Jamal Awil

← A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962

De Gaulle's emotional BBC address rallied immediate widespread loyalty [fact]

After a loaded pause, de Gaulle’s harsh tone gave way to a note of imploring appeal: “Finally, I speak to France. Well, my dear country, my old country, here we are together, once again, facing a harsh test.” If he, de Gaulle, were to yield to “the guilty ones, who dream of being usurpers”, then France “would become but a poor broken toy adrift on the sea of hazard”. … Within minutes of his ending, telegrams and messages of endorsement flowed in by the thousand to the Elysée; in Algeria, the first quarter of an hour brought Delouvrier forty declarations of loyalty from army units, including one from a Dragoon colonel offering to place his tanks at the immediate disposal of the authorities to crush the insurrection.

DEFINE: Illustrates how a personal, emotional appeal to national identity ('my dear country') can function as a rhetorical device to mobilize institutional support in a crisis.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1119