The Praetorians

Algeria, 1958. The paratroopers who survived Indochina and learned counterinsurgency in Algeria now face a different threat: political accountability for methods they believe were necessary to defeat an insurgency. Convinced that civilian leaders are preparing to sacrifice another army victory, members of the military circle around Colonel Raspéguy become entangled in the upheaval that begins in Algiers and spreads into a crisis of the French state.

The sequel shifts the series from battlefield adaptation to civil–military confrontation. Officers weigh obedience against their own idea of national duty as the May 1958 crisis helps bring Charles de Gaulle back to power. Lartéguy treats the coup plotting, factional loyalties and fear of abandonment as consequences of the same colonial wars that shaped The Centurions, using the soldiers’ political radicalisation to question whether an army that believes it alone understands the war can remain subordinate to democratic government.