French Colonial Wars

At issue: Conquest and maintenance of France’s colonial empire

Date: 1800–1939

Location: Haiti, Algeria, Tunisia, Vietnam, Madagascar

Combatants: French vs. Haitians, Algerians, Tunisians, Vietnamese, Madagascar forces

Principal commanders:French, Napoleon (1769–1821), Charles X (1757–1836), Napoleon III (1808–1873); Haitian, Toussaint-Louverture (1749–1803); Algerian, Abelkader (1808–1883); Vietnamese, Tu Duc (1829–1883)

Principal battles: Le Cap, Algiers, Oran, Macta, Moudjebeur, Ain Guettar, Tourane, Saigon, Hue

Result: Loss of French influence in the Americas but the creation of a French colonial empire in Africa and Southeast Asia

Background

Like other powerful western European states, France established a formidable colonial empire after 1500 and established a system of economic dependency with its colonies. However, because France’s empire was the product of war and conquest, it had to employ military force to maintain it. As the colonies developed, many indigenous people organized independence movements that directly threatened France’s imperial power. French leaders countered by stationing additional troops throughout the empire, but by the end of the eighteenth century, French power in the Americas had significantly declined. France responded by establishing new colonial outposts in Asia and Africa, but because France never offered its colonials full political or economic equality, it would be forced to fight a number of wars to protect its hold over its colonies. France’s conflicts with its colonies are often viewed as unjust wars because they demonstrate the subjugation of smaller, weaker states by dominant world powers.

Action

The implementation of a slave system provided French planters with an ample workforce for the sugar and coffee plantations in Saint Domingue (later Haiti), and although slaves suffered from a high mortality rate because of malnutrition, disease, overwork, and torture, the African slave trade guaranteed the planters a steady flow of labor. However, by the latter part of the 1700’s, French control was beginning to decline. Because the island faced constant threats from British troops in the West Indies, France agreed to offer military training to some free coloreds and slaves. These individuals participated in the island’s defense during the British invasion in 1778, and more than 500 Africans fought with the French in Savannah during the American Revolution. This activity, coupled with the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, had a tremendous impact on France’s colonial empire in Haiti. Inspired by the ideas of liberty, fraternity, and equality, indigenous leaders maintained that colonialism should be eliminated and replaced with a federation that granted the island equal partnership with the French homeland. A slave rebellion followed, and by 1801, Haitian leader Toussaint-Louverture had eliminated all his opponents and convinced the Haitians to appoint him governor general for life.

Napoleon Bonaparte was extremely troubled by this development. Although his Egyptian campaign had recently ended in disaster, he was unwilling to abandon French holdings in the Americas. He still held title to Louisiana and believed that if he displayed any weakness in his handling of Toussaint, it would diminish his influence in international affairs. Napoleon was confident that the former slaves were no match for seasoned French troops, and consequently, he ordered an invasion of Saint Domingue to force Toussaint’s compliance and acceptance of French superiority. Napoleon failed to realize that European battlefield conditions were considerably different from the treacherous Caribbean terrain.

The French invasion force arrived at the port of Le Cap at the end of 1801, and General Charles-Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc demanded an immediate surrender. The army, however, quickly realized that the campaign would not produce a quick and decisive victory. The Haitians refused to comply, torched the city as they fled, and deprived Napoleon of the opportunity to restock his stores from Haitian supplies. Despite Toussaint’s scorched-earth policies, Leclerc believed that he was on the verge of victory by February, 1802, especially since French forces easily captured most of the South Province, Port-au-Prince, and Jeremie. However, once the French attempted to move into the interior and wage a guerrilla war, Leclerc’s troops proved incapable of defeating the Haitian revolutionaries. In one battle, the French, backed by a violent display of artillery fire, lost 425 men in an attempt to capture a rebel fort. The war turned even more violent as both sides regularly executed prisoners. French soldiers also suffered from yellow fever and starvation as they were forced to subsist on a diet of four oranges per day. By the middle of 1802, approximately 65 percent of Leclerc’s staff had perished, and French losses totaled almost 10,000.

