France and the Great War

From gender to war technologies, from pacifism to race, this special issue explores a wide range of perspectives on France’s participation in the Great War and its legacy. The first two articles draw historical insight from the battlefront: one focuses on the Great War’s legacy as a truly modern war, examining French munitions and other technologies in the midst of evolving combat tactics; the other describes the experiences of female employees in the French army, highlighting the role of gender as it connects to other major wartime themes. The last two articles survey the effects of the war on nonmajority populations on the home front. One contributor addresses questions of race in the French Empire by examining the stories of the children of deceased indigenous soldiers; another traces channels of dissent during the war by analyzing the rhetoric and political philosophy of pacifism in France.