Race and War in France: Colonial Subjects in the French Army, 1914-1918 (review)

France mobilized more than eight million soldiers to fight in the First World War, and colonial subjects made up around 500,000 of the total. This group, which Richard Fogarty refers to as troupes indigènes (indigenous troops), included men from North Africa, West Africa, Madagascar, and Indochina. Examining France's use of the troupes indigènes in the Western European theatre of World War I, Fogarty abundantly demonstrates that racism affected nearly every facet of their recruitment, deployment, and treatment. The racism of French military officers, colonial officials, and politicians is not surprising, and others, including Joe Lunn and Myron Echenberg, have addressed it, though not as fully as Fogarty does here.¹ Much more novel is Fogarty's exploration of the paradoxical impulses at work in the French use of colonial subjects in the war. Not only, he argues, did the French recruit indigenous troops because they needed manpower, but they did so out of a commitment to republicanism and to the eventual spread of its ideals to the colonies through the civilizing mission. Thus military service became part of the civilizing mission and a way for subjects to help defend the fatherland to which they belonged. Despite their ideals, however, most French officials were not willing to accept the troupes indigènes as citizens of France. The disconnect between republicanism and the treatment of the troupes indigènes, Fogarty argues, derived from an inability to conceive of a member of a so-called inferior race as an equal member of the French nation. By analyzing the ongoing tension between the racist impulse to exclude colonial subjects from the French nation and the republican inclination to include them, Fogarty brings something new to a growing literature on the contradictory nature of French colonialism.

One of the book's strengths is its broad scope. While most of the literature on the troupes indigènes focuses on the experiences of subjects from a particular colony, Fogarty discusses soldiers from all four of the regions targeted by military recruitment. Fogarty uses this comparative perspective to great effect, showing, for example, how recruitment and deployment of troops from each colony varied based on racial stereotypes held about them. The French obtained more soldiers from areas associated with "warlike races," namely Algeria, Tunisia, and especially West Africa. They believed that Madagascans, on the other hand, lacked obedience and real fighting potential, while the Indochinese were too effeminate and small to make good soldiers. These stereotypes had real implications for troupes indigènes, as they influenced how and where soldiers were deployed. Hoping to take advantage of their purported fighting skills, the French frequently used West Africans as shock troops, and placed North Africans in situations of direct combat. Madagascans and Indochinese, on the other hand, mostly worked in supporting roles.

The comparative frame also helps Fogarty amass evidence in support of the central claim of the book, that while republican ideals should have led to the (eventual) incorporation of indigenous troops into the French nation, racism and a lack of tolerance for cultural difference prevented the French from granting citizenship in recognition of military service. Fogarty explains that French officials were most concerned about the citizenship status of Algerian soldiers, and he accordingly devotes most of the final chapter to this subject. Ultimately, he shows, officials concluded that the Muslim faith and family life of Algerian subjects were incompatible with French citizenship. Although the French developed channels for naturalization, applicants had to demonstrate their cultural assimilation and loyalty to France by satisfying a variety of conditions, including the acceptance of French, rather than Islamic, civil law. While Islam was not the primary obstacle for Madagascan and Indochinese soldiers, officials held that they were not assimilated enough and made naturalization difficult for them. Finally, although a small population of several thousand urban Senegalese obtained confirmation of their French citizenship during World War I, the vast majority of West Africans faced similarly restricted access...