How legitimate would you judge Britains reaction to French essays

How legitimate would you judge Britains reaction to French essays How legitimate would you judge Britains reaction to French occupation of Fashoda to have been? Immediately after the Crimean War Britain and France were seen as great allies. And when the scramble of Africa started the main thing Britain did not want to happen was to start a large war with another major country, and especially a former ally. However, luckily a war never happened between them. I believe that Britains reaction was legitimate to the French occupation of Fashoda because, as Grey said, the upper Nile valley had belonged to Egypt and, since the Mahdis revolt of the 1880s, had become a diplomatic no-mans land over which Egypt (then under British protection) had by far the best claim. In fact France had had nothing to do with Fashoda at all. What we do no is that Britain were not willing to give up and let France keep Fashoda as they really wanted to link Cairo with Cape Town as it would have been an incredible advance if there was a railway line between these two cities. It would mean that more trading could be done; there would be a quick way of getting around, communications would be a lot quicker throughout Africa and therefore any messages to Britain would be quicker, and it would also be very good for getting troops around to protect British interests. So they didnt want any country to occupy Fashoda because it was right in the way between Cairo and Cape Town. Another reason why Britain was not willing to give up was because they knew that the French wouldnt be able to hold onto it with all the pressure on them and if they did they could easily disrupt French supplies from France to North Africa with the Royal Navy if there was a war. The French navy was also undermanned. Britain and France were very competitive to get as much as Africa as possible and Britain certainly didnt want the French economy improving if they got Fashoda because it would give them a dir...