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At the turn of the 19th century, after the fall of the Second Empire, France underwent a period of institutional uncertainty. By trying to consildate the new regime, the founders of the Third Republic engaged the country in a period of colonial expansion. The main promoters of the colonial policy, of which Jules Ferry and Léon Gambetta, try to justify it by integrating universalists republicans principles into the colonial discourse. This method of political persuasion will brought to light its share of contradictions. Historiography on the subject tend to consider that there was a consensus among contemporaries. However, several political actors of the Third Republic will oppose colonial expansion, giving rise to an anti-colonialist current, also inspired by republican thought. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how two different ideological currents, seemingly contradictory, can define their discourse on the basis of the same philosophical roots. Republican ideology is based upon the principles of the Déclaration des droits de l’homme of 1794, which put forward the concepts of equality and liberty. While these principles were upheld in the colonialist discourse, their application in the colonies was constantly put off. In order not to betray their republican heritage, Third Republic thinkers distorted it, through the concepts of « hiérarchie raciale » and « mission civilisatrice ». Colonialist and anti-colonialist speeches will be analyzed in periodicals and contemporary publications, in addition to numerous speeches from the Chambre des députés (Chamber of Deputies). This dissertation examines studies how republican thought supports both colonialist and anti-colonialist discourse. In that perspective, the analysis of the arguments opposing colonization demonstrates that a stable and lasting anti-colonialist current was clearly present under the Third Republic.

The Second French Empire was a period of great change on the international scene in Europe and America. Using the diverse national crises that were shaking the European and American balance of power, Napoleon III intended to use these crises in order to favour French influence in regions where her interests were starting to become vital for worldwide supremacy. Put forward as a means of power, the policy of nationalities is an abstract political idea that creates a political discourse which favors imperial projects around the world. The objective of the policy of nationalities aims at the installation of monarchies allied to France which can be installed in various ways, through war, territorial exchanges or by a new method, popular referenda. However, all of these regimes were installed in the name of nationality. Yet what is innovative in the policy of nationalities, is the systematic recourse to the will of the people as a means to legitimize France’s territorial expansion. This manifested itself in a controlled election or by an assembly of well chosen notables. There was always a need to appear lawful in the eyes of the foreign populations. Using primary sources and a variety of historical studies, this research’s aim is to analyze the methods used by Napoleon III to promote France’s policy of nationalities. We will study the dynamic of this policy and the way the national argument was used during political crises in Italy, Germany, Mexico and the ottoman province of Syria.

Ever since its creation in 1966, ERAP aimed to increase oil from the “franc” zone by diversifying its supply sources. Such an aim became all the more crucial as its acquisitions in the Sahara seemed threatened by tense relations between the French group and Algerian authorities. Still, to secure a share of the world market at that time seemed to a difficult if not an impossible task, the biggest oil-producing spaces having already been occupied by the big corporations called Majors. However, the French state company managed to settle in several oil-producing countries, including Iraq in 1968, until then viewed as a private hunting ground for the Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP). Also, following its failure in Algeria, the Iraq experiment prompted Elf ERAP to set its sights on oil-rich subsaharian African countries and the North Sea. On February 3rd 1968, Elf ERAP signed an agreement with the state oil company INOC to take charge of exploration and exploitation of a part of the territory that was confiscated by the Iraqi government from the powerful Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). In return for this financial and technical input/support, Elf ERAP would be rewarded with steady supply of Iraqi oil. It was a new kind of partnership termed « service contract ». The latter replaced the old system of concessions and helped the state company succeed in its attempt to penetrate the Middle East. Exploration quickly led to the discovery of oil fields. Production started in 1976 and reached 5 million tons in 1977.This allowed the Elf ERAP, renamed the SNEA, to look with optimism at its energy supply future, the latter being provided in considerable part by the Iraqi market. Surprisingly, however, the French state company backed away from the deal in May 1977, and was replaced by the INOC which took over the project two years before the date planned by the initial contract of 1968. This research project seeks to clarify the operator role played by ERAP in Iraq between 1968 and 1977. To explain the premature departure of Elf Iraq, one needs to determine both the endogenous and exogenous factors that might have motivated such a move. In other words, did the state company suffer the repercussions of its own energy choices, or was the Iraqi oil policy responsible for such an outcome? To what extent was the withdrawal attributable to the international oil situation? With the help of Elf and TOTAL archives, we have come to the conclusion that the compression of the oil market uniting distributors and producers greatly affected the profitability of intermediary contracts « service contracts».

