"Blackfoot": dark pages of Algerian history. How the French committed the Algerian genocide

Material from Wikiknowledge

French Algeria

French Algeria fr. Algerie franchise French Department
← 1830 - 1962 →
Flag Coat of arms
Capital	Algeria
Currency unit	Algerian franc
Story
- 5'th of July	French invasion of Algeria
- 3 July	Algerian independence

French Algeria. map by Alexandre Vuillemin, 1877

Story

A huge expedition of 100 military and 357 transport ships with a ground force of 35,000 people and 4,000 horses was equipped. The ground force was under the command of General Bourmont, the fleet - under the command of Vice Admiral Duperret. The French landing began without hindrance on 14 July 1830 in the Bay of Sidi Ferrouj; but while they began to strengthen their position, on July 19 they were attacked by the dey's son-in-law, Ibrahim Agha, with 30,000 Turks. The French, however, repelled this attack and took away all the guns and convoys from the enemy. Soon after this, bombardment began both from land and from sea, so that on July 5 the dey surrendered under the condition of a free retreat for himself and the Janissaries. His entire fleet, weapons and the state treasury of 50 million francs fell into the hands of the winners.

After the fall of the city, two French squadrons were sent against Tunisia and Tripoli and forced them to abandon sea raids. French troops occupied the coastal cities of Bon, Oran and Bouji, repelled the attack of Bey Constantine, but on the way to Blida they were defeated by the Kabyles.

After the July Revolution, Bourmont was recalled and Clausel was appointed his successor, who set out to conquer the entire country as far as the Atlas. In November of the same year, the Bey of Titteriy was defeated, Medea was occupied and Blida was taken by attack, but Clausel’s plans for colonization did not like the government of Louis Philippe, and this circumstance, in connection with the unsuccessful treaty with the Bey of Tunis, was the reason that in February 1831 he was withdrawn. The government would generally have been willing to abandon this entire difficult and dangerous conquest, especially since it threatened to spoil good relations with England, but public opinion, which demanded an energetic foreign policy, did not allow it to abandon what it had started. General Berthesen, who suffered defeat in the Tenia Pass on July 2, 1831, was appointed to replace Clausel. His place was taken by Savary (Duke of Rovigo), who, with his cruel and violent treatment of the vanquished, restored the entire local population against the French. Then he was replaced by General Avizar (1832), who arranged Bureaux arabes ( French ) , which later turned out to be very useful; his successor, General Voarol, took possession (1833) of the excellent harbor of Bouji and restored calm in the vicinity of the city of Algiers.

But the French found their most dangerous enemy in the person of Abd al-Qadir, who, as the head of 30 Arab tribes united for a holy war, was proclaimed emir of Maskara. After a stubborn struggle, the French government concluded a peace with him on February 26, 1834, according to which he was recognized as dominion over all the Arab tribes of the west to the Cheliffe River. However, despite this agreement, already in July of the same year the war resumed again and very unsuccessfully for the French. The second appointment of Clausel as head of the Algerian troops did not help either - the uprising spread throughout the country, and the importance of the emir grew. Then Clausel was again recalled, and General Damremont was appointed governor-general. Then General Bugeaud led the fight against the uprising.

The armed struggle (for example, the uprising of Abd al-Qadir) lasts almost until the end of the 19th century. The best lands of the country are settled by colonists from Europe.

During this time, some other Arab tribes also joined the uprising, so that the French government saw itself forced to send significant reinforcements (33 thousand people) from France to defend the province. In place of General Osmon, the main command over the troops in Algeria was transferred to General Saussier, who energetically began to prepare for the resumption of hostilities at the beginning of the rainy season; in the same way, General Serais and many other senior officers were recalled from Oran, who were accused of lack of energy. Military action against Bou-Amena began only in October, and Geriville was appointed as the main base.

Population and economy

The period between 1885-1930 is generally considered to be the golden age of French Algeria (as well as the French Maghreb). By this time, the French authorities had managed to suppress the resistance of Arab and Berber tribes both inside Algeria and on its borders (in Tunisia and Morocco, also annexed by France). Pirate fortifications from the medieval Barbary Coast were rebuilt and modernized, turning into large ports (the cities of Algiers, Oran, Beaune, etc., associated with Marseille). The predominantly French-speaking European population, the so-called Pied Noirs, also reached its peak, the number of which exceeded 1 million people (15.3% of the region’s population). Moreover, only about a quarter of them were of French origin; many emigrated to Algeria

Algeria: divorce in French
Douglas Johnson

Russian magazine, 01.03.03
Jeanne Causse and Bruno de Cessole (editors). Algerie 1830-1962: Les Tresors retrouves de la "Revue des Deux Mondes". - Maisonneuve, 1999. 582 pp.
Jean-Charles Jauffret (ed.). La Guerre d"Algerie par les documents. Vol.II: Les Portes de la guerre, 10 March 1946 a 31 December 1954. - Service Historique de l"Armee de Terre, 1998. 1023 pp.
Jean Morin. De Gaulle et l "Algerie: Mon temoignage 1960-1962. - Albin Michel, 1999. 387 pp.

From the moment of its conquest in 1830 until 1962, when its independence was declared in accordance with the Evian Agreements, Algeria was called French. But even after 1962, thanks to French investments and government loans, as well as a huge number

Algerians living in France, a strange but inextricable relationship of duality continued to develop between the two states.

Lionel Jospin, in a message of welcome to Abdelaziz Bouteflika on his election as President of Algeria, mentioned the special relationship between the two countries and stated that Algeria remains one of the main priorities of French foreign policy.

Of course, not everyone saw Algeria as just an object of imperial ambitions. The more sentimental and romantic mood of the French who visited North Africa is evidenced by a selection of articles from the Revue des Deux Mondes over the past 140 years. The bright color of the country, the spirit of the ancient Mediterranean civilization, the charm of the South and the attractive power of the vast expanses of the Sahara... Travelers have enjoyed all this for many years. But in addition to the exotic, Algeria attracted attractions related to the history of France.

It was felt in the names of the streets (Pyramid Street, Hannibal Street and, most definitely, Tricolor Street), it could be felt by visiting a memorial site from the time of the conquest of Algeria - a corner hidden in the depths of the Marengo garden, dedicated to Amelia, the wife of King Louis Philippe, and, finally, the spagi, soldiers in red and white burnouses, recruited from the local population, visibly personified the power of the French presence in Algeria. All together for many years forced the French, including intellectuals, to take colonization for granted.

The fifties changed everything dramatically. The conflict that rocked the country was both a classic colonial war between an occupying country and a colony struggling for independence, and a civil war with Algerian French and Francophile Algerians on one side and other Algerians on the other. The crisis officially began on November 1, 1954 and lasted seven and a half years. According to official figures, 15,583 soldiers of the French army, foreign legion and French Muslims were killed during the conflict.

When Benjamin Stora began work on his doctoral dissertation on the life of the founder of Algerian nationalism, Messali Hadj, in the early 1980s, he was the only historian at the University of Nanterre focused on North Africa. In 1997, the same author published a bibliography consisting of 2,130 works on the war in Algeria. This allowed him to reasonably assert that the reason for the persistent reluctance of French historians - both researchers and teachers - to deal with this page of recent history is not a lack of information.

