Abstract

In 1914–1918, 294,000 indigenous people were mobilized in North Africa and sent to the European front. Nearly 45,000 of them were killed or missing in action. This article examines the attitude of the French toward their North African soldiers and tries to explain why in the face of copious evidence of North African loyalty, the appreciation of courage and sacrifice in the fight against Germany was accompanied by suspicion and uncertainty about total loyalty. The article draws attention to the equal sacrifice belief in French thinking about the participation of colonial people in the war. It maintains that opposition to this belief, combined with the manifestations of soldiers’ identity, and the paternalism and racism on the part of the French authorities, created the limited trust of French officials in North African Muslim soldiers.

摘要

1914年至1918年，北非动员了294,000名土著人民前往欧洲前线。其中近 45,000 人在行动中阵亡或失踪。本文探讨了法国人对其北非士兵的态度，并试图解释为什么面对北非忠诚的大量证据，在对德国作战中的勇气和牺牲的赞赏中，却伴随着对完全忠诚的怀疑和不确定。文章提请人们注意法国关于殖民地人民参与战争的思想中的平等牺牲信念。它认为，对这种信仰的反对，加上士兵身份的表现，以及法国当局的家长作风和种族主义，造成了法国官员对北非穆斯林士兵的有限信任。