Identifying French and Third World interests and aspirations was
critical to the Gaullist attack on superpower rule. Over time, with the
rise of a strong China of continental proportions, the Third World
might be called into play to balance the United States and the Soviet
Union in the Old World. Realignment efforts were flawed, however,
as long as France retained any remnants of empire. Keeping Algeria
and Black Africa in colonial status compromised the force of Gaullist
France's criticism of superpower hegemonic pretensions; it diluted,
too, its appeal to the developing states to enlist in the French-led
resistance movement to American and Soviet pressures and blandish-
ments. The origins and mandate of the Fifth Republic hardly eased
its task of reorienting France's Third World posture. The Gaullist
regime was charged by its principal progenitors -- a mutinous pro-
fessional army corps -- to preserve, not dissolve, the empire.

Colonies had outgrown their usefulness. They were an increasingly
intolerable burden for the French nation and an insurmountable ob-
stacle to the realization of de Gaulle's global aims. Twelve years of
bitter colonial fighting, sustained by enormous losses in French blood
and treasure, testified to the determination of colonial peoples to
govern themselves. Foreign wars polarized domestic opinion. Dev-
astated by invasion, disillusioned in defeat, and distracted by recon-
struction, the French were increasingly divided against themselves:
neither willing to support an empire, nor prepared to rid themselves
of old habits or outdated notions of a world role whose validity de-
pended on foreign possessions. Meanwhile, the economic costs of
colonies exceeded their benefits, and the gap widened with each pass-
ing year. Compelled to use force to pacify rebellious foreign popula-
tions, French self-esteem and stature abroad inevitably deteriorated.

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