Description: 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.
Brief description: Eric T. Jennings is Professor of History at the University of Toronto. His books include Vichy in the Tropics, Curing the Colonizers, and Imperial Heights, as well as an edited volume with Jacques Cantier entitled L'Empire colonial sous Vichy. His books have all been translated into French. Jennings has received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) awards, the Alf Andrew Heggoy, Jean-François Coste, and Fetkann book prizes, as well as the Palmes académiques.
Review Quotes: 'Free French Africa in World War II provides a clear path to understanding both the voluntary and coerced contributions of Africans in the successful resistance of the Free French against Vichy France and its Italian and German mentors.' Myron Echenberg, Canadian Journal of History