It was a "war of peace" in that no declaration of hostilities was ever made (unless one should recognise the first FLN proclamation of 1 November 1954 as such), and during most of the eight years the vast majority of Frenchmen lived unaffected by it. Equally, it was undeniably and horribly savage, bringing death to an estimated one million Muslim Algerians and the expulsion from their homes of approximately the same number of European settlers.

XREF: Connects to white man's burden ideology and how imperial powers framed colonial wars defensively. Echoes later treatments of the French defeat narrative.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 9