Abstract
The French acquired some of their overseas possessions in seemingly piecemeal fashion, others after years of preparation and reflection. Not surprisingly, one single theory, ideology, or practice did not guide French expansion from the beginning to the end of empire. Policies and the ideas which underlay them metamorphosed considerably even over a few decades. Colonialists, in fact, chastised the government for failing to articulate a more coherent policy of expansion and colonial development.
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Notes
Thomas Schoonover, ‘France in Central America, 1820s–1920: An Overview’, Revue française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 79:295 (1992), 161–97.
In addition to sections in general books by Ageron and Girardet, see Henri Brunschwig, The Myth of French Imperialism (London, 1961), Stewart Michael Persell, The French Colonial Lobby, 1889–1938 (Stanford, CA, 1983), and Marc Lagana, Le Parti colonial français: éléments d’histoire (Sillery, Québec, 1990). Pioneering work was done by C.M. Andrew and A.S. Kanya-Forstner: ‘The French “Colonial Party”: Its Composition, Aims and Influence, 1885–1914’, Historical Journal, 14:1 (1971), 99–128
L. Abrams and D.J. Miller, ‘Who Were the French Colonialists? A Reassessment of the parti colonial, 1890–1914’, Historical Journal, 19:3 (1976), 685–725.
Jacques Marseille, L’Age d’or de la France coloniale (Paris, 1986); Thomas G. August, ‘Locating the Age of Imperialism’, Itinerario, 10 (1986), 85–97.
Biondi, Les Anticolonialistes, pp. 135–41. See also David H. Slavin, ‘The French Left and the Rif War, 1924–25: Racism and the Limits of Internationalism’, Journal of Contemporary History, 26 (1991), 5–32.
Marc Lagana, ‘L’Echec de la commission d’enquête coloniale du Front populaire’, Historical Reflections/Réflexions historiques, 16:1 (1989), 79–97.
Charles-Robert Ageron, ‘La Perception de la puissance française en 1938–1939: Le Mythe impérial’, Revue française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 69:254 (1982), 7–22.
See Charles-Robert Ageron, ‘La Survivance d’un mythe: La Puissance par l’empire colonial (1944–1947)’, Revue française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 72:269 (1985), pp. 387–403.
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© 1996 Robert Aldrich
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Aldrich, R. (1996). Ideas of Empire. In: Greater France. European Studies Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24729-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24729-5_5
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