How France Started to Lose Its African Colonies - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on how France started to lose its African colonies, as we talk about the history of Senegal, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mali, Chad and Cameroon in the post-WW2 period.
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#coldwar #Africa #France

[@VisibilityFoggy]

It is so rare to find a channel with so much quality context, accuracy and lack of bias, presented so clearly. I find myself reading for an hour or two after every episode to find out more. You guys do an excellent job!

[@DK-ei4ed]

its blatant yankee propaganda fool

[@Nobody.exe50]

i love the dynamic and humor of this guy

[@inboxmwj]

the quality of this channel is simply amazing!

[@benkamelmayssem5780]

The uncles of my father fought in Italy against the Germans, and then they were deported to Indochina meanwhile France was committing massacres in Tunisia and in neighboring Algeria...

[@charliekill88]

Sorry for being uneducated, but when were your uncles in the military? Was this during ww2? Why would they be deported afterwards? That is horrible nonetheless and I agree that France got away with too much.

[@benkamelmayssem5780]

@@charliekill88 not my uncles but the uncles of my father, because they were in t the resistance, they had a death sentence... They couldn´t catch my grandfather.

[@imnotyourfriendbuddy1883]

@@benkamelmayssem5780 Why were your great uncles trying to catch your grandfather?

[@benkamelmayssem5780]

@@imnotyourfriendbuddy1883 The French couldn´t

[@drewstar412]

Great Coverage David S/The Cold War! I hope this is part of a series on the coverage of African Colonies during the Cold War. Where I live in the USA, this does not seem to get enough coverage. I can't imagine, had France, put away their racism, petty differences, etc, and properly funded & truly tried to help their colonies fairly, how powerful, France could have become right now. They possibly could be the richest country in the world, along with it's colonies.

[@tonybarrett8543]

I think your missing the point

[@wiktorberski9272]

Really great movie. You did a really good job. Most of the issues presented here I was not aware

[@Numba003]

Thank you for another interesting episode. Africa's modern development overall is quite the complicated topic, and I would love to see more videos on it in the future. God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

[@Jordanthecool7]

What is the outro song? Edit : nvm I found it , it’s Hero’s will fall , by Bonnie grace

[@kalebnbrown]

You are great resource. Keep up the good work!

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

I hope you also make a video on how France gave up its Indian colonial territories

[@andrewbaker6056]

God, this channel hits just right

[@brokenbridge6316]

Nicely done video

[@deathdoor]

You mean, France is losing its colonies NOW, right.

[@badluck5647]

The silver lining to France forcing the CFA franc on West Africa is that the region shares a currency instead 14+ individual currencies. That being said, the transition to an independent currency, the eco, for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is overdue.

[@pougetguillaume4632]

Why are people so embarassingly incorrect about french involvement in africa all the time? You DO know the CFA isn't forced on african countries? Google the currency madagascar is using now vs then. What do you mean they got out of the franc CFA? Are you telling me african countries have always been able to leave and that some countries that use the currency today weren't even french colonies to begin with and chose to! Impossible i learned france was a colonial power my preconceived ideas nooooooooooooooo some countries left it and the ones who couldn't afford to have their own or had benefit in staying in never left. That's all it is.

[@badluck5647]

@@pougetguillaume4632 France flooded countries that refused the CFA franc with counterfeits of the local currency, and France still refuses to return the currency reserves held in France's central bank. Making this sound like a mutual agreement is false.

