Evian, Accords d'

   Agreement, signed in 1962, putting an end to the Algerian war. The agreement , signed between the French government and the Algerian National Liberation Front, led to Algerian independence, while giving France the right to maintain a certain strategic presence in the country for 15 years. France's withdrawal from Algeria, after 130 years of colonial domination, was the subject of bitter argument in France, and France narrowly escaped falling into civil war over the issue. The Algerian crisis lasted from 1954 to 1962, and led in 1958 to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, and the establishment of the Fifth Republic under General de Gaulle. It was de Gaulle who masterminded the package that achieved consensus at the Evian talks. Evian is a town in the French region of Rhone-Alpes, standing on the French shores of lake Geneva.