Leclerc attempted to counter his losses by using loyal black armies, but when it became apparent that the French intended to reestablish slavery on the island, Haitian opposition intensified. Although French forces still held the key coastal cities, the countryside remained firmly under Toussaint’s control. Haitian rebels burned plantations, destroyed property, and killed whites throughout the interior. Although the French imported man-hunting dogs to prey on the rebels, their attempts at pacification failed. When developments in Europe presented Napoleon with more pressing demands, he withdrew from the island, and on January 1, 1804, Haiti became the second independent state in the Americas.

After the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), France’s imperial ambitions focused on creating a coastal empire in North Africa. Franco-Algerian trade issues fueled the conflict, and in 1830, Charles X ordered an invasion of North Africa. The French assembled a fleet of 635 ships with almost 35,000 troops complete with infantry, artillery, and cavalry divisions. After landing on June 14, 1830, the French encountered limited and poorly coordinated resistance from the Turks and Algerians and quickly secured a beachhead. By the end of June, they had reached the outskirts of Algiers, and after a five-hour artillery barrage, the Turks abandoned the capital.

The initial invasion was a huge success, but as with most colonial wars, the French encountered considerable resistance in the interior of the colony. Although the Algerians could not sustain enough military pressure to drive out the French, their actions clearly indicated that the army of occupation faced a committed resistance movement when it ventured outside of its city fortifications. Algerian forces raided the French fort at Oran in 1832. Abdelkader defeated a column of more than 2,000 French troops in the swamps of Macta in 1835. In 1840, the French unleashed a vicious campaign to destroy Abdelkader’s strongholds in the countryside. French troops burned crops and killed livestock, but Abdelkader’s troops continued to score victories against the French in the Titteri and Sebaou regions until Abdelkader was forced to surrender in 1847.

Despite the surrender, significant pockets of resistance continued to operate in the interior. French troops conducted a long Siege of Zaatsha, and when it was over, they executed more than 800 people and demolished the entire town. The Algerians launched their last significant revolt in 1871 at Moudjebeur and Ain Guettar after local police refused to serve in France. Algerians attacked marketplaces and destroyed telegraph lines as the rebellion quickly spread. The French initiated sieges of several major strong points, and by 1872, they had pacified Algeria. The region, however, remained a hotbed of rebellion until France accepted Algerian independence in 1962.

The conquest of Algeria turned French policymakers toward Tunisia. During April, 1881, Paris sent more than 30,000 men across the Algerian border, and, just as they had in Algeria, French forces decimated farms and private property, inflicting a high rate of civilian casualties. When the English refused to acknowledge his pleas for assistance, the bey of Tunis, Muhammad es-Sadok, was forced to capitulate, and France solidified its hold over the North African coast.

French imperialists were also diligently working to create an empire in Southeast Asia. Catholic missionary activity in the region predated the revolutionary period, and throughout the nineteenth century, Vietnamese leaders strove to eliminate a growing colonial presence in Indochina. When several revolts erupted in the south, Emperor Minh Mang indicted a number of Catholic missionaries, and from 1833 to 1840, he executed eight Frenchmen for conspiring to overthrow the monarchy.

Despite these initial setbacks, French commercial and military interest in the region intensified after the British opened the China market in the 1840’s. The new emperor, Thieu Tri, hoped to forestall a growing French presence in the region by outlawing Christianity, but tensions inevitably erupted between the two powers. In 1843, the French stationed a naval fleet off the Vietnamese coast in order to protect the religious community and the growing commercial interests, and a year later, a French missionary, Dominique Lefebvre, was entangled in another plot. Thieu Tri displayed a considerable degree of tolerance and provided the priest with safe passage out of Indochina, but when Lefebvre tried to reenter the country, he was arrested. The French demanded his immediate release and insisted that Thieu end all reprisals against Christians. Thieu complied, but the news reached French troops too late. On March 23, 1847, they launched a raid on Tourane (Danang) and demanded that Thieu respect France’s dominance in the region. When Thieu refused, a naval clash ensued, and French troops sunk several Vietnamese ships, destroyed the port’s forts, and slaughtered hundred of civilians.

