1881 French Expedition to Madagascar is heavier

Hello there,

In 1881, there was a French expedition to Madagascar to establish a protectorate. It was nicknamed the "Fantom Protectorate" until the 1890's.
It seems there was some light fighting in 1881 with a coupl naval bombardment but nothing too heavy.

But what if the French had gone heavier or had faced heavier resistance? Would they go in? What would be the impact on other colonial wars (Tonkin in 1884 comes to mind)?
 
Well the result of the 1881 expedition was basically that France shelled some buildings, declared victory, and sailed away. If resistance is higher I expect they'd do much the same thing. If the French had gone in heavier they'd probably conquer it then and there, establish a protectorate, and there would be no reason for the 1895 expedition.
 
Well the result of the 1881 expedition was basically that France shelled some buildings, declared victory, and sailed away. If resistance is higher I expect they'd do much the same thing. If the French had gone in heavier they'd probably conquer it then and there, establish a protectorate, and there would be no reason for the 1895 expedition.
Do you think there'd be more resistances then? Don't know much about the history of Madagascar...

I do wonder if France would have a war with China around the same time if there's an actual war in Madagascar
 
One thing to note is that casualties would be extremely heavy, since the main problem was always disease, so more troops deployed immediately meant large casualties. Deaths and wounds inflicted by whatever resistance the French faced was minimal compared to tropical diseases, and Madagascar's later expeditions were some of the largest the French sent out, with correspondingly extremely high casualty levels from disease.

So even if the war with China goes ahead, it might result in even more of a backlash after large losses in Madagascar.
 
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