“Every Battalion Must Possess One”: French Military Brothels, Sexual Regulation and Colonial Warfare in Vietnam and Algeria
Douglas Chalmers Graduate Scholars Lecture by Marie Robin
In this talk, Dr. Marie Robin draws on her doctoral research to explore how French military brothels, also known as Bordels Militaires de Campagne (BMCs), became a regular feature of the French army’s presence on the ground during the wars of independence in Vietnam and Algeria (c. 1945–1962). Despite their persistence and institutionalization, they have received little attention in histories of the French colonial wars. Why did the French army consider military brothels necessary to the conduct of colonial warfare?
The lecture traces the development of the BMC system from the First World War through the wars of decolonization, considering the place they occupied within the everyday functioning of the French army during the colonial wars, while also examining what this history reveals about the relationship between sexuality, warfare, and violence
Marie Robin is a historian of war and violence in the French Empire, she received her doctoral degree in History from Columbia University in 2026. She is currently an Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy at Harvard University.
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