Race and War in France – Colonial Subjects in the French Army, 1914–1918: War/Society/Culture

Best First Book Prize, Phi Alpha Theta

During the First World War, the French army sent more than 500,000 colonial subjects to European battlefields. The struggle against a common enemy associated these soldiers with the French nation, but racial and cultural differences nonetheless left them on the outside. Employing a socially and culturally integrated approach to the history of warfare, Richard S. Fogarty presents a fresh picture of how the French addressed race relations, religious differences, and French identity itself.

"This is a book about both the promise and the shortcomings of French republican ideals . . . A vivid portrait of the questions raised by the use of colonial troops in the war."--French History

"Fogarty pays particular attention to the experience and opinions of the soldiers themselves. This is, in itself, a significant achievement."--Journal of Modern History

"A well-written, carefully argued study that advances in significant ways our understanding of the important place of empire in the Great War . . . It is a sad but important tale that needed to be told, and Richard Fogarty has told it well."--French Politics, Culture & Society

"This subtle and extraordinarily informative book explores the interaction of republican ideology and race . . . This is an elegant and well-argued study that deserves wide circulation, in the classroom and beyond."--American Historical Review