World History: Moroccan Crises

Even though the Berlin Conference was supposed to resolve disputes among several European Powers, the crisis still broke out periodically between them, fuelled by strategic rivalry and greater territorial ambitions. One such example was the Tangier Crisis also known as First Moroccan Crisis. This crisis was a major dispute between Germany and France that took place between 1905 and 1906 over the French colony in Morocco. The relations between Germany and France reached to nadir during this crisis.

First Morocco Crisis

In 1905, Britain and France were two dominating powers in Africa. In 1904, these countries signed an agreement {Entente Cordiale} whereby Britain agreed to not to fight with France over control of Morocco. By that time, Morocco was one the last remaining places in Africa not taken over by any European Power. Germany also wanted to expand its empire and when it saw that these two have signed the Entente Cordiale, it decided to test how strong this agreement was.

Thus, German leaders decided to lay claim over Morocco. Germany was strongest army in the world and it desired to become the “Weltpolitik” means world power. Its ruler Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Tangier in 1905 and rode down the streets on a white horse with a Military band with Moroccan troops. He made a declaration to support an independent Morocco open to the peaceful competition of all nations for trade. He further called an international conference to discuss the future of Morocco.

The objective of Kaiser was twofold:

• To prevent France from occupying Morocco but still allowing Germany to trade
• To test the relationship between Britain and France to see if it would still hold firm.

The two countries came very close to war, before the situation was finally resolved through negotiation. In 1906, an international conference was held at Algeciras (Spain). Germany was weakly supported by Austria-Hungary and Morocco; while France was supported by Britain, Russia, and Spain. Finally, it was agreed that France should recognise that Morocco was still an independent country and that France and Spain were given joint control of Moroccan police force.
Thus, the net outcome of this crisis was that:

• France now got some control over Morocco while Germany did not get anything.
• The Entente Cordiale passed Germany’s test. Relation between France and England become strong;
• Britain started to change its policy of splendid isolation and started taking interest in European matters.

Policy of Splendid Isolation

Splendid isolation refers to the Foreign Policy of Britain marked by Britain’s minimal involvement in European affairs. This policy was followed by Conservative Benjamin Disraeli and Robert Gascoyne-Cecil. Its key features were (1) reluctance to enter into permanent European alliances or commitments (2) increase in the importance given to British colonies, protectorates and dependencies overseas in an era of increasing competition in the wider world.

Further, Britain and France started secret talks about Germany as the fear about the latter grew. The plans were being drawn up for war and sides were beginning to form. This is the reason that first Moroccan Crisis is known as one of the long term causes of WW-I as it was this crisis that broke down the trust between the major European powers.

Second Moroccan Crisis – 1911

The second Moroccan crisis of Agadir Crisis in 1911 was sparked by a rebellion in Morocco and deployment of substantial forces by Japan in Morocco.

Background

In the aftermath of First Moroccan crisis, the Algeciras Conference had given France some control of Morocco. The distrust between European Powers kept growing. The Anglo-German and Franco-German relations soured. There was an arms race between Imperial Germany and Great Britain. Germany was trying to build a fleet two third of the size of Britain; and it was also enforcing compensation claims for acceptance of effective French control of Morocco.

Meanwhile, a rebellion against Sultan of Morocco Abdelhafid started in 1911. The Sultan called France for help which sent an army to quell the rebels.

Although rebellion was crushed, Germany reacted by sending a gunboat named Panther to the port of Agadir to “protect the German people’s interests in Morocco“.

For Germans, it was no wrong because France had also sent its army to protect its own interest. But this move of Germany was seen by France and Britain as “war like stance” and a “naval race”. British thought that Germany was going to build a naval base in the Atlantic to challenge Britain’s naval base in Gibraltar.

Thus, the over reaction by Germany brought Europe close to war. All these three powers started preparation for war. However, this time also, the situation was resolved when Germany accepted two marshy strips of land in the Congo for recognising and accepting that France had control over Morocco.

Implications of the two Moroccan Crises

We have already discussed above that the first Moroccan crisis was one of the distant and early reasons to WW-I. However, the second crisis was far more serious because this time, there was a clear division of Europe between the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. It increased tension rapidly and sparked a chain of events that finally culminated in WW-I.