Lezione 7

1. The French Colonial Empire: A Global Overseas Empire

2. Indochina

Napoleon III acted to
increase the French
presence in South-Eastern
Asia (Indochina)
The reason was mainly the
belief that France risked
becoming a second-rate
power by not expanding in
East Asia
French missionaries had
been active in Vietnam
since the 17th century
(Jesuit Alexandre de
Rhodes)

3. Creating an Empire

1858: The Vietnamese emperor (Nguyen Dynasty) felt threatened
by the French influence and tried to expel the missionaries
Paris sent a naval force (14 gunships, 3.000 French and 3.000
Filipino troops provided by Spain), under Charles Rigault de
Genouilly, to compel the Vietnamese government to accept the
missionaries and to stop the persecution of Catholics
September 1858: The expeditionary force captured and occupied
the port of Da Nang
February 1859: The French moved south and captured Saigon
Vietnam was compelled to cede three provinces to France, and to
offer protection to the Catholics

4.

1862: Since the agreements were not fully followed by the
Vietnamese emperor, the French returned to Vietnam
1864: The Emperor was forced to open treaty ports in Annam and
Tonkin, and all of Cochinchine became a French territory
1863: King Norodom of Cambodia, who had been placed in power
by Thailand, rebelled against his sponsors and sought the
protection of France
The Thai King granted authority over Cambodia to France, in
exchange for two provinces of Laos, which were ceded by
Cambodia
1867: Cambodia formally became a French protectorate

5. French Indochina

The Sino–French War (1884-1885): A conflict fought to decide
whether France would supplant China’s control of Tonkin (northern
Vietnam)
The Chinese forces performed well and the war ended with
French defeat on land
Notwithstanding, the French won the war - the Treaty of Tianjin
The War resulted in French control over northern Vietnam
17 October 1887: French Indochina was formed with the merge of
Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchine and the Kingdom of Cambodia
Laos was added after the Franco-Siamese War (1893)
1885-1895: Phan Đình Phùng led a rebellion against the French
Nationalist sentiments intensified but all the uprisings and tentative
efforts failed to obtain any concessions from the French

6. Korea and Japan (1866–68)

January 1866: French priests had been arrested and executed in
Korea (10.000 converts were executed as well)
The French attempted retaliation but made little headway
Meanwhile, in Japan the Shogunate and his enemies, both sought
French military training and technology in their struggle for power
The Shogunate approached both Britain and France, asking
military assistance
1867: Napoleon III dispatched 19 French military experts to Japan
The military mission to Japan played a key role in modernizing the
Tokugawa forces
A shipyard (Yokosuka) was designed by the French engineer Leonce
Verny
1868: The Imperial forces (anti-Shogunate) had won a decisive
victory but French influence at least in the navy remained strong

7. Syria and Lebanon (1860–61)

Spring 1860: Fighting in Lebanon between the Druze population
and the Maronite Christians
The Ottomans could not stop the violence, that eventually spread
into Syria, resulting in the massacre of many Christians
Napoleon III felt obliged to intervene, despite the British opposition
After long negotiations Paris got the approval of the British
August 1860: A French force of 7.000 men was sent to Lebanon
Napoleon III organized an international conference in Paris:
Lebanon was placed under the rule of a Christian governor named by the
Ottoman Sultan
June 1861: French troops departed
One of the main reason of the French intervention was the fact
that it was highly popular with the powerful Catholic political
faction in France

8. Mexico (1862–67)

1861: The conservative Mexican government was overthrown by
Benito Juarez
Juarez established a secular state and refused to pay the internal
and external debts of the old government
France was the largest owner of the Mexican debt
The rest of the debt was owed to Britain and Spain
France, Britain and Spain organized a joint military force to compel
the Mexican government to pay
December 1861: A British-French flotilla arrived at Vera Cruz and
landed 7500 French and 700 British soldiers, joined later by 6000
Spanish from Cuba
Juarez opened negotiations, but it soon became evident that the
French expedition had a more ambitious objective than debt
repayment

9. An Emperor for Mexico

Napoleon III had been intensively lobbied by Mexican émigrés in
Europe, who proposed that France establish a new conservative
and Catholic government in the country, under a European
monarch, who was told to be welcomed by the entire Mexican
population
The man selected was the Archduke Maximilian, the brother of the
Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph II, and husband of Charlotte,
daughter of the King of Belgium
When the British and Spanish realized the French goals, they
withdrew from the expedition
Notwithstanding, the French marched on Mexico City
At first they were repulsed by the forces of General Zaragoza at
Puebla (5 May 1862)

10.