[@pougetguillaume4632]

@@badluck5647 lol The point about france holding currency reserves is a classic propaganda talking point that has been debunked many times. Giorgia meloni italian prime minister famously used and popularized it as is expected of bad faith politicians First it is over since 2019 countries no longer have to place 50% of their currency reserves in france. You're late to the party my dude... i did say people are embarassingly incorrect didn't i? You're the living embodiment Second there is a rational that people conveniently leave out, the reason was to guarantee access to liquid currency in case... you know... africa is an unstable place, a coup is happens so quickly it's be a shame if a moron take over and makes the the currency plummet because of short term goal. The best part about this argument is that african countries actually RECEIVED money, like a bank gives you interest for depositing in an account. As for your claim of counterfeit CFA from france my answer will be the same as always: did the source came to you in a dream? France was accused of a lot of things. Assassinating thomas sankara (france declassified its document about it, still no proof), france created a mass grave in mali, until the army released a video of wagner doing the did etc... it's the first time i've heard of this -bullshit- i mean reasonable argument so i'm suuuuure you've got a rock hard argument to back it up amiright? The franc CFA is a mutual agreement (mostly) and i'm tired of pretending it's not

[@TheOrdomalleus666]

I'm watching every episode till the last second just to hear what the Bell Button is up to this time :D

[@rodrigovelasquez49]

Thank for the great work you do, host . You always have the correct subject.

[@ianblake815]

Great presentation! 👏

[@remnant.watchman]

Thanks

[@ET-mr4iu]

A faire handed study, the likes of which many people would benefit from 👍

[@An-HONYM]

It is true that indigenous languages could not be taught in public schools in the French colonies, so to be able to continue speaking and writing in their language, in Madagascar, Tahiti , New Caledonia, etc…the natives sent their children to Christian schools because foreign missionaries (British, Dutch, American, etc…) translated the Bible into indigenous languages and taught the Gospels both in French and in the language of their ancestors. This is why today in the churches of France, many priests and pastors come from the former French colonies. Regarding the massacres in Madagascar in 1947, few people have any idea of the acts of cruelty committed by the authorities. In France who knows that the indigenous rebels were dropped to their death from airplanes or helicopters into villages ?

[@aasemahsan]

4:50 Brazzaville conference 11:08 Ivory coast 15:34 Madagascar

[@fluffypants]

Good

[@k-brick9996]

France is losing their CFA Francs now

[@Roddy556]

Seeing as the French needed massive military assistance in the 1940's maybe they should have given their colonies a rest after that.

[@TheLovescream]

Thanks for the great content guys, one can really tell youre running this channel with a lot of passion! That said, France ought to finally let go if its imperial dreams and focus on EU integration instead.

[@ironiceire]

Isn’t EU integration, expansion and federalisation just imperialism under a new name. As an Irish dude, I’d say that in the contemporary general public, outside of the Leinster House establishment, this is the public opinion.

[@TheLovescream]

Imperialism is the unilateral imposing of dominance over another actors sovereignity (most commonly by threat or utiliziation of violence), and last I looked thats decidedly not what the EU is doing. The smallest states have the biggest relative share of power in the EU and all members joined voluntarily. Its ridicilous to hear an Irishman accusing the EU of imperialism, when Irelands literally exploiting and violating other members sovereignity with its tax haven policies. If Ireland were to leave they would see their GDP plummet off a cliff due to every major corporation relocating away from Dublin. If the EU was imperialist, one of its first priorities would be to shut these policies down, since that would be in the interest of every non-haven member and the vast majority of the population. EU integration and federalization is literally the most benign from of delegated authority in existence on this level.

[@ironiceire]

@@TheLovescream it’s about the political and free side, for example, Ireland is one of the largest censorship apparatuses in the west because the government uses the trust in the largest newspapers and in RTE, to push propaganda about how protesters who demand changes in government are ‘far-right’. They also have the strictest hate speech bill in Europe proposed, whose main goal is to silence opposition to the regime and to create the ‘thought crime’, but it’s stuck in limbo in the senate for now thankfully. They also Mandate state-sponsored veganisim in the public health service, the HSE, for no apparent reason at all. But in the past few years, people have started to wake up to this oppression and have become more vocal, without descending into outright violence. To conclude, I’ll say the Ireland is the EU first illiberal democracy because only two political parties have have their leaders be Taoiseach and Tániste since ‘independence’ in 1922, beating out Hungary by about 7 decades. But Ireland is a illiberal democracy built on globalisim and cultural Marxism, while Hungary is an illiberal democracy build on traditional Christian values, Óbanisim and Putinisim. So the current Irish regime is Varadkarist then.

