British Diplomatic Victory
In naval terms, the situation was heavily in the United Kingdom’s favour, a fact that French deputies acknowledged in the aftermath of the crisis. Though the French force was larger, the British had them outgunned. The French army was far larger than the British one, but there was little it would have been able to do against Britain without efficient naval support.
This fact was undoubtedly an important one to Théophile Delcassé, the newly appointed French foreign minister. He saw no advantage in a colonial war with the British, especially since he was keen to gain their friendship in case of any future conflict with Germany. He therefore pressed hard for a peaceful resolution of the crisis. The reopening of the Dreyfus Affair had done much to distract French public opinion from events in the Sudan and with people increasingly questioning the wisdom of a war over such a remote part of Africa, the French government quietly ordered its soldiers to withdraw on 3 November.
Read more about this topic: Fashoda Incident
Famous quotes containing the words british, diplomatic and/or victory:
“I ... would rather be in dependance on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any nation upon earth, or than on no nation. But I am one of those too who rather than submit to the right of legislating for us assumed by the British parliament, and which late experience has shewn they will so cruelly exercise, would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
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“[holds her by the hand, silent] O mother, mother!
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)