Colonial Soldiers in Decolonization Wars. The Moroccan soldiers in Indochina (1946-1954)

The Moroccan soldiers in Indochina (Vietnam) between 1946 -1954 were a specimen of soldiers who fought a decolinization war in a third country (not in the European metropole or in their own country of origin).

This project seeks to examine to what extent the French, in a context of political tension in the Maghreb managed to retain the integrity and loyalty of their Moroccan military structures, despite the struggle with the nationalists in Morocco.

It will also examine to what extent there was continuity, from the pre-1946 era, in the political and cultural policies that the French carried out towards their Moroccan soldiers in Indochina and the reception of the Moroccans of these policies, particularly the French army's Islamic policy.

It will also look at the interactions of the Moroccans with their Indochinese cultural and human environment and the effect these interactions had on their attitude towards the people in Indochina, as well as the long term cultural social and cultrual effect of the struggle of these soldiers back in Morocco, especially in connection with marital unions and the families the Moroccans established in Indochina and later took them back home.

The project sees this group of military men as as an example of temporary migrants and will also seek to compare the difference and similarities between the Indochinese case and other Moroccan migratory-military experiences that took place in Europe during and between the two World Wars. The project makes use of both archival material and exclusive interviews with Moroccan veterans.