Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (European Studies) by Robert Aldrich (PDF)

Description

Drawing on the most up-to-date research and theories, Greater France provides a comprehensive and lively account of France’s imperial adventure, from the sands of the Sahara to the jungles of equatorial Africa, from the lush rice paddies of Indochina to the legendary isles of Polynesia.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐”Globalization” is a media cliche that hardly anybody who uses it bothers to explain as an historical creation rooted in the European conquests of the globe in modern times. A key part of that process was the French overseas empire that began taking shape with the invasion to Algeria in 1830. This empire, the second in size only to the British Empire when World War II ended in 1945, is the subject of R. Aldrich’s “Greater France.” Aldrich’s research is solid and current, his writing interesting and engaging. But as an academic who specializes in this very subject, my initial knee-jerk response to “Greater France” was that it was overly broad and perhaps shallow in some places. Then I realized that this was the worst sort of academic myopia, typical of researchers who expect the whole world to be as fascinated by and engaged in the minutia of a topic as they. “Greater France” can be appreciated as a solid introduction to any general reader that might want to know a little about this once-vast imperial system, a system that is a key part of the puzzle that came together as “globalization.” It also offers a useful framework for understanding some contemporary realities of France and areas of the world once under French governance, including the persistence of French influence and resistance to it, in several areas of the world today. I use it in my own courses as a jumping off point for more in-depth studies on particular issues that we treat more systematically through specialized academic literature. It’s well worth a read for those interested in knowing more about how exactly plant Earth and it once enormous variations of economic, political, social and cultural systems acting at a distance from each other came to be integrated as the world market.

⭐I like the book. Its coverage is very wide and necessarily limited in its detail of individual colonies.I am very happy with the quality of the book itself, which matches the description by National Books.I have only just received this book due to the necessity of using a proxy address in the US.

⭐The book is very nicely written. Most important was the author’s success in keeping the timing, time, and timeline of history clear and accurate. The sense of time was vital to understanding the nature of the events and their impact. == JRG

⭐Easy to read, well documented. Use it as a textbook if you teach French Colonization.

⭐An in-depth discussion of French Imperialism in the 19th century. I was riveted.