[@pougetguillaume4632]

@@TheLovescream on the tax heaven part i really wouldn't accuse anybody since everybody is knees deep in that shit. You could say tax heavens are a natural quirk of a capitalistic globalised world (i promise i'm not communist lol). In 2000 a swiss bank was found handling embezzled funds from a nigerian dictator, all of europe, the US, the entire crew piles in and claim boldly that tax heavens are evil and switzerland should be a functionning member of the world society instead of a parasite etc... classic stuff. So the swiss publish a list of bank involved... every country involved shat the fuck up overnight. In the word of great philosopher todd howard "it's not a bug, it's a feature" (or was he a video game company CEO?) Anyway rant over i 100% agree the EU isn't imperialistic by any stretch of the imagination. 👍

[@surprise_]

FREXIT 🇨🇵🇨🇵🇨🇵

[@dtac_10_29]

Ironically, the countries in Central and West Africa that uses CFA Francs was not as badly hit as the likes of Ghana and Nigeria during the pandemic.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

I'm waiting for the bell button to initiate a coup against the ruling bell button.

[@emmanuelperez8094]

"This is a contentious Argument even Today, as Netflix recently found." Ouch Netflix and Jada Pinkett Smith Gets Roasted damn!!!!

[@pougetguillaume4632]

Netflix getting a cold shoulder for their shitty "i don't care what they tell you at school, cleopatra was black" is 600% deserved not just because it's wrong but because it blatantly ignores the scientific method like some anti vaxxer would. It would be weirder for an historian to not take a piss at this shit tbh.

[@frankieseward8667]

Good reason. Cleopatra was doomed from the start.

[@emmanuelperez8094]

@@frankieseward8667 People cannot rewrite history, In fact the Egyptians disliked it, and those people who said that the show was bad, well everyone is calling all of us racist, when do people must accept the facts not the lies these days

[@frankieseward8667]

@@emmanuelperez8094 yeah. If a show is bad, it's because the quality is poor, not because people are racist, honophobic or sexist. Sometimes i wonder if people make stuff like that on purpose to play the victim. It's heroic, it's cringe. And it needs to stop.

[@emmanuelperez8094]

@@frankieseward8667 true to what you said, if they want to create a show that is based on historical facts, they should not ruin it by making their own version of history, they should stick to the source material

[@markkarpoff8737]

Nice TV

[@sourabhmayekar3354]

Awesome

[@wazukyan7696]

They missed the opportunity to make a union or Confedaration like the British did in India. it might and might not have worked though .

[@AJAYSINGH-ns1vv]

india become confederation because of it's hindu religion and culture not that british made it but they are the cause for unity of India to which Indians United to throw them out.

[@tremendousbaguette9680]

4:40 : I see what you did there...

[@theawesomeman9821]

Africa for Africans

[@samaalehiil3221]

No butter and milk makes sense thou 😅

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and wonderful introduction episode of that historical matter....thank you an excellent(cold war) channel for sharing....it seems to me...The USA realized that it's super advanced and powerful technology ,economic strength, and global dominant diplomacy are easily over running the French, British colonialism and replace them around the world through modernized colonialism ... so the US launched the liquidity of British, French colonialism around the world behind the Cold War activities 🤔 which was superficiality launched against USSR and China .

[@literallynothinghere9089]

Bro have you ever seen Tony Pros Cold War Generator?