There is still no adequate understanding of a number of problems associated with this war. One of them concerns its beginning. How could it be that the French army allowed the crisis to develop into a major war, and what was the mood among the troops in its initial stages? Another ambiguity relates to the end of the war: was there any other outcome possible other than granting independence to Algeria (was de Gaulle himself really convinced of the inevitability and necessity of such a step)? To answer these questions, access to documents from that time is necessary. Now that the Historical Department of the Army (created by the Marquis de Louvois in 1668) has finally released the long-awaited second volume of the collection of archival documents (the first volume covers the years 1943-1946), such an opportunity has arisen. The second volume opens with a document related to the events in Setif on May 8, 1945, and ends with the first period of the war. The unrest in Setif began after two dozen gendarmerie soldiers clashed with a demonstration of Muslim boy scouts and women accompanying them, who carried placards demanding independence. During the riots, 27 Europeans were killed. On the same day, bloody clashes occurred in Little Kabylia and in the department of Constantina. Over the next week, riots and clashes broke out across the country, here and there, during which 109 Europeans died. The uprising was brutally and quickly suppressed: thousands of suspected members of the nationalist movement were executed.

It was an unorganized, spontaneous action of the population, dissatisfied with the fact that the French victory in World War II did not bring any relief, and even the food supply did not improve. The riots began precisely on May 8, when in Setif, as throughout the country, they celebrated the victory. After 1945, the nationalists began to create a revolutionary organization - at least this was the conclusion made by Jean-Charles Joffray based on published documents. These documents show that the French military did not understand what was happening, that the various intelligence organizations often knew nothing about each other's activities. The most effective intelligence agency was the North African Liaison Office;

his card index contained about 8 thousand names, however, apparently, it was lost. Geoffray notes that the archives lack documents for certain years, in particular 1949 and 1950 (it was during this period that oral reports became more and more common).

The advisory body, the Supreme Military Council, proposed increasing the military contingent in Algeria to 130 thousand people, which meant the introduction of an additional 40 thousand. These troops were supposed to be transferred from Indochina. The process of adaptation to new conditions was supposed to take from two weeks to one month. Some members of the Council expressed regret that such a large contingent of French forces would be outside Europe, but the Minister of the Armed Forces, Jacques Chevalier, who was also mayor of the city of Algiers, insisted on the need for their presence in North Africa. The only person who called a spade a spade was General Duval, the future commander of the armed forces in Morocco. Speaking about his unfavorable impression of visiting French troops and their degradation compared to 1939, he stated that there was a war going on in French North Africa.

The documents speak of defeats by French forces in Indochina and strikes by Algerian dockers who refused to load ships bound for Southeast Asia. They also mention illiterate Algerian soldiers fighting in Indochina who had to turn to public scribes to send letters home. Sometimes the clerks, apparently Vietnamese, inserted anti-French propaganda into these letters, which ended up in Algeria and was distributed there.

Documents show that the granting of Indian independence emboldened Algerian nationalists. They were even more pleased with the anti-French direction of British policy in Libya, carried out by Sir Edward Spears, whose hostility towards France had been obvious since his activities in Syria and Lebanon. Soviet agents are said to have tried to carry out propaganda among Algerian students, and the Americans, who have always had anti-colonial views, are accused of conniving with the nationalists in order to stop the spread of communism. A report dated November 23, 1953, alleged that the Spanish government was supporting nationalists in Morocco and Algeria, as well as the Arab League in Cairo, essentially playing a leading role in anti-French activities. The High Commissioner of Spanish Morocco, General Valino, who never forgave the French for their pro-republican stance during the Spanish Civil War, expresses his readiness to provide refuge for Algerian terrorists.

Preoccupation with the international aspects of the current situation has sometimes led to misinterpretation of events. Thus, the crash of the Colombes-Béchard-Oran train in November 1953 was initially attributed to Algerian terrorists.

However, a report from January 1954 noted that the incident occurred near the border with Spanish Morocco and the organizers should clearly be looked for there. (In the single sentence that General de Gaulle devoted to the events in Setif in his War Memoirs, it is emphasized that these events were specifically timed to coincide with the unrest in Syria.)

A huge number of documents testify - the usual story - to the incompetence of the colonial administration. One - from September 1951 about the situation in the Ores mountains - tells about a certain Ben Bouled, the owner of a transportation service.

The work of the Second Bureau (Deuxieme Bureau), subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior in Paris and the military command in Algeria, was equally ineffective, because it also lacked people. The officials of the North Africa Liaison Office under the Governor General's administration depended on the local beys and their men to obtain information about the rural areas. The head of the Department worked without days off or vacations, because there was simply no one to replace him. The essence of this situation was succinctly expressed in the National Assembly by one Algerian deputy: “In essence, the main mistake and guilt of France in Algeria is the inability to ensure its presence.”

To obtain the necessary information, the French army was forced to resort to violent methods. From Geoffray's collection we learn that all the governors-general who succeeded each other in this post demanded that the prefects exclude the use of unjustified violence when interrogating those suspected of belonging to the nationalist movement. A circular of October 22, 1949, issued by Governor General Marcel-Edmond Naegelen, mentions the word “torture,” and in March 1952 his successor speaks of “too vigorous measures” and of individual and collective “acts of revenge.” These methods not only contributed to the development of the revolution in Algeria, but also negatively influenced the formation of public opinion in France.

The authorities were constantly concerned with collecting information about the mood in the various political parties fighting for one form or another of independence. The documents tell the details of this struggle, and in general it is clear that by March 1954 a period of confusion and vacillation had begun. Messali's conflict with Joquin Lahouel caused serious disagreements between the Movement for the Victory of Democratic Freedoms and the Party of the Algerian People. A third force was being formed - the Communist Party of Algeria, which advocated not for independence, but for an alliance between democratic France and democratic Algeria. An extremist wing arose within the Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto, and Ferhat Abbas was forced to assure its representatives that he strives for Algerian independence, but stands for legal methods of revolutionary struggle and does not consider it possible to bloc with other Algerian parties. Parisians and local Algerians argued among themselves, and a Berber separatist movement arose in Kabylia.

For General Callier, commander-in-chief of the French army in Algeria, these differences were cause for optimism. However, Paul Schon, head of the North African Liaison Office, writes in March 1954 about paramilitary groups preparing terrorist attacks, and the following month about the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Struggle and its publication, the Algerian Patriot. However, it appears that the Algerian military authorities did not take Sean's information seriously. Geoffray suggests that the Second Bureau knew about the existence of the Committee. And although they did not contact Sean, in all likelihood, they hoped to introduce their informant into this organization. In October, Sean reports, still without specific details, that the likelihood of using violent methods of struggle has increased. And only on November 18, the Revolutionary Committee announced the release of a proclamation - on behalf of the National Liberation Front (the army that will henceforth fight for independence).

The volume ends with a lengthy report - a complaint about the plight of French troops in Algeria. Its author, a general, writes that the army lacks stability; it needs officers who really want to serve in French North Africa, and they should be provided with decent living conditions. Many of the personnel had just returned from Indochina, having barely had time to visit home. They want to know exactly how long they will have to be away from their family this time.

The general avoids direct criticism of the government, but it is read between the lines when he compares the living conditions of soldiers in Algeria with the situation of special police units in the metropolis, which have a union-mandated eight-hour working day. The author writes about low morale, which is especially dangerous in an army about to go to war.

