The History of the Pieds-Noirs. The Last Defenders of the French Colonial Empire (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject French Studies - Culture, grade: 1, University of Vienna (Institut für Geschichte), course: World of Empires, language: English, abstract: Colonialism was one of the most violent chapters of world history. Although France has tried to hide its colonial past and for quite some time, voices remained silent. The Pieds-Noirs were nearly banished from older history books and their life was often ignored by historians.

As the history of the Pieds-Noirs has been hidden for years, it is not surprising that there is only little literature about it. Most books have been published in French even though it is a topic of global interest. Therefore, it is a main goal of this paper to use sources in different languages in order to compare standpoints, to avoid a narrowed view and to allow a global perspective. It shall be pointed out that the discrimination of indigenous people by European powers did not only happen in Algeria but in many other colonies as well and that countries which got independent inspired other colonies.

Contrary to many other publications, this paper will not end with the Algerian independence as the reintegration of the Pieds-Noirs in France will be examined, too. The years following the War of Independence are significant for understanding how easily powers can switch. In this respect, this paper tries to explain the development of the Pieds-Noirs comprehensively - from the beginnings in 1830 until today.