At this point one comes back inevitably to the riddle that was as central to the latter stages of the Algerian war as it was difficult to unravel. To one acute French observer in 1960, de Gaulle and his intentions resembled Molière's Don Juan who had "promised marriage to five or six women and absolutely had to avoid being pinned down by any one of them". But on which one had he really set his heart? Did he change his mind? If so, when? Why was he always so ambiguous in declaring his intentions? Whole books have been dedicated to the subject, and still the controversy thrives. To Massu, de Gaulle always "intended to pull out, from the beginning"; to Mendès-France, he was for Algérie française, from the beginning; to General Beaufre he "made a formula, then saw it didn't work"; to Louis Joxe, "he seemed always groping"; to Bernard Tricot, he never believed in integration; to Tournoux, he always hoped he could talk the Muslims out of secession; while Harold Macmillan admits, "I was rather alarmed, at one time, that de Gaulle would try to hold on to Algeria. After our experiences I was certain he couldn't do so." Who read the oracle aright?

QUESTION: The passage poses an unresolved riddle — did de Gaulle always plan to withdraw from Algeria, or did he genuinely change course? This leaves a fascinating open interpretive question.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1145