How Right-Wing Terrorists Tried to Overthrow the French Government

A coup, followed by a terror campaign, created havoc in the 1960s

An OAS attack in Algeria, 1962 (public domain)

At 6:05 AM, on April 25, 1961, the sky suddenly lit up over the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria. The brightening of the sky meant one thing — the French military had tested an atomic weapon, as they had several times before.