French Empire

I

Introduction

French Empire, group of territories throughout the world historically linked by allegiance to France.

II

Establishment and Early Setbacks

Although the French kings were interested in establishing their position in Europe, they refused to accept the Line of Demarcation, the division of the outside world between Spain and Portugal that was laid down by Pope Alexander VI in 1493-1494. Francis I, in particular, was fascinated by the legend that China could be reached via the Atlantic Ocean, and he favoured the three journeys of Jacques Cartier who explored the St Lawrence River in Canada (1534-1543). With the later missions of Samuel de Champlain, this became New France, where, in the 17th century some 4,000 French peasants settled. Breton and Norman sailors went to Newfoundland for the cod-fishing, to Madeira and Morocco for supplies of sugar and much else.

In the 17th century the French established themselves on Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Domingo; and after Frenchmen had explored the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, they established a possession that, in honour of Louis XIV, was called Louisiana (1682). By the 18th century France possessed Canada, Louisiana, the French West Indies, some points of commerce in Senegal, the islands of France and Bourbon (later known as Mauritius and Réunion) in the Indian Ocean, and some trading posts in India, the most important of which were Pondicherry (now known as Puducherry) and Chandernagore (established 1673-1674) and were poised for further development there. However, this French Empire was at the centre of Anglo-French wars, notably in Canada and India. The Treaty of Paris of 1763 stripped France of Canada (following the French and Indian War) and ended its drive for power in India, which had been defeated by British forces and their allies in the Carnatic Wars.

By 1815 the French Empire was reduced to Martinique and Guadeloupe, St Pierre and Miquelon (off the southern coast of the Island of Newfoundland), trading posts in Senegal and five posts in India and Réunion. To this was added in 1817 the legally disputed territory of French Guiana, which was made into a penal colony. In 1830, for reasons of royal prestige, the French acquired Algeria, but it was some time before the conquest was actively pursued and European settlement organized there. Under Napoleon III French economic interests were actively promoted in Senegal, China, Indochina (especially Cochin China) and New Caledonia, as they were pursued in Syria and (unsuccessfully) in Mexico.

III

Revival of Colonialism

It was not until the Third Republic that French colonial expansion really got under way: there were many reasons for this. One was that after France’s defeat by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, and the subsequent unification of Germany, it seemed that the simplest way for France to maintain its status and prestige as a Great Power was to establish itself, like the United Kingdom, as a colonial power. It was argued that colonies could be sources of wealth; supplying new materials and being open to French investment which would bring rich rewards. As areas such as China and Africa were explored, it was probable that, if France did not intervene, then other powers would, and France would be left out and correspondingly weakened. Just as the British had frequently been influenced in their colonization by the missionary factor, so the French saw it as their destiny to have a civilizing mission. As the leading politician in favour of colonization, Jules Ferry put it, “superior races have a duty to civilize inferior races”. At two large international exhibitions held in Paris in 1889 and in 1900, these ideas were put forward along with the portrayal of the exoticism of colonial peoples.

However, these ideas were not universally accepted. For many, the future of France would be determined by Franco-German relations; to indulge in colonial expeditions was a diversion that risked weakening French power. Furthermore, as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, Germany had annexed Alsace and Lorraine. Nationalists claimed that attention should be fixed on these lost provinces, on “the thin blue line of the Vosges”, as Georges Clemenceau put it. No number of colonies could replace Alsace-Lorraine: “I have lost 2 children and you offer me 20 servants,” lamented the nationalist poet Paul Déroulède.

Nevertheless, territories were acquired. By 1871 there were some 300,000 settlers in Algeria, and these numbers were to be increased by those who fled the German occupation of Alsace and Lorraine, as well as by immigrants from Spain, Mexico, and Italy, who sought to join what appeared to be a growing economy. This made relations with Algeria’s neighbours, Tunisia and Morocco, a matter of some importance. In 1881 France forced the Bey of Tunis to accept a French protectorate over his territory: this was a euphemism for direct rule, and was largely the result of growing Italian interest in Tunisia. There was also a strategic consideration, since if the Italians controlled the Tunisian port of Bizerte, it would (theoretically at least) give them the power to block the Mediterranean Sea, which was unacceptable to France as a Mediterranean power. In Morocco, it was only gradually that the French imposed their economic predominance, and it was only after international crises that a French protectorate was established in 1912.

Equatorial Africa was explored by Pierre Brazza between 1875 and 1882, beginning French participation in the Scramble for Africa, and in 1910 the territories where the French flag had been raised (Gabon, the French Congo, Ubangi-Shari) were grouped together as the administrative unit of French Equatorial Africa. A similar move had taken place in West Africa where after the occupation of the Ivory Coast (1883), Guinea (1896), and Dahomey (1892), Senegal and Chad, joined them in French West Africa in 1895. French explorers and soldiers tried to bring together all these territories by penetrating the Sahara Desert, but it remained a barrier for physical reasons and because the nomadic peoples living there remained hostile. However, French troops did occupy the great oases in 1899 and 1900.

Franco-British rivalry was strong over Madagascar, and the population of Réunion periodically encouraged the French to take action. A French protectorate was established there in 1885, but there were many risings against the French, and ultimately the French fought a war of great ferocity and the island was simply annexed in 1896.