⭐Thank you 🙂

⭐This is a workmanlike History of the French Empire. The first 88 pages are colourless and even dreary – but persevere: it will get better. A Prologue of just 12 pages covers the earliest period of Empire, from around 1609 (the foundation of Quebec) to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It captures none of the flavour of the struggle between the British and the French in America, the West Indies and India. Those places which France retained from that period would come to be known as “les vieilles colonies”. The book really starts with the creation of the 19th century Empire in Africa, beginning with the conquest of Algeria in 1830. That chapter describes – mostly in the form of a wearisome catalogue – the gradual expansion of French expansion into the Maghreb, West and Equatorial Africa, Djibouti and Madagascar; and the next chapter, of a similar character covers the expansion into Indo-China, the Pacific, and (in a particularly sketchy account) about the Middle East.The following chapters are more interesting. In Chapter 3, Aldrich analyzes the ideology – or rather ideologies supporting (and occasionally opposing) the ideas of Empire: they are of course very similar to the ideologies advanced by the other colonial powers: the colonies would provide markets for French industry and sources of foodstuffs and raw materials not available at home; France had a “mission civilisatrice”; and when other countries were acquiring colonies, France had to do the same if she wanted to be regarded as a Great Power. Geographical societies, as in Britain, also were a pressure group for exploration. The colonies provided soldiers: more than half a million fought in the First World War. Some, like New Caledonia in the Western Pacific, were used as penal colonies. Part of a later chapter discusses briefly how important the French colonies was for the economy of France. Some of them (French Equatorial Africa) were a dead loss, others (the Maghreb and Indochina) were very valuable. And while the overall percentages of imports and exports were rather low (9.4% and 13% respectively in 1913), in some commodities they could be up to 95% and 86% respectively. The Empire became much more valuable between 1928 and 1960. “About 30% to 40%” of French overseas investments went to the Empire in the 1920s [In 1914 the comparable figure for Britain was 47%.]Another chapter gives a good picture of the explorers, missionaries, soldiers and sailors (including the soldiers of the Foreign Legion), administrators (not until the 20th century were they as well trained as those in the British Empire had been since the mid-19th century), and settlers. Settlers were much fewer in number than in the British Empire: only Algeria had a significant number: 984,000 by the beginning of the Algerian War, many of whom were not French but Spaniards (160,000 in 1886), Italians (35,000), Maltese (11,000) and others.Aldrich documents the racist attitudes the French had towards the “savages”. Though seeing themselves as a civilizing force, they often believed that the natives were incapable of being truly civilized. Their treatment of them led to many tribal revolts even before the advent of nationalism. Almost throughout the history of the French Empire, the French were occupied with “pacification” of rebellious areas somewhere or other. There were arbitrary seizures of land, to be used for settlers or for public works; and there was much forced labour, especially for porterage.From the 17th century onwards British colonies had had representative assemblies; from the 1830s onwards “responsible government” was gradually extended; and from 1918 onwards some colonies achieved what in 1931 was called “dominion status”. There was never anything this in the French Empire until after the Second World War. The laws of the French Empire were made in France, and French settlers had no control over the administration which was ultimately under the control of the French colonial office. When in 1946 local assemblies – with limited powers – were established throughout the Empire, Europeans and indigenes constituted separate electoral colleges, so that the Europeans were heavily over-represented.I had always been under the impression that the French prided themselves on not being as racist as the British and on accepting as equals indigenous people who had mastered French, the so-called “évolués”. It was therefore surprising to me to read that secondary and tertiary education for indigenes was deliberately restricted, and only a minuscule percentage had even a primary French education. Only after the 1930s and especially after the Second World War did the number of indigenes qualified for white-collar jobs increase – and provided a pool from which most of the nationalist leaders would emerge. Other educated Africans promoted “négritude”: they figure in the chapter on colonial influences on French literature and on art (from Delacroix to Picasso and his circle). There is a section on colonial themes in photography, postcards and advertisements. And there is a description of the climax of imperialist propaganda in the Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931 (and of a less visited counter-exhibition mounted by anti-imperialists). But, despite the beginning of nationalist movements soon after the end of the First World War, few could foresee in 1931 that within a generation the Empire would disappear.That process is described in the penultimate chapter. The French Union, established in 1946 ostensibly abandoned the word “colonies” and paid lip-service to preparing them for independence. The French were forced out of Indochina by 1955; they conceded independence to Tunisia and Morocco in 1956; in 1960 De Gaulle allowed France’s colonies except Algeria to opt for independence. All but French Guyana and nine small islands did so. Two years later, after a bitter eight year war, he accepted Algerian independence also.Economic and financial links between France and most of her former colonies, especially in Africa, remain strong, and in several of these countries French troops, stationed there, have helped over 20 times to suppress uprisings against their governments. French remains at least one of the official languages in these countries, and today more Africans speak French than did in the colonial period. The French Community (successor to the French Union) was formally dissolved in 1995; but the spirit of community has remained.

