Free France, Colonial Reform, and the Genesis of Cold War Counterinsurgency, 1941-1954

This talk by Nate Grau, a doctoral candidate in history at Harvard University and an Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, took place at part of the Center for the Study of Europe's "Europe in the World" series on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Based on his dissertation, "France's Forgotten Soldiers," he examines the evolving roles of paramilitary forces in the French Army during decolonization conflicts in Madagascar, Indochina, and Algeria.
Grau has been a Fulbright fellow at the Université Paris-Nanterre and holds previous degrees from Columbia University and New York University. His interests broadly include counterinsurgency, European Defense, and sectarian violence. He is particularly interested in the stories of indigenous soldiers who remained loyal to France during the wars of decolonization, and how they shaped the evolution and politicization of the French officer corps during that period.
The "A Stronger Europe in the World" lecture series is an initiative of the Jean Monnet Chair in European Security and Defense, Kaija Schilde. The aim of the series, supported by the European Union**, is to prompt critical reflection by a larger public on human and regional security informed by cross-national experiences and a variety of disciplinary lenses as well as to introduce or emphasize EU perspectives into ongoing debates around security integration and global challenges.
**Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Erasmus+ Programme. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.