Colonial troops
Colonial troops have been used by imperial powers whether ancient (such as Carthage[1] and Rome), or modern (such as Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Portugal).
[3] By the mid 18th century, these troops were beginning to be directly recruited by the Company, allowing more systematic provisioning, drill and tactics, forming the presidency armies.
The latter might be from the home or metropolitan army, from settlers doing their military service or occasionally from mercenaries recruited outside the territories of the colonial power concerned.
Units of european troops raised specifically for overseas service include those in France (les marsouins within numerous régiments d'infanterie coloniale), and in Spain (Spanish Legion in the 1920s, contiuning the legacy of the Regimiento Fijo a century previous).
Many colonial powers sought to recruit minority peoples, such as the Ambonese in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI),[8] to counterbalance majority populations seen as potentially rebellious, such as the Javanese.
Such minority groups, and those with records of loyalty in revolt, were often designated as "martial races"; their supposedly superior fighting qualities propagandized, and their communities rewarded with special status.
Raised to garrison Syria and Lebanon from 1920 to 1943, this force of about 10,000 men (in 1938) was predominantly recruited from Alawite, Druze, Kurdish, and Circassian minorities, augmented by North African, Senegalese, and French Foreign Legion units.
It was not uncommon for colonial armies to favor the races that had shown the fiercest opposition to the initial conquest of a given territory (examples being the Sikhs of India and the Rif tribesmen of Morocco).
The relative lack of up-to-date weaponry and training put colonial troops at an initial disadvantage when they faced modern opponents such as the German or Japanese armies of World War II.
[13] Even earlier, the African and Indian troops that had been sent to France in 1914 encountered a climate, diet, and general conditions of service greatly different from those with which they were familiar.
The Senegalese Tirailleurs of the French Army had to be withdrawn to southern France for recuperation and training during the harsh winters of the Western Front.
All Indian troops, with the exception of some cavalry regiments, were withdrawn from the Western Front in October 1915, to serve in Mesopotamia, Palestine, and East Africa.
[24] The demographic composition of the 65th stayed generally the same after 1917 (though composed of US citizens it was no longer be a "colonial" regiment), and went onto to serve with distinction in every major US conflict since.
Representative detachments of Indian and other empire forces came to London to parade as part of coronation or other major celebrations during the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Until at least the 1930s, British Indian and French, Italian, and Spanish North African regiments were notable for their picturesque uniforms which incorporated native features such as colorful turbans, cloaks, and sashes.
Where there had been extended conflict those locally recruited troops who had remained loyal to their former colonial rulers might find themselves regarded as collaborators and subject to reprisals after independence.
