Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century – Far From Jihad

Xavier Bougarel, Raphaëlle Branche, Cloé Drieu, Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century – Far From Jihad, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 256 pp., 09-03-2017

About Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century During the two World Wars that marked the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of non-European combatants fought in the ranks of various European armies. The majority of these soldiers were Muslims from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent. How are these combatants considered in existing historiography? Over the past few decades, research on war has experienced a wide-reaching renewal, with increased emphasis on the social and cultural dimensions of war, and a desire to reconstruct the experience and viewpoint of the combatants themselves. This volume reintroduces the question of religious belonging and practice into the study of Muslim combatants in European armies in the 20th century, focusing on the combatants’ viewpoint alongside that of the administrations and military hierarchy.

Table of contents

• List of Illustrations
• Notes on Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction Xavier Bougarel (Centre d’Études Turques, Ottomanes, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques, France), Raphaelle Branche (University of Rouen, France) and Cloé Drieu (French National Centre for Scientific Research, France).
• 1. Algerians in the French Army, 1914-1918: From Military Integration to the Dawn of Algerian Patriotism Gilbert Meynier (Nancy II University, France)
  2. Feeding Muslim Troops during the First World War Emmanuelle Cronier (University of Picardie, France)
  3. Muslim Askaris in the Colonial Troops of German East Africa, 1889-1918 Tanja Bührer (University of Rostock, Germany)
  4. Turkic Muslims in the Russian Army: From the Beginning of the First World War to the Revolution of 1917 Salavat M. Iskhakov (Institute of Russian History, Russia)
  5. Between ‘Non-Russian Nationalities’ and Muslim Identity: Perceptions and Self-Perceptions of Soviet Central Asian Soldiers in the Red Army, 1941-1945 Kiril Feferman (USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research, USA)
  6. Islam, a ‘Convenient Religion’? The Case of the 13th SS Division Handschar Xavier Bougarel (Centre d’Études Turques, Ottomanes, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques, France)
  7. The Officer for Muslim Military Affairs in the First French Army, 1944-1945: An Agent of Control or an Intermediary? Claire Miot (Département de Sciences Sociales, École Normale Supérieure, France)
  8. Haunted by Jinns. Dealing with War Neuroses among Muslim Soldiers during the Second World War Julie Le Gac (University of Paris IV Sorbonne, France)
  9. ‘Allah Might Provide the Fuel’: Muslim Sailors in British Colonial Navies, from the Second World War to Independence Daniel Owen Spence (University of the Free State, South Africa)
• Glossary
• Index

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