⭐This is a workmanlike History of the French Empire. The first 88 pages are colourless and even dreary – but persevere: it will get better. A Prologue of just 12 pages covers the earliest period of Empire, from around 1609 (the foundation of Quebec) to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It captures none of the flavour of the struggle between the British and the French in America, the West Indies and India. Those places which France retained from that period would come to be known as “les vieilles colonies”. The book really starts with the creation of the 19th century Empire in Africa, beginning with the conquest of Algeria in 1830. That chapter describes – mostly in the form of a wearisome catalogue – the gradual expansion of French expansion into the Maghreb, West and Equatorial Africa, Djibouti and Madagascar; and the next chapter, of a similar character covers the expansion into Indo-China, the Pacific, and (in a particularly sketchy account) about the Middle East.The following chapters are more interesting. In Chapter 3, Aldrich analyzes the ideology – or rather ideologies supporting (and occasionally opposing) the ideas of Empire: they are of course very similar to the ideologies advanced by the other colonial powers: the colonies would provide markets for French industry and sources of foodstuffs and raw materials not available at home; France had a “mission civilisatrice”; and when other countries were acquiring colonies, France had to do the same if she wanted to be regarded as a Great Power. Geographical societies, as in Britain, also were a pressure group for exploration. The colonies provided soldiers: more than half a million fought in the First World War. Some, like New Caledonia in the Western Pacific, were used as penal colonies. Part of a later chapter discusses briefly how important the French colonies was for the economy of France. Some of them (French Equatorial Africa) were a dead loss, others (the Maghreb and Indochina) were very valuable. And while the overall percentages of imports and exports were rather low (9.4% and 13% respectively in 1913), in some commodities they could be up to 95% and 86% respectively. The Empire became much more valuable between 1928 and 1960. “About 30% to 40%” of French overseas investments went to the Empire in the 1920s [In 1914 the comparable figure for Britain was 47%.]Another chapter gives a good picture of the explorers, missionaries, soldiers and sailors (including the soldiers of the Foreign Legion), administrators (not until the 20th century were they as well trained as those in the British Empire had been since the mid-19th century), and settlers. Settlers were much fewer in number than in the British Empire: only Algeria had a significant number: 984,000 by the beginning of the Algerian War, many of whom were not French but Spaniards (160,000 in 1886), Italians (35,000), Maltese (11,000) and others.Aldrich documents the racist attitudes the French had towards the “savages”. Though seeing themselves as a civilizing force, they often believed that the natives were incapable of being truly civilized. Their treatment of them led to many tribal revolts even before the advent of nationalism. Almost throughout the history of the French Empire, the French were occupied with “pacification” of rebellious areas somewhere or other. There were arbitrary seizures of land, to be used for settlers or for public works; and there was much forced labour, especially for porterage.From the 17th century onwards British colonies had had representative assemblies; from the 1830s onwards “responsible government” was gradually extended; and from 1918 onwards some colonies achieved what in 1931 was called “dominion status”. There was never anything this in the French Empire until after the Second World War. The laws of the French Empire were made in France, and French settlers had no control over the administration which was ultimately under the control of the French colonial office. When in 1946 local assemblies – with limited powers – were established throughout the Empire, Europeans and indigenes constituted separate electoral colleges, so that the Europeans were heavily over-represented.I had always been under the impression that the French prided themselves on not being as racist as the British and on accepting as equals indigenous people who had mastered French, the so-called “évolués”. It was therefore surprising to me to read that secondary and tertiary education for indigenes was deliberately restricted, and only a minuscule percentage had even a primary French education. Only after the 1930s and especially after the Second World War did the number of indigenes qualified for white-collar jobs increase – and provided a pool from which most of the nationalist leaders would emerge. Other educated Africans promoted “négritude”: they figure in the chapter on colonial influences on French literature and on art (from Delacroix to Picasso and his circle). There is a section on colonial themes in photography, postcards and advertisements. And there is a description of the climax of imperialist propaganda in the Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931 (and of a less visited counter-exhibition mounted by anti-imperialists). But, despite the beginning of nationalist movements soon after the end of the First World War, few could foresee in 1931 that within a generation the Empire would disappear.That process is described in the penultimate chapter. The French Union, established in 1946 ostensibly abandoned the word “colonies” and paid lip-service to preparing them for independence. The French were forced out of Indochina by 1955; they conceded independence to Tunisia and Morocco in 1956; in 1960 De Gaulle allowed France’s colonies except Algeria to opt for independence. All but French Guyana and nine small islands did so. Two years later, after a bitter eight year war, he accepted Algerian independence also.Economic and financial links between France and most of her former colonies, especially in Africa, remain strong, and in several of these countries French troops, stationed there, have helped over 20 times to suppress uprisings against their governments. French remains at least one of the official languages in these countries, and today more Africans speak French than did in the colonial period. The French Community (successor to the French Union) was formally dissolved in 1995; but the spirit of community has remained.

⭐Awesome Book.

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