In the entire body of documents there are only two references to de Gaulle’s activities. In October 1947, he inaugurated the monument to the African Army in Boufarique, and in May 1951, in his speech in Oran, criticizing the French authorities and political parties, he declared that it was impossible to restore national prestige without a strong army and the unity of the entire French people, “without which -differences." As a gesture towards national reconciliation, the general proposed the release from prison of the man he called “the last marshal of France,” Pétain. This proposal was met with a storm of applause, especially from veterans and Muslims.

On the contrary, in Jean Morin's book of memoirs, General de Gaulle is one of the main characters. Morin, then prefect of Toulouse, was summoned to the general on November 18, 1960. Two weeks have passed since de Gaulle's television speech, in which he spoke about the future of Algeria, about the time when France will no longer rule it, about the “Algerian Algeria”. De Gaulle called this process "self-determination" and said that either it must take place with the participation of France, or it will be directed against it. Of the rebel leadership, which had been outside Algeria for six years, he said: “They claim to be the government of the Algerian Republic, a republic that will someday exist, but which has never yet existed.”

This speech, especially the last words about the "Algerian Republic", greatly alarmed many of the general's inner circle. Prime Minister Michel Debreu told Morin that the phrase was not in the written version of the speech. Debray expressed his bewilderment to de Gaulle, and he apologized, explaining that he got carried away and these words came out of him against his will. Morin admits that, like Debray, he was disturbed by de Gaulle's words, but this did not prevent him from accepting the offer to take the post of presidential representative in Algeria.

Morin admits that he was reserved towards de Gaulle. It seemed to him that the general was exaggerating his role in World War II and downplaying the role of the Resistance. Regarding the Algerian question, Morin believed that de Gaulle's speech in Algiers in June 1958, when he said the famous "I understand you", was a mistake. De Gaulle was misled by seeing a united people, a crowd of Europeans and Muslims who seemed to be cheering him together. He did not know that Muslims were forcibly herded into the square. In a conversation with Morin in February 1959, de Gaulle said that his cry of “Long live French Algeria!” during the same visit was a deliberate concession to the Europeans in Oran and that in Constantine he would not have uttered this phrase.

Perhaps Morin somewhat exaggerates de Gaulle's political cynicism.

The speed with which de Gaulle began to implement the idea of ​​decentralization surprised Morin. However, he did not know that at the same time de Gaulle was preparing direct negotiations with the FLN, which formed the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic in Geneva in September 1958, and that at the top there was a struggle between two completely different political lines. The initiative for direct negotiations came from the FLN, the proposal was conveyed through a Swiss diplomat after de Gaulle's speech on self-determination. Morin claims that the Algerians insisted on the candidacy of Georges Pompidou as the head of the French delegation, because they believed that through Pompidou they could directly influence de Gaulle. In February 1961, negotiations began in Lucerne. De Gaulle instructed Pompidou that his task was only to collect information.

Morin claims that he knew nothing about the negotiations “until the end of February or the beginning of March,” when de Gaulle brought him up to date: France should not be afraid of Algerian independence, because independence in itself means nothing. The President of the Congo, Fulbert Yulu, is formally independent, but it is he, de Gaulle, who completely controls his financial situation. If Algeria does not want to be with France, she will be forced to concentrate her military forces in Algiers, Oran, Mers-el-Kebir and other important points.

If Algeria agrees to this option, France will sign an agreement stipulating guarantees for the European population in Algeria.

Then, according to Morin, the negotiations were interrupted three times. On March 30, 1961, Louis Joxe, Minister of Algerian Affairs, during a speech in Oran, announced that negotiations would be held not only with the FLN, but also with other nationalist movements, in particular with the Messali movement. This was de Gaulle's wish.

The next day, the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic broke off the negotiations. The negotiations were suspended for the second time after de Gaulle said at the Elysee Palace that the costs of Algeria exceeded the income from it and therefore France could calmly consider a solution to the problem in which Algeria would no longer be part of French possessions.

For the third time they were interrupted by a conspiracy, the so-called putsch of the generals, who unsuccessfully tried to seize power in Algeria on April 22-25, 1961 (de Gaulle called it a pronunciamento - a coup d'etat).

However, on all these issues de Gaulle compromised. He specifically instructed his representatives not to insist on their own version of resolving problems if this might delay negotiations. In February 1962, the French side agreed to a 15-year presence at the base in Mers el-Kebir (they planned for 99 years, but in reality the French evacuated it on February 1, 1968). Two days after the signing of the Evian Accords, a special document was adopted, which stipulated the future of the numerous Muslim soldiers conscripted into the French army. It was agreed that neither individuals nor groups who served France would be subject to reprisals.

However, less than a few days after the signing of the Agreements, the nationalists organized an attack on Muslim soldiers of the French army, disarmed by the military authorities. The French army could no longer officially protect them. According to various estimates, from 25 to 100 thousand people died.

According to de Gaulle's position, France should not have been involved in maintaining order in Algeria after the declaration of independence. As for the soldiers of the French auxiliary army, de Gaulle made it clear that he did not consider them French, and could not “repatriate” them to France, because France was not the land of their fathers. The general understood that independence was a difficult test for the Algerians, and was glad that France would no longer have anything to do with it. He clearly expressed his position in a conversation with Alain Peyrefitte on May 4, 1962: “Napoleon said that in love the only possible victory is escape. In the same way, the only possible victory in the process of decolonization is leaving.”

London Review of Books, November 11, 1999
Translation by Tatyana Chernysheva

IF bibliography:

Albert Camus. Actuelles III. Chroniques algeriennes (1939-1959).

- P.: Gallimard, 1962.

Moudoud Feraoun. Journal, 1955-1962: Reflections on the French-Algerian War. - Bison Books, 2000.

Martin Evans, Frank Mungeam. Memory of Resistance: French Opposition to the Algerian War (1954-1962). - Berg Publishing Ltd, 1997.

Alexander Harrison. Challenging De Gaulle: The OAS and the Counter-Revolution in Algeria, 1954-1962. - Greenwood Publishing, 1989.

Martin Stone. The Agony of Algeria. - Columbia University Press, 1997.

Paul Henissart. Wolves in the city: The Death of French Algeria. - Simon & Schuster Publishing, 1970.

French Algeria. Map by Alexandre Vuillemin, 1877

However, the most dangerous enemy of the French was Abd al-Qadir, who, as the head of 30 Arab tribes united for a holy war, was proclaimed emir of Maskara. After a stubborn struggle, the French government concluded a peace with him on February 26, 1834, according to which he was recognized as dominion over all the Arab tribes of the west to the Cheliffe River. However, despite this agreement, already in July of the same year the war resumed, and very unsuccessfully for the French. The second appointment of Clausel as head of the Algerian troops did not help either - the uprising spread throughout the country, and the importance of the emir grew. Then Clausel was recalled again, and General Damremont was appointed governor-general.

His successor, Valais, tried to establish French dominance in the eastern part of the country, and Abd al-Qadir subjugated all the western tribes south of his possessions as far as the desert. Feeling strong enough, he, under the pretext of an imaginary violation of the inviolability of his possessions, declared the peace invalid and in November 1838 unexpectedly attacked the French. Despite the fact that Valais had an army of 70,000 at his disposal, he was forced to hold out against Abd al-Qadir’s defensive system, so the position of the French in Algeria, despite individual brilliant victories (the capture of Medea and Miliana), again became precarious.

