Where there prevailed long traditions of organized political life and a common culture, the French tended to rule indirectly through existing local authorities, as in Tunisia and Morocco. In less structured societies like those of West Africa, the French imposed direct rule and attempted to assimilate the populace. More than the British, the French intermixed with the indigenous population. The British, on the other hand, were more wont to prepare some colonies for autonomy or independence. The French colonial empire began to fall during the Second World War, when various parts were occupied by foreign lands. However control was gradually regained by Charles Gaulle. The French Union, included in the Constitution of 1946, nominally replaced the former colonial empire, but officials in Paris remained in full control. The colonies were given local assemblies with only limited local power and budgets. There emerged a group of elites, known as evolues, who were natives of the overseas territories but lived in metropolitan France. French colonial imperialism survived World War I, but World War II led to its reformation as the French Union, and finally to its end, primarily as the result of the wars in Indochina and
Where there prevailed long traditions of organized political life and a common culture, the French tended to rule indirectly through existing local authorities, as in Tunisia and Morocco. In less structured societies like those of West Africa, the French imposed direct rule and attempted to assimilate the populace. More than the British, the French intermixed with the indigenous population. The British, on the other hand, were more wont to prepare some colonies for autonomy or independence. The French colonial empire began to fall during the Second World War, when various parts were occupied by foreign lands. However control was gradually regained by Charles Gaulle. The French Union, included in the Constitution of 1946, nominally replaced the former colonial empire, but officials in Paris remained in full control. The colonies were given local assemblies with only limited local power and budgets. There emerged a group of elites, known as evolues, who were natives of the overseas territories but lived in metropolitan France. French colonial imperialism survived World War I, but World War II led to its reformation as the French Union, and finally to its end, primarily as the result of the wars in Indochina and