Editing History of France (section)

== Colonial empire ==
{{Main|French colonial empire}}
{{Further|Evolution of the French Empire|French Africa}}
[[File:French Empire 17th century-20th century.png|thumb|French empire, 17th-20th centuries.<br/>Dark blue = Second Empire 1830–1960.]]

The second colonial empire constituted the overseas colonies, protectorates and [[League of Nations mandate|mandate]] territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "first colonial empire", that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost, and the "second colonial empire", which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. The second colonial empire came to an end after the loss in later wars [[First Indochina War|of Vietnam]] (1954) and [[Algerian War|Algeria]] (1962), and relatively peaceful [[Decolonisation of Africa|decolonizations]] elsewhere after 1960.{{Sfnp|Aldrich|1996}}

France lost wars to Britain that stripped away nearly all of its colonies by 1765. France rebuilt a new empire mostly after 1850, concentrating chiefly [[French African colonies|in Africa]] as well as [[French Indochina|Indochina]] and the South Pacific. Republicans, at first hostile to empire, only became supportive when Germany after 1880 started to build [[German colonial empire|their own colonial empire]]. As it developed, the new empire took on roles of trade with France, especially supplying raw materials and purchasing manufactured items as well as lending prestige to the motherland and spreading French civilization and language and the Catholic religion. It also provided manpower in the World Wars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chafer |first=Tony |title=The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization? |date=2002 |publisher=Berg Publishers |isbn=978-1-8597-3557-2 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9GseKljgaW0C&pg=PA84 84–85]}}</ref>

It became a moral mission to lift the world up to French standards by bringing Christianity and French culture. In 1884, the leading proponent of colonialism, [[Jules Ferry]], declared; "The higher races have a right over the lower races, they have a [[Civilizing mission|duty to civilize the inferior races]]."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ferry, Jules |url=http://www.tatamis.info/medias/controle_citoyen/ferry-jules.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060825083658/http://www.tatamis.info/medias/controle_citoyen/ferry-jules.htm |archive-date=2006-08-25 |access-date=2006-05-16 |website=Tatamis.info |language=fr}}</ref> Full citizenship rights – ''assimilation'' – were offered. In reality the French settlers were given full rights and the natives given very limited rights. Apart from Algeria few settlers permanently settled in its colonies. Even in Algeria, the "[[Pied-Noir]]" (French settlers) always remained a small minority.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Martin |title=Empire and Culture: The French Experience, 1830–1940 |date=2004}}</ref>

At its apex, it was [[List of largest empires|one of the largest empires in history]]. Including [[metropolitan France]], the total amount of land under French sovereignty reached {{Convert|11500000|km2|sqmi|-5|abbr=on}} in 1920, with a population of 110 million people in 1939. In World War II, the [[Free French]] used the overseas colonies as bases from which they fought to liberate France. "In an effort to restore its world-power status after the humiliation of defeat and occupation, France was eager to maintain its overseas empire at the end of the Second World War."{{Sfnp|Chafer|2002}} Only two days after the defeat of Nazi Germany, France suppressed Algerian calls for independence, who were celebrating [[Victory in Europe Day|VE day]], ending in [[Sétif and Guelma massacre|a massacre]], which killed at least 30,000 Muslims.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stenner |first=David |title=Globalizing Morocco: transnational activism and the post-colonial state |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-5036-0900-6 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, California |page=6 |oclc=1082294927}}</ref> However, gradually [[Anti-colonial liberation movements|anti-colonial movements]] successfully challenged European authority. The [[French Constitution of 27 October 1946]] ([[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]]), established the [[French Union]] which endured until 1958. Newer remnants of the colonial empire were integrated into France as [[Overseas departments and territories of France|overseas departments and territories]] within the French Republic. These now total about 1% of the pre-1939 colonial area, with 2.7 million people living in them in 2013. By the 1970s, the last "vestiges of empire held little interest for the French. ... Except for the traumatic decolonization of Algeria, however, what is remarkable is how few long-lasting effects on France the giving up of empire entailed."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aldrich |first=Robert |title=Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion |date=1996 |pages=304–305 |author-link=Robert Aldrich (historian)}}, His section on "Ending the Empire" closes in 1980 with the independence of New Hebrides</ref>