France as a Colonizer
- France has been colonizing for a long time–however, its colonies have been declaring their independence since as recently as 1980.
http://libguides.und.edu/french/FormerFrenchColonies - Colonialism is a way of stripping power from a native people, and it can rob others of their cultures. However, colonialism has had positive effects on colonized countries. This PDF talks about the positive and negative effects of European colonialism in Africa.
https://www.sequim.k12.wa.us/cms/lib6/WA01000561/Centricity/Domain/714
/Colonialism%20Effects%20on%20Africa.pdf - Francophone Glossary PDF, “decolonisation”
- Francophone Glossary PDF, “colonial policy”
a map of the French colonial empire
The Algerian War
- Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong, “Algeria: The Unacknowledged War”
- The Guardian writes about the aftermath of the Algerian war for independence, which is still unfolding over 50 years after the conclusion of the war. France has a tendency to not really acknowledge the fact that the war happened, or that they lost the war.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/05/50-years-algeria-independence-france-denial - In 1962, a TIME photographer shot images of the tail end of the war, and these images are displayed in collaboration with an article which comments on French and Muslim relations.
http://time.com/3664161/france-algeria-muslim-violence/- Do you agree with the title of the article? Did this history of French-Muslim violence begin with the war? Or did it begin earlier? Later?
The Fall of Indochina
- This PDF describes what life was like for the colonized Vietnamese and how the French government affected their education system, culture, and political system.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit12_1.pdf - Vietnamese – French relations, according to the French government.
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/vietnam/france-and-vietnam/ - The Office of the Historian describes the “fall of Indochina” with emphasis on the actions of Ho Chi Minh and Dien Bien Phu.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/dien-bien-phu - A detailed history on the colonization of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam during the French rule.
http://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/french-colonialism-in-vietnam/