Morocco, the rest of Algeria, and Tunisia fell under the direct rule of France. In 1882, Egypt was invaded and then governed by England. France became the de facto protector of Lebanon, and England extended its influence over both Persia and parts of the Balkans. Russia became more aggressive in its support for Bulgarian independence and came into conflict with the British in remote parts of Central Asia. Successive generations of British politicians jockeyed with the Russians for influence in Afghanistan and Persia because of Russian desires to expand south and England’s desire to provide an ever larger buffer for its prize possession, India. While Russia was England’s primary rival in Asia and the Balkans, France was its main rival in Africa. As the French moved south into the Sahara and toward West Africa, the British tried to create an unbroken line of control stretching from Egypt to South Africa. That led to friction with the French, which at several points in the late 1800s nearly escalated into war.The societies of the Muslim world reacted to these developments with more reforms and more soul searching.
