Free French Africa in World War II
The African Resistance

A unique look at the key role Free French Africa played during World War II to help the Allied cause.

Eric T. Jennings (Author)

9781107048485, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 July 2015

318 pages, 17 b/w illus. 2 maps
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.57 kg

'Eric Jennings' Free French Africa in World War II is the first monograph to historicize the immense role of Africa during the Second World War, particularly the French colonies of Cameroon, Chad, Ubangi-Chari, Gabon, and Congo-Brazzaville. … From testimonies and life stories, a rich African-centered experience of the war emerges, along with a better understanding of how local conflicts shaped the political negotiations of the after-war. As such, Free French Africa in World War II provides a solid background to the social and political history of Equatorial Africa in the 1950s, and to the era of independence.' Florence Bernault, Journal of African History

Only in recent years have historians rediscovered the critical role that French colonial troops played in the twentieth century's two world wars. What is perhaps still deeply under-appreciated is how much General de Gaulle's Free France drew its strength from 1940 to the middle of 1943 from fighting men, resources, and operations in French Equatorial Africa rather than London. Territorially, Free France spanned from the Libyan border with Chad down to the Congo River, and to the scattered tiny French territories of the South Pacific and India. Eric T. Jennings tells the story of an improbable French military and institutional rebirth through Central Africa and gives a unique, deep look at the key role Free French Africa played during World War II to help the Allied cause.

Part I. Free France's African Gambit: Introduction to Part I
1. Colonies without motherlands
2. Africa as legitimacy
3. Dysfunction in Gaullist Africa
Part II. The War: Introduction to Part II
4. The empire strikes back
5. Free French Africa in arms
Part III. Resource Extraction, Wartime Abuses, and African Experiences: Introduction to Part III
6. Rubber, gold, and the battle for resources
7. Colonial practices and wartime imperatives
Epilogue
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], African history [HBJH]