Le Vice Allemand: The “German” Nature of French Homosexuality and the First World War

This thesis explores the ways in which French views of homosexuality were linked to Germany in the years leading to the First World War. The first chapter focuses on the medical and literary stereotypes concerning homosexuals that helped to cement homosexuality as something aberrant and foreign to the French public consciousness. The second focuses on the war and how these stereotypes may have influenced perceptions of gay men in the military. It rests primarily on three case studies: the desertion trials of Rifleman Haoussine Ben Guidoun and Corporal Jean Auguste Moret, as well as the suicide of Lieutenant Robert d’Humières. The former trials show the ways in which the aforementioned stereotypes about homosexuality were employed, while the latter demonstrates the consequences such scrutiny could produce. In sum, this thesis demonstrates how the first two decades of the 20th century placed increased strain on French homosexuals, particularly in the military context.