The French were relatively unusual in having an integrated military before any other European nations. Germany actually used it for propaganda during the first world war – they accused the French of letting African "barbarians" run rampant over German territory.
However, this is absolutely not proof of the French military’s progressiveness; its reasoning was that black soldiers would be inherently unreliable, so any unit would need a certain proportion of white soldiers to be effective. Black soldiers were almost never given technical roles or promotions.
Paracelsus8
The French were relatively unusual in having an integrated military before any other European nations. Germany actually used it for propaganda during the first world war – they accused the French of letting African "barbarians" run rampant over German territory.
However, this is absolutely not proof of the French military’s progressiveness; its reasoning was that black soldiers would be inherently unreliable, so any unit would need a certain proportion of white soldiers to be effective. Black soldiers were almost never given technical roles or promotions.