Competition with France

28.4.3: Competition with France

During the Scramble for Africa, tensions between Britain and France were high. At several points the two nations reached the brink of war, but the situation was always diffused diplomatically.

Learning Objective

Compare and contrast the French and British Empires in Africa

Key Points

  • During the Scramble for Africa in the 1870s and 1880s, the British and French generally recognized each other’s spheres of influence. Their imperial aims were mainly complementary, except in some areas of vital importance that led to major conflict.
  • The British aimed to assert their influence on a North-South axis, from “Cape to Cairo,” as it was often called, from their colonies in South Africa to Egypt.
  • This dream was largely supported by Cecil Rhodes, a British businessman who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.
  • On the other hand, the French aimed to dominate Africa on a East-West axis to have an uninterrupted link between the Niger River and the Nile, hence controlling all trade to and from the Sahel region.
  • These two aims intersected in Fashoda, which led to the climax of their conflicts in the Fashoda Incident.
  • In 1898, French troops tried to claim an area in the Southern Sudan when a British force purporting to be acting in the interests of the Khedive of Egypt arrived.
  • Under heavy pressure, the French withdrew and Britain took control over the area, leading to embarrassment for the French and an end to British-French conflict.

Key Terms

Entente Cordiale
A series of agreements signed on April 8, 1904, between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic, which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial expansion addressed by the agreement, their signing marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors.
Fashoda syndrome
A tendency within French foreign policy in Africa to assert French influence in areas that may be susceptible to British influence.
Fashoda Incident
The climax of imperial territorial disputes between Britain and France in Eastern Africa in 1898. A French expedition to Fashoda on the White Nile river sought to gain control of the Upper Nile river basin and thereby exclude Britain from the Sudan. The French party and a British detachment met on friendly terms, but back in Europe, it became a war scare. The British held firm as both nations stood on the verge of war with heated rhetoric on both sides. Under heavy pressure the French withdrew, securing Anglo-Egyptian control over the area.
Cecil Rhodes
A British businessman, mining magnate, and politician in South Africa who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, he and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895.

French-British Relations

During the late 19th century, Africa was rapidly being claimed and exploited by European colonial powers. After the 1885 Berlin Conference on West Africa, Europe’s great powers went after any remaining lands in Africa that were not already under another European nation’s influence. This period is usually called the Scramble for Africa. The two principal powers involved were Britain and France, along with Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.During this era, tensions were high between France and Britain, especially over African issues. At several points, these issues brought the two nations to the brink of war, but the situation was always diffused diplomatically. One brief but dangerous dispute occurred during the Fashoda Incident when French troops tried to claim an area in the Southern Sudan, and a British force purporting to be acting in the interests of the Khedive of Egypt arrived.

The French thrust into the African interior was mainly from the continent’s Atlantic coast (modern Senegal) eastward, through the Sahel along the southern border of the Sahara, a territory covering modern Senegal, Mali, Niger, and Chad. Their ultimate goal was 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. France also had an outpost near the mouth of the Red Sea in Djibouti (French Somaliland), which could serve as an eastern anchor to an east-west belt of French territory across the continent.

The British, on the other hand, wanted to link their possessions in Southern Africa (modern South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Zambia), with their territories in East Africa (modern Kenya), and these two areas with the Nile basin. Sudan, which then included today’s South Sudan and Uganda, was the key to the fulfillment of these ambitions, especially since Egypt was already under British control. This proposed railway through Africa was made most famous by the British and South African political force Cecil Rhodes, who wanted Africa “painted [British] Red.”

A cartoon depicting Cecil Rhodes standing over Africa, with one foot in South Africa and the other in Egypt.

The Rhodes Colossus: Cecil Rhodes spanning “Cape to Cairo,” symbolizing the British imperial ambitions of the late 19th century.

If one draws a line from Cape Town to Cairo (Rhodes’ dream) and another line from Dakar to French Somaliland by the Red Sea in the Horn (the French ambition), these two lines intersect in eastern South Sudan near the town of Fashoda (present-day Kodok), explaining its strategic importance. The French east-west axis and the British north-south axis could not co-exist; the nation that could occupy and hold the crossing of the two axes would be the only one able to proceed with its plan, leading to the Fashoda Incident (discussed below).

During the 1870s and 1880s, the British and French generally recognized each other’s spheres of influence. The Suez Canal, initially built by the French, became a joint British-French project in 1875, as both saw it as vital to maintaining their influence and empires in Asia. In 1882, ongoing civil disturbances in Egypt (Urabi Revolt) prompted Britain to intervene, extending a hand to France. France’s expansionist Prime Minister Jules Ferry was out of office, and the government was unwilling to send more than an intimidating fleet to the region. Britain established a protectorate, as France had a year earlier in Tunisia; popular opinion in France later considered this duplicity. It was about this time that the two nations established co-ownership of Vanuatu. The Anglo-French Convention of 1882 was also signed to resolve territory disagreements in western Africa.

Fashoda Incident

The Fashoda Incident was the climax of imperial territorial disputes between Britain and France in Eastern Africa in 1898. A French expedition to Fashoda on the White Nile river sought to gain control of the Upper Nile river basin and thereby exclude Britain from the Sudan. The French party and a British detachment met on friendly terms, but back in Europe, it became a war scare. The British held firm as both nations stood on the verge of war with heated rhetoric on both sides. Under heavy pressure the French withdrew, securing Anglo-Egyptian control over the area. The status quo was recognized by an agreement between the two states acknowledging British control over Egypt, while France became the dominant power in Morocco. France had failed in its main goals. P.M.H. Bell says:

“Between the two governments there was a brief battle of wills, with the British insisting on immediate and unconditional French withdrawal from Fashoda. The French had to accept these terms, amounting to a public humiliation…Fashoda was long remembered in France as an example of British brutality and injustice.”

It was a diplomatic victory for the British as the French realized that in the long run they needed the friendship of Britain in case of a war between France and Germany. 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.

The Fashoda incident was the last serious colonial dispute between Britain and France, and its classic diplomatic solution is considered by most historians to be the precursor of the Entente Cordiale. It gave rise to the Fashoda syndrome in French foreign policy, or seeking to assert French influence in areas that might be susceptible to British influence.

A map of central and east Africa, 1898, during the Fashoda Incident. It shows the various spheres of influence of different European powers, a North-South line indicating the British ambitions and a East-West line indicating French ambitions.

Fashoda Incident: Central and East Africa, 1898, during the Fashoda Incident.

Attributions