Things took a favorable turn when Bugeaud was appointed governor general on February 22, 1841. The new system that he followed, and for which he found capable executors in Lamorissiere, Cavaignac and Changarnier, was, on the one hand, to tire the enemy with continuous raids on individual tribes and other small enterprises, and on the other hand, to undertake large expeditions against the emir's troops. Already in May 1841, the French captured Tekedempte, the fortified seat of the emir, and Mascara. The autumn campaign was even more successful, when Bugeau captured Saida, the last fortress of Abd al-Qadir. In January 1842, a campaign was undertaken in the border Moroccan region, which alone still offered resistance, and the city of Tlemcen and the castle of Tafrua were taken. General Barago d'Hillier destroyed the cities of Bogard and Taza, and General Bedeau won over the Kabyle tribes living around Tlemcen to the side of the French.

Abd al-Qadir's power was almost destroyed, so he was forced to retreat to the Moroccan region. A new attack made by the emir in March 1842 was repelled and the subjugation of the country was considered completed when, in the summer of 1842, Abd al-Qadir suddenly appeared again in Algeria and inflicted defeat on the French at Tekedempte and Maskara. Forced, however, to soon retreat again to Moroccan soil, the emir preached a holy war there, gathered numerous military forces, and even ensured that at the end of May 1844 the Moroccan army also came out against the French. Bugeaud, however, advanced with all his forces to the border and on August 14 inflicted a decisive defeat on the Moroccans at Isla, while the French fleet under the command of Prince Joanville bombarded Tangier and Mogador. With the assistance of England, who feared that the French would not extend their power to Morocco, a peace was made with Sultan Abd-ur-Rahman on September 10, according to which the latter pledged to pursue Abd al-Qadir.

Despite this, the latter again invaded Algeria in 1845 and constantly incited the Kabyle tribes to revolt. Only after a stubborn struggle and thanks to the tireless activity of the so-called “African” generals (Lamorissiere, Cavaignac, Changarnier, Pelissier, Bedeau, Saint-Arnaud, Bosquet, Yussuf, etc.) was the resistance of the latter finally broken. At the same time, Bugeaud sought to establish French dominance within the country, and his successors, Bedeau and the Duke of Aumale (since 1847), followed the same policy. During this time, the eastern part of the colony was almost completely pacified, and the southern borders were extended beyond the mountains. Abd al-Qadir, attacked by the troops of the Moroccan Sultan, had to seek salvation on French soil and on December 22, 1847 surrendered to Lamorissiere.

Algeria under French rule[ | ]

With the surrender of the emir, the French conquest of Algeria ended; from that time on, the whole country was already in their hands. Even the war-loving Kabyles recognized the power of the French. Subsequent military actions were of the nature of only small expeditions undertaken to conquer distant points in the south or to punish for uprisings and robberies. However, this necessitated the need to constantly maintain significant armed forces in the country and constantly remain on guard. In 1848, Algeria was declared French territory, divided into departments headed by prefects and headed by a French governor-general.

During this time, some other Arab tribes also joined the uprising, so that the French government saw itself forced to send significant reinforcements (33 thousand people) from France to defend the province. In place of General Osmon, the main command over the troops in Algeria was transferred to General Saussier, who energetically began to prepare for the resumption of hostilities at the beginning of the rainy season; in the same way, General Serais and many other senior officers were recalled from Oran, who were accused of lack of energy. Military action against Bou-Amena began only in October, and Geriville was appointed as the main base.

Population and economy[ | ] were rebuilt and modernized, becoming large, landless Maltese, Russian revolutionaries, Jews, etc. European immigrants engaged in high-tech (relative to their time) irrigation agriculture, and also occupied key administrative positions. Although Muslims were not represented in the administrative apparatus of the colony, they enjoyed broad internal autonomy and retained their cultural institutions. Moreover, thanks to European advances in education and health, the Muslim population entered a phase of population explosion. The number of Muslims increased from 3 million in the mid-19th century to 9 million in the mid-20th century. The shortage of land, most of which was controlled by large European plantation farms, led to increased competition for the region's other limited resources. All this led to the War of Independence and the mass immigration of the European and Muslim sympathizers (harki) to France.

Literature [ | ]

Known as Ottoman Algeria, whose lands were interspersed with numerous independent and semi-independent sultanates of local mountain and desert princelings. Administratively, it consisted of two parts - three densely populated Mediterranean departments, incorporated into the territory of the metropolis (that is, actually becoming part of France proper) on the northern (Mediterranean) side and the vast sparsely populated desert and semi-desert expanses of the Sahara to the south. French Algeria became a mixed settler-resource colony of France. After gaining independence in the early 1960s, almost the entire European (including Muslim sympathizers) population left the country.

Story

A huge expedition of 100 military and 357 transport ships with a ground force of 35,000 people and 4,000 horses was equipped. The land army was under the command of General Louis Auguste Victor de Bourmont, the navy was under the command of Vice Admiral Guy Victor Duperret. The French landed unmolested on 14 June 1830 in the Bay of Sidi Ferruch. However, on June 19, when the army began to strengthen its positions, it was attacked by the son-in-law of Dey Ibrahim Agha with 30,000 Turks. The French repelled this attack and took away all the guns and convoys from the attackers. Soon after this, bombardment began both from land and from sea, so that on July 5 the dey surrendered under the condition of a free retreat for himself and the Janissaries. His entire fleet, weapons and state treasury of 50 million francs went to the winners.

After the fall of the city, two French squadrons were sent against Tunisia and Tripoli and forced them to abandon sea raids. French troops occupied the coastal cities of Bon, Oran and Bouji, repelled the attack of Bey Constantine, but on the way to Blida they were defeated by the Kabyles.

However, the most dangerous enemy of the French was Abd al-Qadir, who, as the head of 30 Arab tribes united for a holy war, was proclaimed emir of Maskara. After a stubborn struggle, the French government concluded a peace with him on February 26, 1834, according to which he was recognized as dominion over all the Arab tribes of the west to the Cheliffe River. However, despite this agreement, already in July of the same year the war resumed, and very unsuccessfully for the French. The second appointment of Clausel as head of the Algerian troops did not help either - the uprising spread throughout the country, and the importance of the emir grew. Then Clausel was recalled again, and General Damremont was appointed governor-general.

His successor, Valais, tried to establish French dominance in the eastern part of the country, and Abd al-Qadir subjugated all the western tribes south of his possessions as far as the desert. Feeling strong enough, he, under the pretext of an imaginary violation of the inviolability of his possessions, declared the peace invalid and in November 1838 unexpectedly attacked the French. Despite the fact that Valais had an army of 70,000 at his disposal, he was forced to hold out against Abd al-Qadir’s defensive system, so the position of the French in Algeria, despite individual brilliant victories (the capture of Medea and Miliana), again became precarious.

Things took a favorable turn when Bugeaud was appointed governor general on February 22, 1841. The new system that he followed, and for which he found capable executors in Lamorissiere, Cavaignac and Changarnier, was, on the one hand, to tire the enemy with continuous raids on individual tribes and other small enterprises, and on the other hand, to undertake large expeditions against the emir's troops. Already in May 1841, the French captured Tekedempte, the fortified seat of the emir, and Mascara. The autumn campaign was even more successful, when Bugeau captured Saida, the last fortress of Abd al-Qadir. In January 1842, a campaign was undertaken in the border Moroccan region, which alone still offered resistance, and the city of Tlemcen and the castle of Tafrua were taken. General Barago d'Hillier destroyed the cities of Bogard and Taza, and General Bedeau won over the Kabyle tribes living around Tlemcen to the side of the French.

Abd al-Qadir's power was almost destroyed, so he was forced to retreat to the Moroccan region. A new attack made by the emir in March 1842 was repelled and the subjugation of the country was considered completed when, in the summer of 1842, Abd al-Qadir suddenly appeared again in Algeria and inflicted defeat on the French at Tekedempte and Maskara. Forced, however, to soon retreat again to Moroccan soil, the emir preached a holy war there, gathered numerous military forces, and even ensured that at the end of May 1844 the Moroccan army also came out against the French. Bugeaud, however, advanced with all his forces to the border and on August 14 inflicted a decisive defeat on the Moroccans at Isla, while the French fleet under the command of Prince Joanville bombarded Tangier and Mogador. With the assistance of England, who feared that the French would not extend their power to Morocco, a peace was made with Sultan Abd-ur-Rahman on September 10, according to which the latter pledged to pursue Abd al-Qadir.

Despite this, the latter again invaded Algeria in 1845 and constantly incited the Kabyle tribes to revolt. Only after a stubborn struggle and thanks to the tireless activity of the so-called “African” generals (Lamorissiere, Cavaignac, Changarnier, Pelissier, Bedeau, Saint-Arnaud, Bosquet, Yussuf, etc.) was the resistance of the latter finally broken. At the same time, Bugeaud sought to establish French dominance within the country, and his successors, Bedeau and the Duke of Aumale (since 1847), followed the same policy. During this time, the eastern part of the colony was almost completely pacified, and the southern borders were extended beyond the mountains. Abd al-Qadir, attacked by the troops of the Moroccan Sultan, had to seek salvation on French soil and on December 22, 1847 surrendered to Lamorissiere.

Algeria under French rule

With the surrender of the Emir, the French conquest of Algeria ended; from that time on, the whole country was already in their hands. Even the war-loving Kabyles recognized the power of the French. Subsequent military actions were of the nature of only small expeditions undertaken to conquer distant points in the south or to punish for uprisings and robberies. However, this necessitated the need to constantly maintain significant armed forces in the country and constantly remain on guard. In 1848, Algeria was declared French territory, divided into departments headed by prefects and headed by a French governor-general.

During this time, some other Arab tribes also joined the uprising, so that the French government saw itself forced to send significant reinforcements (33 thousand people) from France to defend the province. In place of General Osmon, the main command over the troops in Algeria was transferred to General Saussier, who energetically began to prepare for the resumption of hostilities at the beginning of the rainy season; in the same way, General Serais and many other senior officers were recalled from Oran, who were accused of lack of energy. Military action against Bou-Amena began only in October, and Geriville was appointed as the main base.

Population and economy

The period between 1885-1930 is generally considered to be the golden age of French Algeria (as well as the French Maghreb). By this time, the French authorities had managed to suppress the resistance of Arab and Berber tribes both inside Algeria and on its borders (in Tunisia and Morocco, also annexed by France). Pirate fortifications from the medieval Barbary Coast were rebuilt and modernized, turning into large ports (the cities of Algiers, Oran, Beaune, etc., associated with Marseille). The predominantly French-speaking European population, the so-called Pied Noirs, also reached its peak, the number of which exceeded 1 million people (15.3% of the region’s population). Moreover, only about a quarter of them were of French origin; many Spaniards, Italians, landless Maltese, Russian revolutionaries, Jews, etc. emigrated to Algeria. European immigrants were engaged in high-tech (relative to their time) irrigation agriculture, and also occupied key administrative positions. Although Muslims were not represented in the administrative apparatus of the colony, they enjoyed broad internal autonomy and retained their cultural institutions. Moreover, thanks to European advances in education and health, the Muslim population entered a phase of population explosion. The number of Muslims increased from 3 million in the mid-19th century to 9 million in the mid-20th century. The shortage of land, most of which was controlled by large European plantation farms, led to increased competition for the region's other limited resources. All this led to the War of Independence and the mass immigration of the European and Muslim sympathizers (harki) to France.

Write a review on the article "French Algeria"

Literature

• Military Encyclopedia / Ed. V. F. Novitsky and others - St. Petersburg. : company of I.V. Sytin, 1911-1915.
• Encyclopedia of Military and Naval Sciences / Compiled under the main editorship of Lieutenant General G. A. Leer, Honored Professor of the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. - St. Petersburg. : printing house of V. Bezobrazov and Co. - T. 1.
• Military encyclopedic lexicon (in 14 volumes). Second revised edition under the general direction of M. I. Bogdanovich. St. Petersburg, 1852-1858. Volume 1.

