Fashoda Incident
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Map of Africa with 1898 colonial claims. British claims are in yellow and French claims in pink. |
The
Fashoda Incident (
1898) was the climax of
imperial territorial disputes between the
United Kingdom and
France in
Eastern Africa. It brought the United Kingdom and France to the
verge of war but ended in a diplomatic victory for the UK. It is held to have given rise to the '
Fashoda syndrome' in French foreign policy (assertion of French influence in areas which may be becoming susceptible to British influence).
During the late
19th century, Africa was rapidly being occupied by European colonial powers. This period in
African history is usually called the
Scramble for Africa. The two major powers involved in this scramble were the
United Kingdom and France.
It came to pass that the French thrust into the African interior was mainly from West Africa (modern day
Senegal) eastward, through the
Sahel along the southern border of the
Sahara, a territory covering modern day
Senegal,
Mali,
Niger, and
Chad. Their ultimate aim was to have an uninterrupted link between the
Niger River and the
Nile, hence controlling all trade to and from the Sahel region, by virtue of their existing control over the Caravan routes through the Sahara.
The British, on the other hand, wanted to link their possessions in
Southern Africa (modern
South Africa,
Botswana,
Zimbabwe, and
Zambia), with their territories in
East Africa (modern
Kenya), and these two areas with the Nile basin.
Sudan (which in those days included modern day
Uganda) was obviously the key to the fulfillment of these ambitions, especially since
Egypt was already under British control. This 'red line' (i.e. a proposed railway, see
Cape-Cairo railway) through Africa is made most famous by Englishman and South African Political force
Cecil Rhodes, who wanted Africa 'painted [British] Red'.
When one draws a line from Cape Town to Cairo (Rhodes' dream), and one from Dakar to the Horn (the French ambition), these two lines intersect somewhere in eastern Sudan near Fashoda (present-day
Kodok), explaining its strategic importance. In short, the United Kingdom had sought to extend its East African empire contiguously from
Cairo to the
Cape of Good Hope, while France had sought to extend its own holdings from
Dakar to the Sudan, which would enable its empire to span the entire continent from the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Red Sea.
Fashoda was also bound up in the Egyptian Question — a long running dispute between the United Kingdom and France over the legality of the British occupation of Egypt. Since
1882 many French politicians, particularly those of the parti colonial, had come to regret France's decision not to join with Britain in occupying the country. They hoped to force Britain to leave, and thought that a colonial outpost on the Upper Nile could serve as a base for French gunboats. These in turn were expected to make the British abandon Egypt. Another proposed scheme involved a massive dam, cutting off the Nile's water supply and forcing the British out. These ideas were highly impractical, but they succeeded in frightening many British officials, who sought to protect Egypt by securing the Nile.
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Kodok, formerly Fashoda, lies on the banks of the White Nile. Shown here within the modern day borders of Sudan |
A French force of 150
tirailleurs set out from
Brazzaville under Major
Jean-Baptiste Marchand with orders to secure the area around Fashoda as a French protectorate. After an epic 14-month trek across the heart of Africa they arrived on
10 July,
1898. On
18 September, a powerful flotilla of British gunboats arrived at the isolated fort, led by
Lord Kitchener and including
Horace Smith-Dorrien. As the commander of the Anglo-Egyptian army that had just defeated the forces of the
Mahdi at the battle of
Omdurman, he was in the process of reconquering the Sudan in the name of the Egyptian
Khedive. Both sides were polite but insisted on their right to Fashoda.
News of the meeting was relayed to Paris and London, where it inflamed the imperial pride of both nations. Widespread popular outrage followed, each side accusing the other of naked expansionism and aggression. The crisis continued throughout September and October, and both nations began to mobilise their fleets in preparation for war.
Militarily, the situation was heavily in the United Kingdom's favour, a fact that French deputies were to acknowledge in the aftermath of the crisis. The French fleet was badly built and poorly organised, while the British held an advantage both in numbers and technology. The French army was far larger than the British army, but there was little it would have been able to do against Britain in the face of British naval superiority.
This fact was undoubtedly an important one to
Theophile Delcassé, the newly appointed French foreign minister. He was keen to gain Britain's friendship in a future conflict with
Germany, and saw no advantage in a colonial war with them. He therefore pressed hard for a peaceful resolution of the crisis. At the same time, people increasingly began to question the wisdom of war for the sake of such a remote part of Africa. In France, the reopening of the
Dreyfus Affair did much to distract public opinion from events in the Sudan. The French government quietly ordered its soldiers to withdraw on
3 November.
In March
1899 the French and British agreed that the source of the
Nile and the
Congo rivers should mark the frontier between their spheres of influence.
Some historians consider that the resolution of this incident and the increase in strength of Germany were the precursors of the
Entente Cordiale. In any case, it was the last serious colonial dispute between Britain and France.
*
Berlin Conference*
Algeciras Conference*
Fashoda syndrome*
Fashoda, the village in Sudan, is now known as
Kodok* Bates, Darell (1984).
The Fashoda incident of 1898: encounter on the Nile. Oxford: OUP, ISBN 0192117718
* David Levering Lewis.
The Race to Fashoda. New York: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1987. ISBN 1555840582
* Wright, Patricia (1972).
Conflict on the Nile: the Fashoda incident of 1898. London: Heinemann, ISBN 0434878308
*
Churchill, Sir Winston (1902).
The River War, available at Project Gutenberg. Chapter 17 is devoted to Fashoda, covering actions on the ground more than international diplomacy.
