French Empire

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French Empire The French acquisition of overseas territories began in the seventeenth century, though the last continuous period of expansion began with the occupation of Algiers in 1830. In the following decades, France occupied the rest of Algeria as well as other territories in the Pacific and in Africa (Senegal), though its most ambitious acquisitions came after 1870 during the Third Republic, when it added Madagascar and Indochina to its Empire. By 1914, the colonies made up 95 per cent of French territory, and 54 per cent of her population. The Empire expanded even further after World War I, when it acquired most of the former German colonies of Cameroon and Togo, in addition to the League of Nations Mandates of Lebanon and Syria. After World War II, the power vacuum left by the withdrawal of the Japanese occupying forces in Indochina led to the Declaration of Independence by the Communist-led Vietminh in 1945, to which the French finally had to give their assent in 1954 after defeat at Dien Bien Phu in the Indochina War. When in that same year hostilities broke out against French rule in Algeria, it became clear that the French would be unable to stop the disintegration of the Empire, despite attempts such as the creation of the short-lived French Community to stall this process. None the less, France not only retains strong links with her former colonies, but also still has a considerable number of overseas territories. In addition to the French Antarctic territory, its overseas territories (territoires d'outre-mer) with limited self-government consist of French Polynesia and New Caledonia in the Pacific. Territories with more autonomy (collectivités territoriales) are the North American island of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (off the coast of Newfoundland) and the African Island of Mayotte. By contrast, the African island of Réunion, the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and French Guyana (in South America), are legally and politically an integral part of France (départements d'outre-mer).

decolonization; Foreign Legion

French empire The colonial empire of France. France under the Valois family had come to approximate its modern boundaries by the end of the 15th century. Most of its colonial possessions were acquired during the 17th century, these included parts of America, Canada, India, and the Caribbean. In the 18th century a long rivalry with Britain ended with the loss of Quebec and recognition of British supremacy in India. By 1815 only some West Indian Islands, French Guiana, and Senegal and Gabon were left. However, the 19th century witnessed a rapid revival of the empire. The conquest of Algeria began (1830), while Far Eastern possessions - Cochin China, Cambodia, and New Caledonia - were added. In the ‘Scramble for Africa’, Tunisia became a protectorate (1881), and by 1912 MOROCCO, MADAGASCAR, and French Somaliland (DJIBOUTI) had been added to FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA and FRENCH WEST AFRICA to make the African empire 20 times the size of France itself. Britain frustrated French aspirations in Egypt and the Sudan, and rivalry at Fashoda (1898) nearly caused war until the Entente Cordiale brought agreement. After World War I Togoland and the Cameroons, former German colonies, became French Mandates, as did Syria and Lebanon (1923). Defeat in World War II and short-lived post-war governments prevented urgent reforms, causing the loss of both Far Eastern and African empires. In Indo-China the communist leader, HO CHI MINH, established his Vietnamese republic (1945) which France refused to recognize. Open warfare (1946–54) ended with the French capitulation at DIENBIENPHU and the consequent independence of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. In Algeria almost the entire French army failed to quell an Arab rising (1954). By 1958 DE GAULLE realized that independence was inevitable, it followed in 1962. In 1946 the empire was formed into the French Union, which was replaced in 1958 by the FRENCH COMMUNITY.