16.1.18 to 16.1.21

The French made their last major colonial gains after the First World War, when they gained mandates over the former Turkish territories that make up what is now Syria and Lebanon, as well as most of the former German colonies of Togo and Cameroon. Collapse of the empire The French colonial empire began to fall apart during the Second World War, when various parts of their empire were occupied by foreign powers (Japan in Indochina, Britain in Syria and Lebanon, the US and Britain in Morocco and Algeria, Germany in Tunisia). Although France's colonies were restored in 1945, France had almost immediately to engage in suppressing a bitter independence struggle in Indochina. When this ended with French defeat and withdrawal in 1954, the French almost immediately became involved in a new, and even harsher conflict in their oldest major colony, Algeria. Algeria was particularly problematic due to the large number of European settlers (or pied-noir )who had settled there in the century and a quarter of French rule; in addition, a sizeable Jewish community feared that independence would expose them to retribution by the Muslim majority. Charles de Gaulle's accession to power in 1958 ultimately led to independence for Algeria in 1962. Most of the other French African colonies had already been granted independence in 1960, following local referendums. Some colonies chose instead to remain part of France, under the statuses of oversea département or oversea territory. After independence, some of France's former colonies continued to participate in the French Union, and later in the French Community, nurturing to varying extents political, economic and cultural ties with their former colonial power. (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )