An Anglo-French clash/war between 1870-90

Proctol

Banned
Is there any scenario that could have resulted in a clash/skirmish/crisis/all out war between France & the UK sometime between 1870 and 1890, & with what result? (assume the Franco-Prussian war doesn't take place)
 
Yep, Fashoda. 1898. Even more remote than the Balkans.

At that point, Germany still hadn't really gotten its fleet started, so it would have come in on England's side. Russia would of course join France, or try to weasel out of it when they saw how badly things stacked up. Austria would take the opportunity to try and grab more of the Balkans, but since England was still friendly with the Ottoman Empire Germany would likely yank Austria's chain a bit.

Actually, in OTL France backed down, I'd bet because it knew that it'd lose a war, so I don't think there's any chance that France would make war on England without a German alliance.

Which brings us to 1884-85, when Germany had promised to return Alsace-Lorraine to France in the event of their going to war against England together, and the League of the Three Empires was still alive, if barely. (Britain convinced Russia and Austria fairly quickly that they weren't good allies, and France soon figured out that German hegemony would be bad for it). Perhaps something in China or Africa could have sparked that conflict?
 
I don't think so. Britain's policy at the time was - maintain the balance of power in Europe.

A major defeat of France (even if that defeat is by Britain) upsets the balance of power. Germany would become too powerful if France was defeated again.

So I think Britain would only seek to maintain its aims in Africa - by fighting only in Africa. The 'Battle of Fachoda' would lead to a short, limited naval and colonial war between Britain and France, but not a European land war. Britain would not invade France, and France could not invade Britain.

The Royal Navy would be used to cut off French trade with Africa, and prevent reinforcements from France reaching Africa, but would probably not be used to bombard French ports. The French fleet was weak compared to Britain's, so the French Navy would mostly stay in port except for purely token efforts.

The British would not welcome German, Italian or Japanese involvement, and would probably warn all other nations off - since Britain would be eager to prevent Germany or Japan from expanding their empires at France's expense, if possible.

If German intervention appeared to become a serious threat, the British and French would get together to resolve their differences quickly. I don't think the war would last very long anyway - the French didn't stand much chance and both Britain and France had too much to lose if Germany took advantage of the situation.
 
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