‘‘La République continue, comme par le passé’’: the myths and realities of the Resistance in French India

French India was one of the first French colonies to rally behind Charles De Gaulle. As a result, subsequent historiography has had a tendency to present the inhabitants of French India in the 1940s as deeply patriotic and committed to a particular idea of the French nation. My paper aims to complicate this story by locating French India within imperial and regional geopolitics. By drawing upon a wide range of French and British government archives, official publications and private papers, I examine the reasons behind the French Governor’s decision to rally to the Free French and the difficult political relationship that existed between the French and the British. I also explore the different types of resistance that existed within French India, with a view to dismantling a persistent “resistance myth” that has largely concealed the actions and motivations of actors on the ground.