Ce mémoire étudie les origines de l’engagement des combattants de nationalité française en faveur de la sécession du Katanga (1960-63), au moment de l’indépendance du Congo belge. Recrutés pour s’opposer à l’Armée nationale congolaise et aux Casques bleus de l’ONU qui cherchent à faire réintégrer la province par la force, ces hommes aguerris par quinze années de guerre contre-insurrectionnelle vont s’avérer être les éléments clefs du dispositif militaire katangais. Centrée sur les « conditions objectives » de l’action plutôt que sur ses « fondements psychologiques », notre étude vise à mettre en lumière les « forces profondes » au gré desquelles l’intervention des « affreux » a pris forme. Elle s’intéresse en particulier à la trajectoire de trois figures remarquables du point de vue de l'historiographie de l'engagement armé international : Roger Trinquier, Roger Faulques et Bob Denard. Inspirée de la sociologie du champ intellectuel et militant dont elle contribue à montrer la pertinence pour l’étude du fait militaire transnational, notre recherche soutient que le sens de l'engagement ne peut être saisi qu'en replaçant la trajectoire de ces hommes au sein des différents niveaux de contexte dans lesquels elle s’est réalisée. Notre mémoire montre que le recours aux « affreux » coïncide avec le recul des vieilles puissances coloniales sur la scène internationale et avec l'affirmation des nouveaux acteurs que sont les États-Unis, l'URSS et l'ONU. L'engagement de ces hommes, dépourvus de statut officiel, apparaît pour la France comme un moyen détourné de maintenir en Afrique des intérêts et une influence contraire à la dynamique des indépendances.

This study questions Canadian international influence during the "Golden Age" by providing a case study of Canada's foreign policy in its relations with France. Multilateral institutions were the cornerstone of Canadian foreign policy; they were providing the politico-economic counterweights allowing Canadians to distance themselves from the United States. These institutions were often perceived as a constraint by the French, who consequently tried to weaken or reform them. Meanwhile, they were trying to preserve their colonial empire and were demanding unanimous occidental support. France became the most disturbing of Canada's allies, almost systematically attacking its foreign policy project, which consisted in trying to balance a firm commitment to NATO and an overtly anti-imperialist policy designed to seduce non aligned countries of the Commonwealth. This dissertation studies the strategies of a "middle power" trying to defuse the crisis between its allies and to reconcile the contradictory dimensions of its own external policy.

In the Crimean war, Great-Britain made an alliance with the Second French Empire, the traditional enemy, still considered as a threat; this cooperation, forced by circumstances, forms the basis of this research. Thousands of soldiers and civilians from both countries worked together for two years. The British personal letters reveal a fraternization between both cultures that is more important than the one mentioned in the historiography. According to Gordon Allport’s theories on the diminution of prejudices, all the necessary conditions for reconciliation could be found in Crimea. The steps leading to the fraternization, defined by Allport, are also perceptible in the personal letters. This reconciliation had under-estimated consequences: British soldiers and civilians started comparing themselves with the French and their pride gave place to an important self-criticism. This led to scandals in the army and the newspapers from the very beginning of the war, long before the scandals of the winter 1854-1855.

The collapse of the French colonial empire begins in the 1950s. After losing its colonies in Morocco and Indochina, France was faced with the secession of its most important colony, Algeria. The French had difficulty accepting the separation as it not only represented the fall of the colonial empire, but the destruction of cherished dreams. More than fearing losing their status as a colonial power, the French fear they will also lose their world great power status and their vision of being a country with a mission civilisatrice. To understand the evolution in the perception the French had of Algeria after the Algerian decolonization through various schools of thought, this thesis looks at editorials published in three French newspapers (Le Figaro, L’Humanité and Le Monde) between 1962 and 1971, which covered events taking place in Algeria. More specifically, this thesis examines OAS terrorist action in the period between the Évian Accords and the Algerian referendum, the conflict within the National Liberation Front (FLN) to decide who would be in power, the conflict with the Socialist Forces Front (SFF), the war with Morocco, the Boumedienne coup d’état and the nationalization of Algerian oil.