An excerpt characterizing French Algeria

Pierre was led into the large, illuminated dining room; a few minutes later steps were heard, and the princess and Natasha entered the room. Natasha was calm, although a stern, without a smile, expression was now again established on her face. Princess Marya, Natasha and Pierre equally experienced that feeling of awkwardness that usually follows the end of a serious and intimate conversation. It is impossible to continue the same conversation; It’s shameful to talk about trifles, but it’s unpleasant to remain silent, because you want to talk, but with this silence you seem to be pretending. They silently approached the table. The waiters pushed back and pulled up chairs. Pierre unfolded the cold napkin and, deciding to break the silence, looked at Natasha and Princess Marya. Both, obviously, at the same time decided to do the same: contentment with life and recognition that, in addition to grief, there are also joys, shone in their eyes.
- Do you drink vodka, Count? - said Princess Marya, and these words suddenly dispersed the shadows of the past.
“Tell me about yourself,” said Princess Marya. “They tell such incredible miracles about you.”
“Yes,” Pierre answered with his now familiar smile of gentle mockery. “They even tell me about such miracles as I have never seen in my dreams.” Marya Abramovna invited me to her place and kept telling me what had happened to me, or was about to happen. Stepan Stepanych also taught me how to tell things. In general, I noticed that it is very peaceful to be an interesting person (I am an interesting person now); they call me and they tell me.
Natasha smiled and wanted to say something.
“We were told,” Princess Marya interrupted her, “that you lost two million in Moscow.” Is this true?
“And I became three times richer,” said Pierre. Pierre, despite the fact that his wife’s debts and the need for buildings changed his affairs, continued to say that he had become three times richer.
“What I have undoubtedly won,” he said, “is freedom...” he began seriously; but decided against continuing, noticing that it was too selfish a subject of conversation.
-Are you building?
- Yes, Savelich orders.
– Tell me, did you not know about the death of the Countess when you stayed in Moscow? - said Princess Marya and immediately blushed, noticing that by making this question after his words that he was free, she ascribed to his words a meaning that they, perhaps, did not have.
“No,” answered Pierre, obviously not finding the interpretation that Princess Marya gave to his mention of her freedom awkward. “I learned this in Orel, and you can’t imagine how it struck me.” We were not exemplary spouses,” he said quickly, looking at Natasha and noticing in her face the curiosity about how he would respond to his wife. “But this death struck me terribly.” When two people quarrel, both are always to blame. And one’s own guilt suddenly becomes terribly heavy in front of a person who no longer exists. And then such death... without friends, without consolation. “I’m very, very sorry for her,” he finished and was pleased to notice the joyful approval on Natasha’s face.
“Yes, here you are again, a bachelor and a groom,” said Princess Marya.
Pierre suddenly blushed crimson and tried for a long time not to look at Natasha. When he decided to look at her, her face was cold, stern and even contemptuous, as it seemed to him.
– But did you really see and talk with Napoleon, as we were told? - said Princess Marya.
Pierre laughed.
- Never, never. It always seems to everyone that being a prisoner means being a guest of Napoleon. Not only have I not seen him, but I have also not heard of him. I was in much worse company.
Dinner ended, and Pierre, who at first refused to talk about his captivity, gradually became involved in this story.
- But is it true that you stayed to kill Napoleon? – Natasha asked him, smiling slightly. “I guessed it when we met you at the Sukharev Tower; remember?
Pierre admitted that this was the truth, and from this question, gradually guided by the questions of Princess Marya and especially Natasha, he became involved in a detailed story about his adventures.
At first he spoke with that mocking, meek look that he now had at people and especially at himself; but then, when he came to the story of the horrors and suffering that he had seen, he, without noticing it, became carried away and began to speak with the restrained excitement of a man experiencing strong impressions in his memory.
Princess Marya looked at Pierre and Natasha with a gentle smile. In this whole story she saw only Pierre and his kindness. Natasha, leaning on her arm, with a constantly changing expression on her face, along with the story, watched, without looking away for a minute, Pierre, apparently experiencing with him what he was telling. Not only her look, but the exclamations and short questions she made showed Pierre that from what he was telling, she understood exactly what he wanted to convey. It was clear that she understood not only what he was saying, but also what he would like and could not express in words. Pierre told about his episode with the child and the woman for whose protection he was taken in the following way:
“It was a terrible sight, children were abandoned, some were on fire... In front of me they pulled out a child... women, from whom they pulled things off, tore out earrings...
Pierre blushed and hesitated.
“Then a patrol arrived, and all those who were not robbed, all the men were taken away. And me.
– You probably don’t tell everything; “You must have done something…” Natasha said and paused, “good.”
Pierre continued to talk further. When he talked about the execution, he wanted to avoid the terrible details; but Natasha demanded that he not miss anything.
Pierre started to talk about Karataev (he had already gotten up from the table and was walking around, Natasha was watching him with her eyes) and stopped.
- No, you cannot understand what I learned from this illiterate man - a fool.
“No, no, speak up,” said Natasha. - Where is he?
“He was killed almost in front of me.” - And Pierre began to tell the last time of their retreat, Karataev’s illness (his voice trembled incessantly) and his death.
Pierre told his adventures as he had never told them to anyone before, as he had never recalled them to himself. He now saw, as it were, a new meaning in everything that he had experienced. Now, when he was telling all this to Natasha, he was experiencing that rare pleasure that women give when listening to a man - not smart women who, while listening, try to either remember what they are told in order to enrich their minds and, on occasion, retell it or adapt what is being told to your own and quickly communicate your clever speeches, developed in your small mental economy; but the pleasure that real women give, gifted with the ability to select and absorb into themselves all the best that exists in the manifestations of a man. Natasha, without knowing it herself, was all attention: she did not miss a word, a hesitation in her voice, a glance, a twitch of a facial muscle, or a gesture from Pierre. She caught the unspoken word on the fly and brought it directly into her open heart, guessing the secret meaning of all Pierre’s spiritual work.
Princess Marya understood the story, sympathized with it, but now she saw something else that absorbed all her attention; she saw the possibility of love and happiness between Natasha and Pierre. And for the first time this thought came to her, filling her soul with joy.
It was three o'clock in the morning. Waiters with sad and stern faces came to change the candles, but no one noticed them.
Pierre finished his story. Natasha, with sparkling, animated eyes, continued to look persistently and attentively at Pierre, as if wanting to understand something else that he might not have expressed. Pierre, in bashful and happy embarrassment, occasionally glanced at her and thought of what to say now in order to shift the conversation to another subject. Princess Marya was silent. It didn’t occur to anyone that it was three o’clock in the morning and that it was time to sleep.
“They say: misfortune, suffering,” said Pierre. - Yes, if they told me now, this minute: do you want to remain what you were before captivity, or go through all this first? For God's sake, once again captivity and horse meat. We think how we will be thrown out of our usual path, that everything is lost; and here something new and good is just beginning. As long as there is life, there is happiness. There is a lot, a lot ahead. “I’m telling you this,” he said, turning to Natasha.
“Yes, yes,” she said, answering something completely different, “and I would like nothing more than to go through everything all over again.”
Pierre looked at her carefully.
“Yes, and nothing more,” Natasha confirmed.
“It’s not true, it’s not true,” Pierre shouted. – It’s not my fault that I’m alive and want to live; and you too.
Suddenly Natasha dropped her head into her hands and began to cry.
- What are you doing, Natasha? - said Princess Marya.
- Nothing, nothing. “She smiled through her tears at Pierre. - Goodbye, time to sleep.
Pierre stood up and said goodbye.

Princess Marya and Natasha, as always, met in the bedroom. They talked about what Pierre had told. Princess Marya did not speak her opinion about Pierre. Natasha didn't talk about him either.
“Well, goodbye, Marie,” Natasha said. – You know, I’m often afraid that we don’t talk about him (Prince Andrei), as if we are afraid to humiliate our feelings and forget.
Princess Marya sighed heavily and with this sigh acknowledged the truth of Natasha’s words; but in words she did not agree with her.
- Is it possible to forget? - she said.
“It felt so good to tell everything today; and hard, and painful, and good. “Very good,” said Natasha, “I’m sure he really loved him.” That's why I told him... nothing, what did I tell him? – suddenly blushing, she asked.
- Pierre? Oh no! How wonderful he is,” said Princess Marya.
“You know, Marie,” Natasha suddenly said with a playful smile that Princess Marya had not seen on her face for a long time. - He became somehow clean, smooth, fresh; definitely from the bathhouse, do you understand? - morally from the bathhouse. Is it true?
“Yes,” said Princess Marya, “he won a lot.”
- And a short frock coat, and cropped hair; definitely, well, definitely from the bathhouse... dad, it used to be...
“I understand that he (Prince Andrei) did not love anyone as much as he did,” said Princess Marya.
– Yes, and it’s special from him. They say that men are friends only when they are very special. It must be true. Is it true that he doesn't resemble him at all?
- Yes, and wonderful.
“Well, goodbye,” Natasha answered. And the same playful smile, as if forgotten, remained on her face for a long time.

