription was imposed on Algeria, but not on Tunisia or Morocco.The British were afraid to impose conscription on Ireland, even though Ireland was rebellious. So, Id suggest that it was basic racism of the time (“use the arabs”) They already had an established LEGION of foreigners fighting their wars.The Conscripts were treated like dirt.Quote ; “Summary executions in the form of decimation also occurred and are substantiated by the archives in at least three cases—the 45th division, the 37th division and the 38th division. The victims were Algerian Jews, Algerians and Tunisians. “De Gaulle was almost subjected to a coup led by the Foreign Legion.The FFL airborne was afterwards broken up and isolated to Corsica as a result , and not allowed off the island.A new Legionnaire could not leave (even for a day) until after a full years service.They were prepared to drop on Paris to depose De Gaulle because he was going to give Algeria independence. The Foreign Legion saw this as a betrayal of the thousand (or so?) that died fighting to keep it French.This monument was built in Sidi Bel Abbas as a museum to house trophies of the FFL.Thats how integral a part of France they saw Algeria as.They considered Algeria to actually be a part of mainland France (outremer)In 1962 , they took the whole place apart brick by brick and moved it back to France to Aubagne.Anyway….They used Algeria in WW1 and WW2 , and therefore lost it 20 years later.Just like Ireland in 1916 , you cannot use a country as cannon fodder and expect it to be grateful.PS; Aside from that , theres not much information of what happened to the 18 or so Colonial Divisions (untermensche ) who were captured when the Nazis invaded France in WW2 ?Controversial question ?
What do the rest of Africans think of Tunisia?
MOROCCOMoroccans love Tunisians, much more than our more direct neighbors Algerians, because we have much in common. I have a lot of friends who studied or took trips to Tunisia and they all recall it as beautiful experiences and hospitable people that love Morocco and Moroccans.From a purely social point of view, they being Muslim, speaking Arabic ( a dialect like us ) and being North Africans is enough to make them feel like some brothers of ours. The same could be said about Algeria, however what makes us enemies with them isn’t social issues, but political ones. From the mid 50’s to the beginning of the 60’s we were very much supportive of the struggles of Algeria against French colonization. The people sympathized with them because they were oppressed by the same guys that we just delivered ourselves from ( 1956 ), we were bound by a duty to help them in their resistance, and Morocco did finance and arm until Algeria’s independence, but then, France leaving without setting definitive borders in the East / South East, we were not so much friends anymore.From the cold war era, Algeria choose the soviet block, while Morocco and Tunisia were pro Western. We were bound to be friendlier with Tunisians than Algerians. When Algeria and their Lybian friend threatened to invade Tunisia, the Moroccan government was seriously prepared to send troops on the ground, not so much because they are our “friends” but because we knew that after them it would be our turn … We have the same interests, a similar history, and at some point the same enemies.Our late King Hassan II, when he was asked by French Journalists if he would support Tunisia in case of “destabilization” ( read conflict ), he said he would not just support them through radio or official statement, but he wouldn’t hesitate to send the military on the ground …