The General Staff during the Algerian War of Liberation between Military Structuring and Political Aspirations (1960–1962)

Abstract

This article examines the General Staff of the National Liberation Army (ALN) between 1960 and 1962, focusing on the conditions of its emergence, its military structuring, and its interaction with the political leadership represented by the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic and the National Council of the Algerian Revolution. It highlights the central place of the General Staff within the revolutionary apparatus and its role in the transition from the logic of armed struggle to the logic of state-building on the eve of independence. The study underlines how the rising weight of the military institution reshaped political decision-making and contributed to redefining the balance between civilian and military actors. By analysing this experience, the article sheds light on the historical roots of the complex relationship between politics and the army in independent Algeria and on the way military power and revolutionary legitimacy converged in the hands of the General Staff during the crucial final phase of the war of liberation