Focusing on Malian veterans of twentieth-century French wars, argues that France's and Africa's shared military history continues to animate their political relationship, especially regarding debates about African immigration to France

For much of the twentieth century, France recruited colonial subjects from sub-Saharan Africa to serve in its military, sending West African soldiers to fight its battles in Europe, Southeast Asia, and North Africa. In this exemplary contribution to the “new imperial history,” Gregory Mann argues that this shared military experience between France and Africa was fundamental not only to their colonial relationship but also to the reconfiguration of that relationship in the postcolonial era. Mann explains that in the early twenty-first century, among Africans in France and Africa, and particularly in Mali—where Mann conducted his research—the belief that France has not adequately recognized and compensated the African veterans of its wars is widely held and frequently invoked. It continues to animate the political relationship between France and Africa, especially debates about African immigration to France.

Focusing on the period between World War I and 1968, Mann draws on archival research and extensive interviews with surviving Malian veterans of French wars to explore the experiences of the African soldiers. He describes the effects their long absences and infrequent homecomings had on these men and their communities, he considers the veterans’ status within contemporary Malian society, and he examines their efforts to claim recognition and pensions from France. Mann contends that Mali is as much a postslavery society as it is a postcolonial one, and that specific ideas about reciprocity, mutual obligation, and uneven exchange that had developed during the era of slavery remain influential today, informing Malians’ conviction that France owes them a “blood debt” for the military service of African soldiers in French wars.

"“[T]his book is a major contribution to the history of French military recruitment in West Africa. In Mann’s fidelity to his subject, and in reminding us of the connections between the grievances first voiced by anciens combatants and those of African migrants in Europe today, he places us, as with the obligation France owes to the veterans he describes, deeply in his debt.”" - Africa Today

"“In this exhaustively researched, meticulously documented, and elegantly written study, Gregory Mann offers a much more nuanced and richly textured history of the numerous, complex, and fluid relationships between West African soldiers and the French, both military and civilian, throughout the twentieth century.”" - American Historical Review

"“The publication of . . . Mann’s studies suggest new directions in the fields of French colonial history, African studies, and twentieth-century military history. By bringing to light important and overlooked aspects of the imperial dynamic . . . . Mann [has] made meaningful contributions to our understanding of the connections between Europe and Africa and of the legacies of the colonial encounters for both regions.”" - International History Review

"“This elegantly written study of the complex pattern of ambiguous relationships between France and the West African veterans of the French army is as much about the present as the past. . . . An engaging and compelling history and it leaves the reader with some intriguing issues to chew on.”" - Leeds African Studies Bulletin