Napoleon III then sent other 23.000 troops
Paris also knew that the United States would be unable to prevent
it, because of the Civil War, while expecting an implicit support by
the Confederate States
March-June 1863: The French army (General Forey) launched a
new offensive
7 June 1863: After bitter resistance, the defenders of Mexico City
surrendered
General Forey, disregarding Napoleon III’s instructions not to
install a monarch without a popular plebiscite, organized an
assembly of notables who proclaimed the Mexican Empire and
invited Maximilian I to rule
President Benito Juárez and Republican forces retreated to the
countryside and fought against the French troops and the
monarchists

11.

Maximilian was a reluctant Emperor, arriving in Mexico only in
June 1864
One of his first acts was the decision that Mexico would repay
France the entire cost of the war
Mexican monarchist and French forces won victories up until 1865
1865: the tide began to turn against them, partly because the
American Civil War had meanwhile ended
Washington demanded that France withdraw its forces from
Mexico
1866: Not willing to risk a war with the USA, Napoleon III decided
to withdraw from Mexico

12.

Maximilian refused pleas that he depart, fighting against the
growing forces of Juarez
19 June 1867: He was captured, judged, and shot
Mexico cost the lives of 6.000 French soldiers and too much
money
Mexican casualties (including the monarchist) where more than
20.000 soldiers and much more civilians

13. The Pacific

24 September 1853: Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal
possession of New Caledonia
25 June 1854: Port-de-France (Nouméa) was founded
The government decided to make New Caledonia a penal colony
Between the 1860s and 1897, about 22,000 criminals and political
prisoners were sent to New Caledonia
1803: King Pōmare II of Tahiti was forced to flee to Mo'orea
1834: French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti, and their
expulsion (1836) caused France to send a gunboat (1838)
1842: Tahiti and Tahuata were declared a French protectorate
1880: France annexed Tahiti

14.

1889: A French protectorate over the island groups (now officially
united)
1880s: France claimed the Tuamotu Archipelago
Paris regarded the entire Marquesas Islands as French
1885: France appointed a governor and established a general
council
The first official name for the colony was Établissements de
l’Océanie (Establishments in Oceania)
1903: The general council became an advisory council and the
colony’s name was changed to Établissements Français de
l’Océanie (French Establishments in Oceania)

15. Franco-British relations

1850s-1860s: Joint Franco-British operations in the Crimea, China
and Mexico
1859: There were briefly fears that France might try to invade
Britain
1860: The Cobden–Chevalier Treaty, a historic free trade
agreement between Britain and France
Notwithstanding, diplomatic relations between Britain and France
never became close
Lord Palmerston was suspicious of France’s interventions in
Lebanon, Southeast Asia and Mexico. The British were also
concerned that Paris might intervene in the American Civil War

16. Egypt

France heavily influenced Egypt’s economy, notably through the
discovery of long-staple cotton by a French engineer in 1820. In
the latter half of the century, French financial institutions like the
Crédit Foncier d’Égypte gained significant control, contributing to
Egypt’s, rising debt and economic dependency
London also felt threatened by the construction of the Suez Canal
(1859–1869) by Ferdinand de Lesseps and they tried to oppose its
completion by diplomatic pressures and even by promoting revolts
among workers
The Canal was built by the French, but became a joint BritishFrench asset (1875)

17. Egypt

Throughout the century, France competed with Britain for
influence over the Ottoman-ruled territory, leading cultural and
structural projects, while Britain’s influence grew in trade, leading
to a complex dual influence
1882: Ongoing civil disturbances in Egypt prompted London to
intervene, while a hesitant government in Paris allowed London to
take effective control of Egypt
1898: A French expedition to Fashoda on the White Nile river to
gain control of the Upper Nile
Eventually, the French withdrew, securing
Anglo-Egyptian control over the area