French public opinion was most moved by the affairs of Indochina, because they involved the deliberate policy of the government when it was led by Jules Ferry, and because it involved a defeat for French arms. There, the French concentrated their efforts on Tonkin, which they thought of as a zone of access towards China, and therefore encountered the opposition of the Emperor of Annam. The French had to abandon Hanoi, which they had occupied in 1873. A new attempt was made in 1881 which encountered difficulties, but a French protectorate was established over Tonkin in 1884. An agreement with China recognizing the French position was agreed at Tianjin in 1885. From 1887 to 1893 the northern territory of Laos was peacefully penetrated by Auguste Pavie. In 1893 the Indochinese Union was proclaimed, made up of the colony of Cochin China and the protectorate of Annam, Tonkin, Cambodia, and Laos.

By 1914 the French Empire consisted of some 50 million inhabitants, living in some 10 million sq km (4 million sq mi). A colonial administration and a colonial culture grew up, seeking to establish unity among protectorates and colonies. However, there was no agreement as to what was to be done with this imposing addition to metropolitan France. For some, it meant economic exploitation turned towards France, such as wine from Algeria; for others it meant settlement; yet others talked of assimilation, and the triumph of French culture; for many it was association, with French investment occasionally supplying railways, bridges, or irrigation dams. What was clear was that this situation could not continue indefinitely. Algeria was a special case where, by 1914, 680,000 settlers were alongside 4.8 million indigenous inhabitants. However, in many territories young members of indigenous communities, growing wealthy through profiting from French education, turned towards Paris as the authorities wished them to do. They could opt to become French citizens and enjoy such privileges as the right to vote. Many, however, applied their efforts in their homeland. The presence of left-wing political parties in France, for whom colonization meant capitalism, aided the process of creating an elite that wanted change within the French Empire.

IV

Post-War Decolonization

Some changes in the colonial system had been envisaged between World Wars I and II. In 1936 when Socialist Prime Minister León Blum was in power, an attempt was made to render access to French citizenship more easily, so that those who distinguished themselves educationally or militarily could accede without having to renounce their religion or their former associations. During World War II, General Charles de Gaulle, who had used the colonies of equatorial Africa as a means of bringing his small army to the attention of the Allies, convened a conference on the African territories at Brazzaville. There, although the process of coming change was recognized, de Gaulle emphasized that it would be lengthy, and would not culminate in independence but in new forms of administration that would enable the African peoples to take part in the direction of affairs under French authority. The constitution of 1946 (which was that of the Fourth Republic in France) defined the French Empire on the basis of French Union, but emphasized that whatever the particular constitution of each country (department, territory, protectorate), and whatever the aims that existed for economic and cultural development, one principle prevailed, that of association between the overseas state and metropolitan France.

This Union was destroyed by many factors, but most important were two wars. The first was in Indochina. In 1945, among the confusion that resulted from Japanese forces surrendering to the Chinese in the north and the British in the south, Indochinese resistance forces under Ho Chi Minh proclaimed their independence from France, and the Communist Party known as the Vietminh proclaimed independent republics in Tonkin, Annan, and Cochin China. In October a French expeditionary force arrived and concentrated on restoring French authority in the south of the country. In 1947 and 1948 successive French governments attempted to solve the problem by admitting these republics, together with Cambodia and Laos, into the French Union, but agreement proved impossible. Therefore a colonial war was pursued that was far away from France and which did not concern many people at home.

A number of factors changed the situation. French governments, though short-lived, were obliged to endure with the Communists on their left, and with a powerful Gaullist Party on their right. They emphasized their patriotism in continuing to fight the war. The outbreak of the Cold War on a world scale meant that to fight against the Communists was to defend the cause of freedom. The fact that only professional soldiers took part in the war gave them the opportunity of turning directly to the population for support.

However, the war continued. On May 7, 1954, the French army suffered a heavy defeat in Tonkin at Điên Biên Phu. On June 17 Pierre Mendès-France became Prime Minister. He was a long-time opponent of the war, and after a month of negotiations at Geneva an international solution (partition) was found to the problem. French influence ceased in South Vietnam. For France the war was over, but in November 1954 the Algerian War of Independence began.

This war was different. It was near to France and it affected a territory where more than a million Europeans who claimed French nationality lived. It was traditionally claimed that Algeria was part of France. Before long, young Frenchmen on military service were serving in the war, and at first the military operations were successful. Algiers was “pacified” during 1957; and the frontiers between Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia were sealed off so that the rebels could not hope for aid from these countries. However, the settlers had no trust in French governments in Paris, who were weak and reeling from the expense of an apparently interminable war. On May 13, 1958, they organized a revolt, and seized Algiers. The result—in order to avoid conflict both in Algeria and in France—was the return to power of General de Gaulle. No one really knew what his policy was: in many ways it was secret. However, it would appear that he was determined that France should organize the independence of Algeria and that, after this was accomplished, Algeria would remain in close association with France. Yet after the establishment of Algerian independence in 1962, this was not to be.

De Gaulle had also endeavoured to create a Franco-African Community, but the pressure on African leaders was to ask for independence. Hence the Franco-African Community dissolved peacefully between 1960 and 1963. These states followed those that had gained full independence by separate means, such as Tunisia and Morocco in 1956. Nothing remains of the French Empire but certain outposts: Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion. De Gaulle said that he regretted the passing of Empire, like he regretted the oil-lamps of the past. He knew, however, that France’s future lay in Europe.