Paras and Centurions: Lessons Learned From the Battle of Algiers

Abstract

This article revisits the Battle of Algiers as a lesson for our time, with special attention to the moral vicissitudes of the elite military corps of paratroopers that won the battle for France. A historical sketch of the role of the French military in colonial Africa and Indochina develops the context in which the French paratroopers resorted to torture interrogation of thousands of Algerian Arabs to crush the terrorist insurgency. The lessons focus on terrorist insurgent strategies, vulnerabilities in traditional guideposts for military ethics, and dangers in disrupted civil–military relations. As described in the concluding section, a current U.S. Army training program for commanders and staff officers incorporates these lessons.