Fashoda crisis

Fashoda crisis, 1898. In 1893 France, irritated by Britain's continued hold over Egypt, decided to go for Fashoda, on the White Nile to the south. An expedition was sent under Colonel Marchand, who arrived on 10 July 1898. On 18 September a British army under Kitchener met him there. All that happened was that the two men sat down, cracked open a bottle of champagne, and waited for the respective Foreign Offices to patch things up. In the end (3 November) the French gave in.