Louis Joxe, one of de Gaulle's closer confidants, was perhaps nearer to the truth when he noted in conversation with de Gaulle shortly before his return to power that "he spoke of everything but Algeria—because he didn't want to come back for Algeria only". As Brian Crozier aptly remarks in his biography of de Gaulle: "For the army and the settlers, Algérie française was all; for him, it was only one element in the complex picture of his deferred ambitions…."

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 853