Economic development required ending military conquest and civilianizing West Africa

Evidence

Clearly, a policy of economic development was not compatible with a continuing policy of unbridled conquest, which was exactly what the new Ministry now accused the army of pursuing in the Western Sudan. West Africa was sufficiently “pacified” to wind up military operations and begin tapping the resources of the new territories already under French control. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 125

Clearly, a policy of economic development was not compatible with a continuing policy of unbridled conquest, which was exactly what the new Ministry now accused the army of pursuing in the Western Sudan. West Africa was sufficiently “pacified” to wind up military operations and begin tapping the resources of the new territories already under French control. The civilian-military disputes taking place in West Africa between r89I and 1894, coupled with the army’s refusal to obey orders from Paris, had, however, already shown that such a “winding up” could not be coordinated from the metropole. What was needed instead was a civilian representative of the Third Republic on the spot, with sufficient authority to bring the military forces to heel, and to overcome the separatist sentiments of the different governors. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 125

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the republican idea of empire thread of this book — the civilian-rational-state overrode military adventurism.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 125