The war in Algeria (which lasted nearly eight years—almost twice as long as the "Great War" of 1914–18) toppled six French prime ministers and the Fourth Republic itself. It came close to bringing down General de Gaulle and his Fifth Republic and confronted metropolitan France with the threat of civil war. Yet, when defeat led to the cession of this corner-stone of her empire where she had been "chez elle" for 132 years, out of it arose an incomparably greater France than the world had seen for many a generation.

XREF: Connects to broader decolonization literature showing empire's end often strengthened former metropoles, echoing arguments about Britain after 1945.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 8