"France Against Herself" by Herbert Luethy
The second French colonial empire lasted from late 1800s until the 1960s and included Northern Africa, a large part of Western and Central Africa, Indochina and a number of islands all over the world. The existence of its colonial empire was an immense help to France in World War II when her colonies provided Mother France with territory, an army and a fleet thanks to which she was able to re-enter the war in its final phase. In fact, Leuthy argues that it was thanks to her colonial empire that France could maintain its independence (Leuthy: 204). Nevertheless, he continues, after the end of World War II there was a great amount of ink dedicated to the heroic deeds of the French resistance which despite its heavy moral value, was "terribly light in a material sense". Leuthy's main assertion regarding the existence of the French colonial empire is that the history of the French Republic and that of the French colonial empire were propelled by different forces which could account for the fact that the French colonies were rarely taken into consideration when discussing French history, and were largely ignored. Leuthy claims that the French colonial empire was the result of "unquestionably the oldest and greatest colonial traditi
He identifies the main factor in France's "world-embracing empire" (Leuthy: 209) as being the policy to assimilate introduced as a colonial policy in 1865. on of all European nations" (Leuthy: 209) whose traces can be felt all over the world. Leuthy claims that France did not start from the realization that Islam is "supra-national and universal" in its colonial policy. The bureaucratic apparatus that consolidated France and was extended to the colonies was successful in its attempt to take hold of the territories in question, but it did not mold their inhabitants (Leuthy: 282). In this sense, the bureaucratic system created objects of administration, and not citizens since its focus was not on the assimilation of civilization as prophesied by the French colonizing mission, but on administrative assimilation. This is precisely the key to explaining the French colonial empire's demise as presented by Leuthy. Of course, this also had economic implications in the sense that the small French circle was benefiting from economic advantages whereas the rest of the Muslim population was living in terrible conditions. France encountered great difficulties in the justification of its empire in the sense that its colonial endeavor was not based on necessity or even utility but on a desire to achieve luxury, prestige and power. Nonetheless, the crisis of the French colonial empire was in fact the crisis of the French state whose institutions were characterized by irresponsibility. The economic aspect of colonization became a major problem for France as its national economy and population statistics were stagnating. The most important barrier was of religious belief that could not be ignored as Arab Muslims could never transform into real Frenchmen. More importantly, there was only a very low percentage of French state expenditure reaching the colonies. This is why in the case of the Arab countries, the revolt against colonizers is not localized in one particular territory, but generalized since there is no Arab nation, but a strong Arab civilization. In this sense, the colonies were merely extensions of France as they did not contribute to the French economy.
Common topics in this essay:
North Africa,
War II,
Republic French,
West Arab,
Mother France,
Frenchmen French,
Leuthy French,
Frenchmen Nonetheless,
colonial empire,
french colonial,
Africa Indochina,
,
french colonial empire,
world war ii,
war ii,
world war,
colonial policy,
northern africa,
crisis french,
french citizens,
leuthy 209,
highly unrealistic,
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