The Third World War

De Gaulle and Africa

The overseas, and specifically the African, territories imposed the crisis on metropolitan France. The initiative that was seized by the Generals in Algiers found quick response in the Sudan, French Guiana, Brazzaville, Dakar and Madagascar. It should not be supposed that events were so arranged merely because hot-headed paratroopers were smarting from the humiliations of IndoChina, Suez and the local wars.