French Forces Abroad 1893 - 1939 [Excluding the World Wars] (Exhibit)

postal cover

Introduction

This web page contains links to the content of the exhibit pages for the exhibit 'French Forces Abroad 1893 - 1939' by the late Al Kugel.

As one of the oldest of the European Great Powers, France has been engaged in military activities outside its home territory for centuries, including such memorable enterprises as its aid to the American colonies and Napoleon’s invasions of Russia and Egypt. This exhibit will chronicle the French effort to enhance their national prestige and influence by military means in more modern times.

The following pages illustrate postal material from France’s military activities in the expansion of her territory and influence from 1893 until the eve of World War II, excluding the overwhelmingly large military history of World War I. During the nearly 50 years treated here, France was involved in what would today be called peace-keeping (e.g., Crete, the Boxer Uprising, Albania and occupation of parts of the post-World War I Turkish, Austrian and German empires) and various other activities including pacification of its League of Nations mandates in the Middle East.

This exhibit was created by, and is the property of the late Al Kugel, and is being supplied by his heirs as a courtesy to the Military Postal History Society. (See the MPHS webpage) The Military Postal History Society (MPHS) is a non-profit organization for philatelists and stamp collectors interested in the collecting and studying of the postal aspects of all wars and military actions of all countries, including soldiers' campaign covers, naval mail, occupation and internment covers, patriotics, propaganda, V-mail, censorship and similar related material.

Historical Note

These exhibit page scans were made from black and white photocopies of the original exhibits. Those exhibits were created by Al Kugel many years ago, and are presented here for historical and research purposes. As far as the MPHS is aware, there are no color scans available of these older exhibit pages, nor for any of the illustrated postal history items.

PDF (Searchable) Format

This exhibit contains 160 pages, divided into 10 frames. Each frame is a single searchable PDF file.

(See the PDF information page for additional help with this file format.)

Frame 1 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 2 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 3 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 4 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 5 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 6 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 7 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 8 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 9 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Frame 10 of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

Web Format

Web Pages of the Exhibit of French Forces Abroad

More Links

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Updated 7 September 2026