War Poster African Army Colonial Troops Day France Africa Indochina

Original vintage WWI propaganda poster showing published to celebrates the participation of troops from the French colonies and overseas territories during the first world war: Day for the African Army and the Colonial Troops (Text in French: Journée de l'armée d'Afrique et des troupes coloniales). Great image by Lucien Jonas showing French soldiers fighting on the front alongside black soldiers from Africa. More than 480,000 such troops were deployed by France in Europe over the course of the war, including 134,300 soldiers from West Africa, 172,800 from Algeria, 60,000 from Tunisia, 37,300 from Morocco, 34,400 from Madagascar, 2,100 from the Somali coast, and 44,000 from Indochina. Initially, most colonial troops were volunteers, but as the war dragged on and casualties mounted, the French authorities increasingly relied on conscription to secure Arab and West African soldiers. Most men in the colonies had no desire to fight for France, and forced recruitment provoked severe resistance. In West Africa, local chiefs provided potential recruits, most often young men from the lower social strata, to the French authorities. Many potential recruits escaped conscription by hiding in the bush or by fleeing to Liberia or to neighboring British or Portuguese colonies. In several countries, there were uprisings against French recruitment policies. The Troupes coloniales ("Colonial Troops") or Armée coloniale ("Colonial Army"), commonly called La Coloniale, were the military forces of the French colonial empire from 1900 until 1961. From 1822 to 1900 these troops were designated Troupes de marine ("Marine Troops" or just "Marines"), and in 1961 they readopted this name. They were recruited from mainland France or from the French settler and indigenous populations of the empire. This force played a substantial role in the conquest of the empire, in World War I, World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. Condition: Poor condition, folds, tears, paper losses, staining, ink stamp.. Country of printing: France, designer: Lucien Jonas , size (cm): 120x80, year of printing: 1917.