Pierre could not fall asleep for a long time that day; He walked back and forth around the room, now frowning, pondering something difficult, suddenly shrugging his shoulders and shuddering, now smiling happily.
He thought about Prince Andrei, about Natasha, about their love, and was either jealous of her past, then reproached her, then forgave himself for it. It was already six o'clock in the morning, and he was still walking around the room.
“Well, what can we do? If you can’t do without it! What to do! So, this is how it should be,” he said to himself and, hastily undressed, went to bed, happy and excited, but without doubts and indecisions.
“We must, strange as it may be, no matter how impossible this happiness is, we must do everything in order to be husband and wife with her,” he said to himself.
Pierre, a few days before, had set Friday as the day of his departure for St. Petersburg. When he woke up on Thursday, Savelich came to him for orders about packing his things for the road.
“How about St. Petersburg? What is St. Petersburg? Who's in St. Petersburg? – he asked involuntarily, although to himself. “Yes, something like that a long, long time ago, even before this happened, I was planning to go to St. Petersburg for some reason,” he remembered. - From what? I'll go, maybe. How kind and attentive he is, how he remembers everything! - he thought, looking at Savelich’s old face. “And what a pleasant smile!” - he thought.
- Well, don’t you want to go free, Savelich? asked Pierre.
- Why do I need freedom, Your Excellency? We lived under the late count, the kingdom of heaven, and we see no resentment under you.
- Well, what about the children?
“And the children will live, your Excellency: you can live with such gentlemen.”
- Well, what about my heirs? - said Pierre. “What if I get married... It could happen,” he added with an involuntary smile.
“And I dare to report: a good deed, your Excellency.”
“How easy he thinks it is,” thought Pierre. “He doesn’t know how scary it is, how dangerous it is.” Too early or too late... Scary!
- How would you like to order? Would you like to go tomorrow? – Savelich asked.
- No; I'll put it off a little. I'll tell you then. “Excuse me for the trouble,” said Pierre and, looking at Savelich’s smile, he thought: “How strange, however, that he does not know that now there is no Petersburg and that first of all it is necessary for this to be decided. However, he probably knows, but he’s only pretending. Talk to him? What does he think? - thought Pierre. “No, someday later.”
At breakfast, Pierre told the princess that he had been to Princess Marya yesterday and found there - can you imagine who? - Natalie Rostov.
The princess pretended that she did not see anything more extraordinary in this news than in the fact that Pierre had seen Anna Semyonovna.
- Do you know her? asked Pierre.
“I saw the princess,” she answered. “I heard that they were marrying her to young Rostov.” This would be very good for the Rostovs; They say they are completely ruined.
- No, do you know Rostov?
“I only heard about this story then.” Very sorry.
“No, she doesn’t understand or is pretending,” thought Pierre. “It’s better not to tell her either.”
The princess also prepared provisions for Pierre's journey.
“How kind they all are,” thought Pierre, “that now, when they probably couldn’t be more interested in this, they are doing all this. And everything for me; That’s what’s amazing.”
On the same day, the police chief came to Pierre with a proposal to send a trustee to the Faceted Chamber to receive the things that were now being distributed to the owners.
“This one too,” thought Pierre, looking into the police chief’s face, “what a nice, handsome officer and how kind!” Now he deals with such trifles. They also say that he is not honest and takes advantage of him. What nonsense! But why shouldn’t he use it? That's how he was raised. And everyone does it. And such a pleasant, kind face, and smiles, looking at me.”
Pierre went to dinner with Princess Marya.
Driving through the streets between the burned-out houses, he was amazed at the beauty of these ruins. The chimneys of houses and fallen walls, picturesquely reminiscent of the Rhine and the Colosseum, stretched, hiding each other, along the burnt blocks. The cab drivers and riders we met, the carpenters who cut the log houses, the traders and shopkeepers, all with cheerful, beaming faces, looked at Pierre and said as if: “Ah, here he is! Let's see what comes out of this."
Upon entering the house of Princess Marya, Pierre was filled with doubt as to the justice of the fact that he was here yesterday, saw Natasha and spoke with her. “Maybe I made it up. Maybe I’ll walk in and not see anyone.” But before he had time to enter the room, in his entire being, by the instant deprivation of his freedom, he felt her presence. She was wearing the same black dress with soft folds and the same hairstyle as yesterday, but she was completely different. If she had been like this yesterday when he entered the room, he could not have failed to recognize her for a moment.
She was the same as he had known her almost as a child and then as the bride of Prince Andrei. A cheerful, questioning gleam shone in her eyes; there was a gentle and strangely playful expression on her face.
Pierre had dinner and would have sat there all evening; but Princess Marya was going to the all-night vigil, and Pierre left with them.
The next day Pierre arrived early, had dinner and sat there all evening. Despite the fact that Princess Marya and Natasha were obviously pleased with the guest; despite the fact that the whole interest of Pierre’s life was now concentrated in this house, by the evening they had talked everything over, and the conversation constantly moved from one insignificant subject to another and was often interrupted. Pierre stayed up so late that evening that Princess Marya and Natasha looked at each other, obviously waiting to see if he would leave soon. Pierre saw this and could not leave. He felt heavy and awkward, but he kept sitting because he couldn’t get up and leave.
Princess Marya, not foreseeing an end to this, was the first to get up and, complaining of a migraine, began to say goodbye.
– So you’re going to St. Petersburg tomorrow? – said oka.
“No, I’m not going,” Pierre said hastily, with surprise and as if offended. - No, to St. Petersburg? Tomorrow; I just don't say goodbye. “I’ll come for the commissions,” he said, standing in front of Princess Marya, blushing and not leaving.
Natasha gave him her hand and left. Princess Marya, on the contrary, instead of leaving, sank into a chair and looked sternly and carefully at Pierre with her radiant, deep gaze. The fatigue she had obviously shown before was now completely gone. She took a deep, long breath, as if preparing for a long conversation.
All of Pierre's embarrassment and awkwardness, when Natasha was removed, instantly disappeared and was replaced by excited animation. He quickly moved the chair very close to Princess Marya.
“Yes, that’s what I wanted to tell you,” he said, answering her glance as if in words. - Princess, help me. What should I do? Can I hope? Princess, my friend, listen to me. I know everything. I know I'm not worthy of her; I know it's impossible to talk about it now. But I want to be her brother. No, I don't want to... I can't...
He stopped and rubbed his face and eyes with his hands.
“Well, here,” he continued, apparently making an effort on himself to speak coherently. “I don’t know since when I love her.” But I have loved only her, only one, all my life and love her so much that I cannot imagine life without her. Now I don’t dare ask for her hand; but the thought that maybe she could be mine and that I would miss this opportunity... opportunity... is terrible. Tell me, can I have hope? Tell me what should I do? “Dear princess,” he said, after being silent for a while and touching her hand, since she did not answer.
“I’m thinking about what you told me,” answered Princess Marya. - I'll tell you what. You’re right, what should I tell her about love now... - The princess stopped. She wanted to say: it is now impossible to talk to her about love; but she stopped because for the third day she saw from Natasha’s sudden change that not only would Natasha not be offended if Pierre expressed his love to her, but that this was all she wanted.
“It’s impossible to tell her now,” Princess Marya said.
- But what should I do?
“Entrust this to me,” said Princess Marya. - I know…
Pierre looked into Princess Marya's eyes.
“Well, well...” he said.
“I know that she loves... will love you,” Princess Marya corrected herself.
Before she had time to say these words, Pierre jumped up and, with a frightened face, grabbed Princess Marya by the hand.
- Why do you think so? Do you think I can hope? You think?!
“Yes, I think so,” said Princess Marya, smiling. - Write to your parents. And instruct me. I'll tell her when it's possible. I wish this. And my heart feels that this will happen.
- No, this cannot be! How happy I am! But this cannot be... How happy I am! No, it can not be! - Pierre said, kissing the hands of Princess Marya.
– You go to St. Petersburg; it is better. “And I’ll write to you,” she said.
- To St. Petersburg? Drive? Okay, yes, let's go. But can I come to you tomorrow?
The next day Pierre came to say goodbye. Natasha was less animated than in previous days; but on this day, sometimes looking into her eyes, Pierre felt that he was disappearing, that neither he nor she was there anymore, but there was only a feeling of happiness. “Really? No, it can’t be,” he said to himself with every look, gesture, and word that filled his soul with joy.
When, saying goodbye to her, he took her thin, thin hand, he involuntarily held it in his a little longer.
“Is this hand, this face, these eyes, all this alien treasure of feminine charm, will it all be forever mine, familiar, the same as I am for myself? No, It is Immpossible!.."
“Goodbye, Count,” she said to him loudly. “I’ll be waiting for you,” she added in a whisper.
And these simple words, the look and facial expression that accompanied them, for two months formed the subject of Pierre’s inexhaustible memories, explanations and happy dreams. “I will be waiting for you very much... Yes, yes, as she said? Yes, I will be waiting for you very much. Oh, how happy I am! What is this, how happy I am!” - Pierre said to himself.

