War was no child's game. Finding a pretext for war could be overlooked, but mobilizing troops and stockpiling strategic supplies were indispensable.
Egypt might have been weak, but that depended on whom it was compared with. At the very least, it was still the top dog on the African Continent, hailed as Africa's strongest nation.
Its greatest rival was Ethiopia, but the British had helped weaken that opponent. By the time Egypt finished fighting Ethiopia, it would be finished too.
There was no need to doubt it—the great powers still cared about saving face. Unless it was a cockroach-like nation such as Afghanistan, the British would cripple Ethiopia for the sake of their pride.
A hegemon needed military force to uphold its status. Losing to an equally powerful European nation was acceptable; losing to African natives was not.
The Paris Government was pragmatic. To avoid making a laughingstock of itself, it made meticulous preparations. Napoleon III decided to proceed on both political and military fronts: first defeat the Egyptian Government, then win over pro-French figures.
This was also a common method used by European countries during overseas colonial expansion. Even Austria had used it in Central America; the African Continent's circumstances were simply a special exception.
London. News of the Suez Canal's opening to navigation set off an uproar in the financial markets. Many pessimistically believed that the Age of Discovery was about to end.
There was reason for this. After the Suez Canal opened, Austria's route to the Indian Ocean was shortened by more than twelve thousand kilometers, while France's and Spain's routes to the Indian Ocean were also shortened by more than ten thousand kilometers.
The British saw the smallest reduction in travel distance and found themselves at an absolute disadvantage in this respect. Capital markets turned bearish