Thieu’s successor, Tu Duc, the last independent ruler in Vietnam until the 1950’s, responded by issuing an anti-Christian edict, but missionaries continued to stir up controversy. They organized an unsuccessful coup in 1851 and enlisted the aid of various business groups who overvalued Vietnam’s silver, gold, timber, and coal resources in order to garner additional momentum for French adventures in the region. Napoleon III, who was also in the process of formulating a colonial empire off the west and north African coast, agreed to send another fleet to Tourane. Consequently, by 1858, both states were involved in a costly and deadly colonial war.

On August 31, 1858, a French fleet arrived at Tourane and eliminated the port’s resistance, but the troops quickly succumbed to the typical problems that burden colonial invaders—climate and disease. Ill-prepared for the tropic heat, many soldiers died from dysentery, fever, cholera, and scurvy. French leaders soon realized that they lacked the skills and knowledge to conduct raids in the interior. When the monsoon rains arrived in October, troops lacked shelter, and infection caused more deaths. By the end of the year, for every solder killed in combat, twenty soldiers had perished from disease. Barely able to withstand Vietnamese counterattacks, the Tourane expedition deteriorated into a humbling defeat.

The French turned their attention toward the south, capturing Saigon (1858) after a two-week invasion. As commercial interests exerted additional pressure on the government, reinforcements were sent, and by 1861, Tu Duc granted France control over the southern provinces of Cochinchina. However, guerrilla soldiers still controlled the countryside and Vietnamese nationalists refused to accept French sovereignty in Southeast Asia.

With the south somewhat pacified, French leaders initiated a northern campaign. Convinced that the Mekong and Red Rivers represented a viable trade route into the heart of China, French explorers demanded access to the Tonkin region. Tu Duc appealed to the Chinese for help in stemming the tide of French imperialism, and countless Black Flag mercenaries infiltrated the Vietnamese countryside. When Hanoi’s Mandarins protested the French presence, Lieutenant Francis Garnier stormed the city. He later moved to the east and captured Haiphong and Nam Dinh, but during a skirmish outside of Hanoi, Black Flag troops killed Garnier.

Garnier’s death, however, augmented France’s commitment in the region. Hoisted to martyrdom status by proponents of imperial expansion, Garnier’s memory inspired additional forays into Tonkin. By 1874, Tu Duc agreed to sign a treaty with France to help eliminate Chinese influence, and after securing the northern region, French imperialists attempted to unify the region by attacking the ancient city of Hue in the central province. In 1883, Hue was occupied, and Vietnam signed a treaty that enabled France to establish a protectorate in Vietnam. The French divided the region into three administrative provinces—Cochinchina, Annam, and Tonkin—and Vietnam became part of the French empire. France also moved into Cambodia and Laos, and while the French managed to obtain vast territories in Southeast Asia, French pacification failed to eradicate Vietnamese nationalism. Eventually, additional wars would break out until the French were ultimately defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

Aftermath

During the 1890’s, the French conquered Madagascar, but they were still plagued by climate and disease. More than 5,000 Frenchmen died in this operation, yet only 20 were killed in battle. Over the next fifty years, France was faced with continual rebellions in its empire, and while colonialism was indicative of France’s status as a major world power, colonial wars steadily drained French manpower throughout the first half of the twentieth century.

Bibliography

Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. 1983. Reprint. New York: Viking Press, 1991.

Langley, Lester D. The Americas in the Age of Revolution, 1750–1850. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1996.

Metz, Helen, ed. Algeria: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1994.

Pagden, Anthony. Lords of All the World: Ideologies of Empire in Spain, Britain, and France, 1500–1800. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995.

Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa: The White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. New York: Random House, 1991.

Ruedy, John. Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.