Bendjedid was born in Bouteldja on 14 April 1929. He served in the French Army as a non-commissioned officer and fought in Indochina. He defected to the National Liberation Front (FLN) at the beginning of the Algerian War of Independence in 1954. A protégé of Houari Boumediene, Bendjedid was rewarded with the command of the Constantine Military Region Oran, Algeria in 1964. After independence he rose through the ranks, becoming head of the 2nd Military Region in 1964 and Colonel in 1969. He commanded the 2nd Military Region from 1964 to 1978, and there supervised the evacuation of French military forces stationed at Mers el-Kebir in conformity with the Évian Accords, and the monitoring of the frontier between Algeria and Morocco which was the site of significant tension.