Tricolor and Crescent

by Watson, William E.

• ISBN13: 9780275974701
• ISBN10: 0275974707
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-06-30
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

For 1,400 years, France has been in contact with Islam and Muslim populations. This study explores their long relationship and history, examining in particular the expansion and contraction of France's "Islamic" Empire throughout the 20th century. This modern empire essentially consisted of conquered territories inhabited by Muslims and administered by Frenchmen. Thus far, France has avoided a September 11-type terrorist attack despite the intra-country presence of Muslim terrorist groups like the "Roubaix gang" and Bin Laden's al-Qa'ida. Other Western countries can learn a great deal from France's long and varied experiences. Watson addresses the origins of Franco-Muslim contact and details early cases of French expansion into the Islamic world. The bulk of the book, however, focuses on the creation of the modern French Empire in Saharan and Sudannic Africa, as well as in Syria and the Lebanese Mandates, during the New Imperialism of the 19th and 20th centuries. Features include a selection of pertinent documents that illustrate the extent of French involvement with the Islamic world.

Author Biography

WILLIAM E. WATSON is Associate Professor of History at Immaculata College. His research interests include cross-cultural contact and conflict. His previous publications include Collapse of Communism in the Twentieth Century (Greenwood, 1998).

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	vii
Edward R. Beauchamp
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
Three Legacies: Charles Martel, the Crusades, and Napoleon	1	(16)
The Sahara and the Legion	17	(20)
France, the Muslims, and the Eastern Mediterranean through World War I	37	(22)
French Colonization in the Islamic World through the Interwar Years	59	(18)
World War II, the Arabs, and the Empire	77	(16)
The Beginning of the End of the French Islamic Empire	93	(18)
The Algerian Crisis	111	(22)
The Aftermath of Empire	133	(18)
Documents	151	(88)
Al-Maqqari on the Itinerary of the Eighth-Century Muslim Invasions of the Frankish Kingdom	151	(1)
Differing Accounts of the Battle of Tours (732)	152	(1)
The Crusades	153	(2)
Napoleon in Egypt	155	(1)
Bourmont's Ultimatum to the Dey of Algiers	156	(1)
Guizot on Algeria: `Abd al-Qadir, Bugeaud, and the Duc d'Aumale	157	(2)
Nineteenth-Century Justifications of Empire	159	(2)
Cromer on the Anglo-French Rivalry in the Middle East	161	(7)
The Algeciras Convention	168	(32)
The Sykes-Picot Agreement	200	(3)
The King-Crane Commission	203	(1)
Clemenceau on the Turkish Empire	204	(1)
The Establishment of the Mandates	204	(6)
The Independence of Morocco	210	(1)
The Evian Accords (1962)	211	(28)
Notes	239	(24)
Bibliography	263	(16)
Index	279