THE UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS OF VICHY AND EMPIRE
For those among you who love France, love to hate France or just love history, H-Diplo is currently posting an expert roundtable series “ The French Empire” with the focus on the interwar late Third Republic and wartime Vichy periods that will review the following texts:
The French Empire Between the Wars: Imperialism, Politics and Society by Martin Thomas
L’Empire colonial sous Vichy by Jacques Cantier and Eric Jennings (eds)
The roundtable editor, Thomas Imlay closes his introduction with the following observation:
“Of course, there are no easy answers to the question of how viable was the
French empire before and during the war. Even if one admits that it was a
failing enterprise, that its ultimate demise was as close to inevitable as
anything can be in history, this in no way detracts from the value of
studying the French empire in all its diversity and complexity during the
pre-war and wartime periods. Imperial history during these periods is
not only fascinating in its own right, but also has the potential to tell us
much about the world after 1945 and even today. For as colonial scholars
have convincingly argued, we are all products of empire.”
Note that the roundtable will ongoing and updated frequently, so interested readers are best off checking the H-Diplo discussion log page.
