ABSTRACT
Nothing in her history, recent experience, institutions or politics prepared France for any voluntary withdrawal from empire after the end of the Second World War. A study in perspective of France’s wars of decolonization must, therefore, briefly return to the roots of the history of France herself, as deep in these roots lay major causes of the refusal of the general public and political figures alike, for so long, to acknowledge the anti-colonialism of the post-1945 world. This refusal led to large-scale and bloody conflict, far more costly in men and money than any decolonization campaign waged by Britain.
