On March 19, 1992, at twelve o'clock noon, the war in Algeria came to an official end. In the little town of Evian, on the French shore of Lac Leman, delegates of the French Government and of the FLN, Front de Liberation National had, on the previous day, signed the agreements calling for a cease-fire and for self-determination for Algeria. The diplomatic language of these documents somehow fails to carry the full meaning and give the meaning and give the total impact of this occasion. For France, the Evian settlement was a sobering ending to eight years of bitter war, of deep internal conflict, and the end of her imperial glory.

Algeria was the last of Frence's important overseas territories; its conquest had been one of the great pages in the annals of her army; its development was one of the major achievements of her civilization. As of March 18, 1962, all of this was to be confined to history books. France must now concern herself with her own problems, as de Gaulle had been urging since 1960.