[@homuraakemi493]

France didn't lose its African colonies. It became its African colonies

[@mavssami41]

"This is a contentious argument as Netflix found" WRONG they are mad that they made cleopatra black....she was greek. Sad the channel didn’t look into better. Will smith wife tried to blackwash history

[@Mrgunsngear]

🇺🇸

[@surfdocer103]

Now they’re all moving to France

[@petterbirgersson4489]

Colonialism didn't survive modernity and a state with (somewhat) democratic procedures.

[@barbadolid5170]

It just changed. In the end, most of the former colonies nowadays are not really independent or sovereign

[@josecipriano3048]

Colonialism never died.

[@petterbirgersson4489]

@@josecipriano3048 You are right. Neocolonialism and economical control of former colonial powers is still a reality, unfortunately.

[@hauptmannbalalaika]

La Civilisation Française did not appeal in Africa then? Now that's a surprise!

[@johnmcdonald9295]

This will save the French people by billions ,when France cuts off all aid

[@islandpatriot2941]

Which aid? France does not help anyone with anything. You must pay attention in school more often.

[@HeinzFugenstie]

@johnmcdonald9295 you don't know how aid or much of anything do you?

[@josecipriano3048]

Do you really believe that France is losing money with it's "foreign aid"? You don't know about unequal trade, do you?

[@gm2723]

@8:55 because it's complete bullshit

[@dcanedemboyz7431]

End of French African colonies soon

[@pougetguillaume4632]

The largest mine in niger (ex french colonies) is the canadian gold mine of samira hill. Day 6547 of people having no clue that colonialism is dead and gone, "neo colonialism" is all the rage now and it's a group effort. you're missing the forest for the tree my dudes.

[@ugbuga]

​@@pougetguillaume4632So because there is a Canadian mine in Niger it means the French are not doing colonialism in Africa? Probably the dumbest argument i have seen.

[@pougetguillaume4632]

@@ugbuga reading is hard? How did you transform "neocolonialism is a group effort" to "france did nothing wrong"? Improve your reading comprehension please. My point is that colonialism is long gone what we're witnessing is a far different beast, one that goes beyond X is evil. There are conflicting interest in africa whereas during colonialism everybody had their own colonies and no one were allowed to touch on another's colony. Canadian, british, american, russian, french, chinese interest can coexist within a single country it is doing a disservice to yourself to limit your understanding to something as surface level as X did it. Same if you think current coups in west africa like the one in niger are created by russia/wagner you are doing a disservice to your own intelligence because you're missing half the picture. Not everything revolves around X country, be it france or russia, there are many other foreign and (even moreso) internal reasons for why things are happening the way they are.

[@ugbuga]

@@pougetguillaume4632 you're literally arguing semantics, You know what both the OP and I meant on our comments, You literally woke up today and decided to be angry about semantics pathetic get up and go outside.

[@pougetguillaume4632]

@@ugbuga genocide is when you are trying to erase the existence of a group of people, massacres are large killing of people. This is why rwanda is considered a genocide and not ukraine. You are the one playing with semantics, treating like everything is the same when it's not. Words have a meaning the only "colony" i know of today is dutch and even then that hardly qualifies as a colony like you think it does. Colonialism as a system is dead get over it.

[@berniekatzroy]

I don't see the issue, let these slowly former colonies rise up.

[@_VISION.]

The issue is that it's greed

[@MP15aug]

So are you saying that Cleopatra is black? When there exists records showing that she was Greek. Netflix got in trouble because of that.

[@josecipriano3048]

Are you saying that there was only one Egyptian dynasty?

[@MP15aug]

@@josecipriano3048 No, but that is not what he said. He gave Netflix as an example of an area of controversy. Historically there is no controversy.

[@An-HONYM]

Well… Hollywood movies and western pop culture do not say that according to the Bible Moses married a black woman from Ethiopia. And guess what ? Moses was raised… in Egypt.

[@graceneilitz7661]

@@josecipriano3048Cleopatra the seventh absolutely was Greek. So were all of her ancestors in her very inbred family.

[@Spacemongerr]

​@@An-HONYM There is no evidence that Moses even existed. He is a mythological character.

