Malagasy–French WarsMadagascar / France · 1883–1896“Listen well: this telling travelled far to reach our circle.”Madagascar's Merina kingdom was no innocent of the world — it had a prime minister, a printing press, treaties with London and Washington. France wanted it regardless, and made war twice: bombarding the ports in the 1880s for a protectorate the kingdom never truly conceded, then marching on the capital in 1895 to take the substance.