Algeria and France – historical bitterness

France and Algeria are at a standoff with diplomats on each side being sent home after France recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. Though shadowing any present-day dispute is the bitter history between the two countries extending back almost two centuries, culminating in the brutal 1954-1962 war for Algeria’s independence from colonial France. In 1830 the French invaded and captured Algiers with methods which reached genocidal proportions. A combinati