Nothing now happened in Pierre's soul that was similar to what happened in it in similar circumstances during his matchmaking with Helen.
He did not repeat, as then, with painful shame the words he had spoken, he did not say to himself: “Oh, why didn’t I say this, and why, why did I say “je vous aime” then?” [I love you] Now, on the contrary, he repeated every word of hers, his own, in his imagination with all the details of her face, smile, and did not want to subtract or add anything: he only wanted to repeat. There was no longer even a shadow of doubt as to whether what he had undertaken was good or bad. Only one terrible doubt sometimes crossed his mind. Isn't this all in a dream? Was Princess Marya mistaken? Am I too proud and arrogant? I believe; and suddenly, as should happen, Princess Marya will tell her, and she will smile and answer: “How strange! He was probably mistaken. Doesn’t he know that he is a man, just a man, and I?.. I am completely different, higher.”
Only this doubt often occurred to Pierre. He also didn’t make any plans now. The impending happiness seemed so incredible to him that as soon as it happened, nothing could happen. It was all over.
A joyful, unexpected madness, of which Pierre considered himself incapable, took possession of him. The whole meaning of life, not for him alone, but for the whole world, seemed to him to lie only in his love and in the possibility of her love for him. Sometimes all the people seemed to him to be occupied with only one thing - his future happiness. It sometimes seemed to him that they were all as happy as he was, and were only trying to hide this joy, pretending to be busy with other interests. In every word and movement he saw hints of his happiness. He often surprised people who met him with his significant, happy looks and smiles that expressed secret agreement. But when he realized that people might not know about his happiness, he felt sorry for them with all his heart and felt a desire to somehow explain to them that everything they were doing was complete nonsense and trifles, not worth attention.
When he was offered to serve or when they discussed some general, state affairs and war, assuming that the happiness of all people depended on this or that outcome of such and such an event, he listened with a meek, sympathetic smile and surprised the people who spoke to him with his strange remarks. But both those people who seemed to Pierre to understand the real meaning of life, that is, his feeling, and those unfortunate ones who obviously did not understand this - all people during this period of time seemed to him in such a bright light of the feeling shining in him that without the slightest effort, he immediately, meeting any person, saw in him everything that was good and worthy of love.
Looking at the affairs and papers of his late wife, he did not feel any feeling for her memory, except pity that she did not know the happiness that he knew now. Prince Vasily, now especially proud of receiving a new place and star, seemed to him a touching, kind and pitiful old man.
Pierre often later recalled this time of happy madness. All the judgments that he made about people and circumstances during this period of time remained true for him forever. He not only did not subsequently renounce these views on people and things, but, on the contrary, in internal doubts and contradictions he resorted to the view that he had at this time of madness, and this view always turned out to be correct.
“Perhaps,” he thought, “I seemed strange and funny then; but I was not as mad then as it seemed. On the contrary, I was then smarter and more insightful than ever, and I understood everything that is worth understanding in life, because ... I was happy.”
Pierre's madness consisted in the fact that he did not wait, as before, for personal reasons, which he called the merits of people, in order to love them, but love filled his heart, and he, loving people for no reason, found undoubted reasons for which it was worth loving their.

From that first evening, when Natasha, after Pierre's departure, told Princess Marya with a joyfully mocking smile that he was definitely, well, definitely from the bathhouse, and in a frock coat, and with a haircut, from that moment something hidden and unknown to her, but irresistible, awoke in Natasha's soul.
Everything: her face, her gait, her gaze, her voice - everything suddenly changed in her. Unexpected for her, the power of life and hopes for happiness surfaced and demanded satisfaction. From the first evening, Natasha seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened to her. Since then, she never once complained about her situation, didn’t say a single word about the past and was no longer afraid to make cheerful plans for the future. She spoke little about Pierre, but when Princess Marya mentioned him, a long-extinguished sparkle lit up in her eyes and her lips wrinkled with a strange smile.
The change that took place in Natasha at first surprised Princess Marya; but when she understood its meaning, this change upset her. “Did she really love her brother so little that she could forget him so quickly,” thought Princess Marya when she alone pondered the change that had taken place. But when she was with Natasha, she was not angry with her and did not reproach her. The awakened force of life that gripped Natasha was obviously so uncontrollable, so unexpected for her that Princess Marya, in Natasha’s presence, felt that she had no right to reproach her even in her soul.
Natasha gave herself over to the new feeling with such completeness and sincerity that she did not try to hide the fact that she was no longer sad, but joyful and cheerful.
When, after a nightly explanation with Pierre, Princess Marya returned to her room, Natasha met her on the threshold.
- He said? Yes? He said? – she repeated. Both a joyful and at the same time pitiful expression, asking for forgiveness for her joy, settled on Natasha’s face.
– I wanted to listen at the door; but I knew what you would tell me.
No matter how understandable, no matter how touching the look with which Natasha looked at her was for Princess Marya; no matter how sorry she was to see her excitement; but Natasha’s words offended Princess Marya at the first minute. She remembered her brother, his love.
“But what can we do? she cannot do otherwise,” thought Princess Marya; and with a sad and somewhat stern face she told Natasha everything that Pierre had told her. Hearing that he was going to St. Petersburg, Natasha was amazed.
- To St. Petersburg? – she repeated, as if not understanding. But, looking at the sad expression on Princess Marya’s face, she guessed the reason for her sadness and suddenly began to cry. “Marie,” she said, “teach me what to do.” I'm afraid of being bad. Whatever you say, I will do; teach me…
- You love him?
“Yes,” Natasha whispered.
-What are you crying about? “I’m happy for you,” said Princess Marya, having completely forgiven Natasha’s joy for these tears.
- It will not be soon, ever. Think about what happiness it will be when I become his wife and you marry Nicolas.
– Natasha, I asked you not to talk about this. We'll talk about you.
They were silent.
- But why go to St. Petersburg! - Natasha suddenly said, and she quickly answered herself: - No, no, this is how it should be... Yes, Marie? That's how it should be...

Seven years have passed since the 12th year. The troubled historical sea of ​​Europe has settled into its shores. It seemed quiet; but the mysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because the laws determining their movement are unknown to us) continued to operate.