Jean-Baptiste Marchand

Who was Jean-Baptiste Marchand?

General Jean-Baptiste Marchand was a French military officer and explorer in Africa. He was born in Thoissey, Ain and attended l’Ecole militaire de Saint-Maixent. Marchand is best known for commanding the French expeditionary force during the Fashoda Incident.

He participated in the French conquest of Senegal and was severely wounded in 1889 at the capture of Diena by the French. In 1890 Major Marchand was sent to explore the sources of the Niger River and the Nile and to occupy the area around Fashoda, Sudan, now known as Kodok, and bring it under French control. After a 14-month trek on foot and by boat from West Africa Marchand's expedition of 20 French officers and NCOs and 130 French Senegalese troops arrived at Fashoda, an abandoned fort on the Nile, on 10 July 1898. Marchand rebuilt the fort, but the expected support from other French columns and from Abyssinia did not arrive.

On 18 September a detachment led by Sir Herbert Kitchener, commander of the Anglo-Egyptian army that had just defeated the forces of the Mahdi at the Battle of Omdurman, arrived at Fashoda. Following the battle Kitchener had opened sealed orders from London to investigate the French expedition some 600 kilometres to the south. Both sides insisted on control of Fashoda but the two commanders were diplomatic and the encounter was polite. It led to a period of intense diplomatic discussions between Paris and London, at the end of which the French Government ordered their forces to leave. Marchand had already been recalled to France and insisted on travelling through Abyssinia rather than down the British-controlled Nile.