From the first, the Sudan was different from Senegal. It was a military fief and remained so for a generation. There were no concrete economic interests, only vague and illusory hopes. There was no French community. Information about the military and its operations there came only from the military. The Sudan was insulated from French politics and its would-be conquerors were determined to keep it that way. The only non-military group of any substance was the missions, but they supported colonialism and rarely went public when they disapproved of policies pursued by the military. The exercise of power was thus unrestrained by either political opposition or civilian morality. Commandants often made their own policy and ignored instructions from political superiors.

The conquest of the Sudan also responded to no clear imperative of the French economy. At least one military commander, Frey, saw this. The only lucrative commerce, he wrote, was that of slaves. The Sudan was “a country without resources,” underpopulated and without any future prospects. To the degree that the military tried to rationalize what they were doing, they did so in terms of poor market research.