To begin at the beginning, in November 1954 France was caught at a major disadvantage because, in contrast to Britain over India, no French politician, not even Mendès-France or Mitterrand, let alone the Communists, could contemplate any kind of French withdrawal from Algeria. Mollet the Socialist echoed Mendès-France the Radical: “France without Algeria would be no longer France.” Throughout those critical first years, when a compromise peace might have been conceivable, France was hobbled by the ball-and-chain of Algeria forming an integral part of French territory. From then on she was hobbled by what the army wanted, or would not permit.

XREF: Contrasts with Britain's smooth decolonization of India, a comparison the author explicitly makes.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1649