Algeria’s Independence Day is the annual anniversary of its independence from France after having been a French colony for more than thirteen decades; it took place on 5 July 1962.

The Algerian National Liberation Front (FNL) had begun a guerrilla war against French forces and gained diplomatic recognition from the UN for its establishment of the state of Algeria. Most of their attacks were around the capital region, specifically in rural areas.

In its application of harsh measures, the French forces managed to control the situation in Algeria, but the ferocity of the confrontations pushed France to withdraw, and in 1959 Charles de Gaulle announced that Algerians had the right to determine their own fate, and they gained independence in 1962.