On May 8, 1958, Black African soldiers conscripted by France found themselves increasingly drawn into the bloody Algerian War of Independence. France’s reliance on colonial troops from West Africa to suppress Algerian revolutionaries exposed deep contradictions in its empire. Many Senegalese, Malian, and other African soldiers began questioning their loyalty to France. This period sowed discontent that would fuel independence movements across Africa. The events of May 1958 contributed not only to Algeria’s eventual independence but also to the broader decolonization of Francophone Africa in the early 1960s.
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