French Army and Its African Soldiers

Ruth Ginio is an associate professor in the Department of History and is the head of the Inter-University Program for African Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She is the author of French Colonialism Unmasked: The Vichy Years in French West Africa (Nebraska, 2006) and the coeditor (with Efrat Ben Ze’ev and Jay Winter) of Shadows of War: A History of Silence in the Twentieth Century.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. Historical Background: The Army, the Empire, and the Decolonization of French West Africa 2. The Aftermath of World War II: Frustration, Protest, and Rebellion 3. The Military Reforms: A New Army in French West Africa? 4. African Troops in the Wars of Decolonization: Indochina, 1946-1954 5. African Troops in the Wars of Decolonization: Algeria, 1954-1962 6. Alternatives to Independence: The Army's Colonial Vision in French West Africa 7. Adjusting to a New Reality: The Army and the Imminent Independence Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

“A key study in French colonialism, colonial Africa, and the French Army. With this book the vast region of West Africa gets its due, as do the famous and important indigenous soldiers recruited in this region.”-Richard Fogarty, author of Race and War in France: Colonial Subjects in the French Army, 1914–1918