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1. MOROCCO | |
Agadir Crisis, 1911Almost as soon as the Algeciras settlement had given the French a safe foothold in Morocco they began to extend their control over the country. Claiming that disorder on the Algerian-Moroccan frontier endangered order in Algeria, the French sent troops to occupy Moroccan border villages. What amounted to civil war in Morocco ended in the replacement of the Sultan by his brother. The latter, unable to restore order, applied to the French for help, and early in 1911 a French army was sent to occupy Fez, the capital. Germany, anticipating that this would lead to French annexation of the country, claimed that this was a breach of the Algeciras agreement. As a form of protest, a German gunboat, the Panther, was sent to Agadir, a port on the Moroccan Atlantic coast. The Germans claimed that their object was to protect their nationals in Morocco; but they had so few people and so little property in the country that this was plainly a pretext. Once more there was friction between Germany and France; and other European Powers, fearing that friction might lead to open conflict, began to concern themselves, especially those who had been represented at Algeciras. This time there was no general conference, but negotiations went on to try to find a settlement. Britain made it clear that she would stand firmly by France. Hence Germany, unable to secure the expulsion of the French from Morocco, demanded `compensation' elsewhere in Africa. The upshot, after months of negotiations, was that France obtained Germany's consent to a French Protectorate in Morocco, and France granted to Germany some 100,000 square miles of the French Congo. Thus in the eyes of the world Germany's dignity had been preserved. In reality she had received another severe diplomatic rebuff. Not only was the Congo territory of very little real value, but she had failed completely in her primary objective, namely, to prevent the French control of Morocco. Moreover, once again Germany's diplomatic isolation had been demonstrated plainly. Yet once again, instead of this causing Germany to change either her policy or her methods, it spurred her to increase still further her military and naval strength. Inevitably the result was to increase the mutual suspicion and tension among the nations and to render more and more difficult the peaceful solution of other differences that might
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