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The French North African Crisis: Colonial Breakdown and Anglo-French Relations, 1945-1962. By Martin Thomas. New York: Palgrave, 2001. ISBN 0-333-7160-8. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xv, 287. $59.95.
The author tells us in his Introduction that "British government perceptions and reactions to France's painful decolonisation from French North Africa form the core of this book" (p. 12). He rightly observes that this has been a neglected subject; and indeed at first sight it may appear of minor importance in Anglo-French relations and the general course of international history. This is not so. The crisis of decolonisation in French North Africa, and especially the Algerian War of 1954-62, had far-reaching consequences.
The most obvious strategic effects were on NATO. For most of the...