La perception du Second Empire français a longtemps été sujette à controverse dans l’historiographie française. Alors que le régime a été synonyme de honte nationale pendant plusieurs décennies, l’historiographie en a tracé un portrait peu flatteur qui a tardé à évoluer. Cette interprétation négative dure jusqu’aux années 1930-1940, à partir desquelles les historiens remettent en question les idées reçues sur le régime et le perçoivent positivement. En effectuant une critique externe et interne d’ouvrages publiés par des auteurs français sur le Second Empire depuis 1870, le présent mémoire vise à identifier les facteurs qui expliquent la lente transformation de la perception du régime et de l’Empereur. La critique externe démontre que les auteurs, le contexte historique et la discipline historique ont joué un rôle dans cette perception. L’analyse interne de la politique socio-économique, intérieure et extérieure du régime, ainsi que de la personnalité de l’Empereur, démontre que d’autres facteurs, comme l’utilisation de sources et la façon d’aborder le sujet, ont eu un impact sur l’évaluation de Napoléon III et du Second Empire.

Le mémoire historiographique qui suit a comme sujet principal l’étude de l’évolution des perceptions françaises sur l’implication américaine au Vietnam. Nous nous sommes basés sur l’historiographie de deux périodes distinctes, soit celles des années 1960-1970 et 1990-2000. L’objectif était de voir s’il y a eu une transformation du regard que portent les auteurs sur l’implication américaine et, si oui, quelles en sont les causes. Le travail est construit de façon thématique et se divise en trois chapitres. Le premier aborde le choix et l’ampleur des armes utilisées, le second se penche sur la notion du communisme et de la démocratie, et le dernier traite de la conception de l’impérialisme et du colonialisme. Pour tous les thèmes examinés, nous résumons la perception qui ressort de chacun des auteurs afin de comparer les tendances idéologiques propres aux deux périodes étudiées. Nous conclurons qu’il s’est effectivement produit une importante transformation des perceptions. Cette transformation se traduit par une approche de moins en moins critique envers l’implication américaine au Vietnam. Dans chaque chapitre, nous avons pu soulever des causes de changement propres au sujet abordé. Toutefois, une tendance générale et sous-jacente se dégage et s’avère des plus révélatrices, soit le glissement en France des valeurs politiques et morales de la gauche vers la droite, doublé d’un rapprochement idéologique avec les États-Unis.

L’histoire des relations franco-japonaises est source de bien des surprises pour les historiens, ces deux pays n’ayant, à première vue, que peu de raisons de se rapprocher. La France du Second Empire est l’une des premières puissances à se rendre au Japon et elle démontre rapidement un vif intérêt pour le développement du Japon. Dès la signature des premiers traités en 1859, la présence française se développe pour atteindre son sommet quelques années plus tard. Malgré les changements de régime au Japon et en France, cette présence restera forte jusqu’au début des années 1880, avant de décliner. Qu’est-ce qui explique cet intérêt? Et, surtout, qu’est-ce qui explique le désintérêt de la France après les années 1880? Il n’y a que quelques auteurs qui ont tenté d’y trouver des réponses, et celles-ci sont, à notre point de vue, peu concluantes: soit la France agit pour faire grandir son prestige, soit elle agit en fonction de ses représentants. Nous tenterons dans le présent travail de cerner et, si possible, de trouver en utilisant une variété de sources françaises une autre cause plus convaincante comme explication de la position française au Japon. Serait-ce le commerce qui a motivé la France au Japon, notamment à cause de la crise du ver à soie? Serait-ce la religion, avec toute la question des persécutions des chrétiens? Ou encore, est-ce une raison plus globale liée à la colonisation de l’Indochine? Afin d’y répondre, nous avons étudié avec minutie les archives du gouvernement français ainsi que les données économiques de l’époque, afin de cerner l’importance qu’ont eue certaines raisons, telles la crise de la soie, les persécutions religieuses et la présence française en Indochine, dans les décisions du gouvernement français.

This thesis studies the European Defence Community (EDC), a plan for a European supranational army proposed by French politicians in October 1950 and rejected by the French National Assembly in August 1954. It is more precisely concerned with the position of the French army, a group directly concerned by the project. The subject has been relatively neglected by historians. The army was being asked to pursue two contradictory tasks: fight alongside its allies the threat the Soviet Union was supposed to represent without sacrificing its independence. This thesis will focus, among other things, on the arguments presented for and against the EDC, the differences of opinion within the army, the factors that might account for these differences, the relative importance of the supporters and detractors of the project, and the variables taken into consideration by the members of the army on both sides (the communist threat, national power, colonial power, supranationalism, independence, etc.) It is based on the archives of the Service historique de la Défense (SHD), located in Vincennes, near Paris. This thesis shows that, although a majority clearly opposed the EDC, there was also a significant pro-EDC current, whose importance has often been underestimated by historians, and that both sides primarily used political arguments.