National Liberation Front | Vietnam War, Algeria, Marxism | Britannica (original) (raw)

National Liberation Front, title used by nationalist, usually socialist, movements in various countries since World War II. In Greece, the National Liberation Front–National Popular Liberation Army was a communist-sponsored resistance group that operated in occupied Greece during the war. In Vietnam, the National Front for the Liberation of the South was formed in 1960 to overthrow the South Vietnamese government (see Viet Minh). In Algeria, the National Liberation Front, successor to the body that directed Algeria’s war of independence (1954–62), was the only constitutionally legal party from 1962 to 1989. In Uruguay, the leftist guerrilla Tupamaro National Liberation Front (1963) battled police and the army from 1967 to 1972; it later became a legal political party. In the Philippines, the Moro National Liberation Front (1968) espoused separatism for the Moros; during the last three decades of the 20th century, its insurgency resulted in about 100,000 deaths. The Corsican National Liberation Front (1976), the largest and most violent Corsican nationalist movement, remained active into the 21st century.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeannette L. Nolen.