Manchester University Press
Conclusion
Abstract
By 1945 post-Liberation France was too engrossed in discussion of domestic reconstruction, constitution-making and the closing stages of the war in Europe to pay much attention to matters of empire. The Second World War caused a profound crisis of empire for France. It was made even more traumatic by the fact that French imperial territory became the battleground of several interlocking conflicts of authority. In the major French colonial federations, the economic stress engendered by the war acted as a catalyst to unrest and, in some cases, persecution. Whether in the form of stagnant trade, forced labour exactions, harsh rationing or alarming price inflation, the Levant states, Madagascar, French North Africa and Afrique Occidentale Francaise (AOF) all faced incipient crisis by the time the Fighting French assumed control. Systematically drained of its resources by the Japanese, the economic situation in French Indo-China was still more appalling by 1945.
Abstract
By 1945 post-Liberation France was too engrossed in discussion of domestic reconstruction, constitution-making and the closing stages of the war in Europe to pay much attention to matters of empire. The Second World War caused a profound crisis of empire for France. It was made even more traumatic by the fact that French imperial territory became the battleground of several interlocking conflicts of authority. In the major French colonial federations, the economic stress engendered by the war acted as a catalyst to unrest and, in some cases, persecution. Whether in the form of stagnant trade, forced labour exactions, harsh rationing or alarming price inflation, the Levant states, Madagascar, French North Africa and Afrique Occidentale Francaise (AOF) all faced incipient crisis by the time the Fighting French assumed control. Systematically drained of its resources by the Japanese, the economic situation in French Indo-China was still more appalling by 1945.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- General editor’s introduction ix
- Acknowledgements x
- Abbreviations xii
- Maps xiv
- Introduction 1
-
Part I The inter-war background
- 1 The inter-war empire and French defence 10
-
Part II Clashes of French empire in Africa 1940–41
- 2 Territories divided, June-December 1940 38
- 3 The empire between the Axis and the Allies, 1940–41 70
-
Part III The second wave of Free French empire 1941–45
- 4 The empire goes to war 100
- 5 Empire as diplomatic incident 130
- 6 Operation Torch and Free French imperial supremacy in Africa, 1942–45 159
- 7 The fate of French Indo-China, 1940–45 191
-
Part IV Contrasting colonial policies
- 8 A new imperial order 224
- Conclusion 259
- Bibliography 265
- Index 289
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- General editor’s introduction ix
- Acknowledgements x
- Abbreviations xii
- Maps xiv
- Introduction 1
-
Part I The inter-war background
- 1 The inter-war empire and French defence 10
-
Part II Clashes of French empire in Africa 1940–41
- 2 Territories divided, June-December 1940 38
- 3 The empire between the Axis and the Allies, 1940–41 70
-
Part III The second wave of Free French empire 1941–45
- 4 The empire goes to war 100
- 5 Empire as diplomatic incident 130
- 6 Operation Torch and Free French imperial supremacy in Africa, 1942–45 159
- 7 The fate of French Indo-China, 1940–45 191
-
Part IV Contrasting colonial policies
- 8 A new imperial order 224
- Conclusion 259
- Bibliography 265
- Index 289
