1962 — Algeria's Independence Day

On July 5, 1962, white and green flags flooded the streets of Algiers as Algeria marked its independence day, exactly 132 years after French troops first landed in 1830. Two days earlier, Charles de Gaulle had formally pronounced Algeria independent, following a referendum in which nearly every Algerian voted yes.

The vote came under the Évian Accords that ended eight years of brutal war. The conflict had cost hundreds of thousands of lives and toppled France's Fourth Republic. Independence also set off an exodus of a million European settlers, closing one long era and opening another for a free and independent Algeria.