[@pyeitme508]

Oof

[@alex4863]

Western Democracies is always hilarious with baby step progress.

[@AncestorEmpireGaming]

We make fun of France of losing. But who lost both world wars?

[@user-ch7wn5fk8d]

No, we make fun of France for how quickly they gave up, not that they lost. France had an unbelievable opportunity to completely destroy the Germans in 1939.Germany only had a few Divisions in the West.

[@AncestorEmpireGaming]

@@user-ch7wn5fk8d they had a resistance that lasted longer than the majority of the western’s involvement. Most of the intelligence in Europe came from that resistance. And the main reason why France lost their main army so quickly is because Germany played the long game with them. Kind of like how China is playing the long game right now.

[@pougetguillaume4632]

​​​@@user-ch7wn5fk8ddanemark, belgium, the netherland, czeckoslovakia and poland must feel real sad if resistance time is the metric you're using. The british ground forces in france too are currently sweating bullet. And the soviet are not feeling much better considering the amount of ground and soldiers they sacrificed to stop the momentum So anyway you were saying? Edit: i forgot about norway my bad. Let's throw greece and yougoslavia in there too since they got their ass kicked as soon the german showed up.

[@VinnyUnion]

​@@AncestorEmpireGamingi'm pretty sure that apart from the generals sucking, it was also 'causs they couldn't be bothered with risking paris being destroyed during the process. Understandably so. Paris would've been a wreck with the german's way of bombing cities, not worth it. The only time it was worth fighting germans alone was for Czechoslovakia. They've had great bunkers and more or less finished defenses and a very strong army in a sense of soldiers. I believe even a few neighboring Nations would've sent volunteers for reinforcement even.

[@AncestorEmpireGaming]

@@VinnyUnion that and Germany just drove around France’s main line of tank defense. Oops

[@hourbee5535]

France losing is old news. We support African's right to self-determination and de-colonialism.

[@francoluissotomayor5521]

When western powers go to war, big money follows. When local powers go to war big money protests.

[@badluck5647]

Too bad Pan-Africanism is being co-opted by military juntas and Russia.

[@KILLERONROAD]

No duh, this is a history channel lol

[@jonathanstevey1748]

Ya you aren't too smart...like the guy above said...this is a history channel

[@parksinthegarage]

hIsToRY iS oLd NewS

[@SchlangeVonEden]

"A chad move", was it? Seriously, please stop.

[@petterbirgersson4489]

Why not?

[@rodrigovelasquez49]

If you understand it... why we can't use that?

[@pougetguillaume4632]

Of course he doesn't have to stop, It's like complaining to a french that you can never be "frank" about how much "pain" you are in. Shitty dad humour always gets a pass

[@alphamikeomega5728]

Not "a chad move", but "a Chad move".

[@VinnyUnion]

​@@rodrigovelasquez49repetitiveness is one form of strong torture method. Think about it. Same thing can apply to these jokes as well. Sometimes you may not like a certain joke and if you keep being reminded of it and slingshot to your previous state of annoyance, it'll become harmful indirectly. Not as much as coffee though

[@forenamesurname1183]

Unlike the Orient, Africa did not maintain and improve on the marvelous technologies and infrastructure that was left to them, so tiresome, very disappointing.!

[@Anverse-14]

Tribalism in africa is far too huge for some ignorant european bigots to teach them democracy

[@TheRageng]

Did the voices inside of your head tell you this information?

[@thelakeman2538]

Remember the French literally stripped streetlights and burned medicine when Guinea voted to become independent in a referendum they conducted so that the Guineans couldn't use them, so much for the marvelous technology and infrastructure that was left for them.

[@stanleydouge2803]

@@thelakeman2538white people are delusional lol

[@NguyenCao-yp5ez]

ah, the French, they did construct a lot of infrastructure in the Indochina, but the price for it to Indochinese people was quite costly