Historians have overwhelmingly dismissed the ´Arab Kingdom´ policy as a failed colonial doctrine, stressing its inconsistencies and arguing that the implementation of Napoleon III’s policies in the...Show moreHistorians have overwhelmingly dismissed the ´Arab Kingdom´ policy as a failed colonial doctrine, stressing its inconsistencies and arguing that the implementation of Napoleon III’s policies in the 1860s contrasted his Saint-Simonian and indigènophile aims. By reconstructing the experiences of North-African men in the Armée d’Afrique during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, this thesis highlights the inconsistencies inherent to this policy. Additionally, it argues that the colonial military’s formal aspects, such as pay, pensions, promotions and treatment in the military justice system, challenge the current discourse that the ideology was merely imperial rhetoric without substance. In line with the ´new´ military history’s focus on the relationship between war and society, this thesis draws on a myriad of sources to explore a wide range of aspects of colonial deployment during the Second Empire, including: recruitment, uniforms, mobilisation, decorations, religion, food, language, health and hospitalization, housing, combat performance, casualties, public image and treatment as prisoners of war (POWs). It thereby elucidates how the fall of the Second Empire at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, in many ways proved a break with the Third French Republic in terms of the status and treatment of French colonial soldiers.Show less
