Conscription, Citizenship, and French Algeria

Abstract

This paper questions why the Third Republic of France imposed conscription on Muslim Algerians in 1912. This action is peculiar because conscription was a tenant of French citizenship, which the French thought that Muslim Algerians were too inferior to have. A politician named Adolphe Messimy, the members of the Third Republic in control of the government in 1912, and a group called the Young Algerians convinced France to contradict its laws and beliefs to impose conscription. They did so because the self-interests of all three groups met at one moment in time and wanted conscription. This paper meticulously explains the motives of Adolphe Messimy, the Third Republic, and the Young Algerians to explain why each agreed to conscription. This research fits into the broader schematic of French Algerian history because it argues that Algeria, in part, gained its independence in 1962 due to the imposition of conscription in 1912.