Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Second Moroccan Crisis

8 comments:

  1. The second Moroccan crisis was caused by the French stopping a rebellion that they believed was happening in their country. The french believed that the rebellion was endangering the major city of Fez. France would eventually send troops to the country to help stabilize the problem. The Germans however believed that this was a fake rebellion which would give France the execuse to occupy Morocco. The German foreign secretary decided to send a warship (The Panther) to the Atlantic Coast of Morocco. The ship stayed in the harbor of Agadir. This was to inspire the natives to revolt against the French. Also, it was to assert German power in the region. The problem would end with negotitations between France and Germany. Germany would acknowledge France as the protectorate of Morocco. Germany would also acquire other territories in Africa. This problem ended with the British and French navies asserting their power in various regions. Great Britian would focus its navy around the English Channel and the North Sea. France would focus its navy in the Mediteranean Sea. Also, the European powers tried to appease the Germans with land in Africa. This would give the Germans some strength in the realm of imperialism. Although this stopped war, there were underlying issues that still existed. Germany was trying to isolate the French from the British and the Russians. However, Germany would be isolated. The act of France and Great Britian uniting their naval forces was the beginning of the allied powers that would be in World War One.

    I found two good websites while searching this topic. They are:

    http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/second-moroccan-crisis

    http://historyannex.com/20th-century-Europe/prewwi/second-Moroccan.html

    The second link explains how there was a building up of tension between the countries. I found it interesting how war was avoided in these areas.Instead it ocurred in the Balkans when these policies could not be used effectively. It is like the North and South in the Antebellum period of American history. The North/European powers would try to appease the South/Germany with various compromises. However, history shows that compromises will never last forever.

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  2. In May of 1911 the French went and occupied Fez, the capital of Morocco. In 1906 the treaty of Algeciras was signed by France and Spain joint control of the Moroccan police force. Germany had their own intentions that included their wanting to show all of the other European Powers that they are a part of this group. They wanted to weaken the Triple Entente, and create more colonies in Africa. The conflict that was presented included the breaking out of riots by the Fez in early 1911, which led to France deciding that they had to interfere by sending some of their troops to repress the Fez. When this happened the German gunboat Panther arrived in the port of Agadir to reinforce the French that they would accept Morocco as a French protectorate only if they can receive additional colonies. With the Triple Entente the British came to help France but they were unable to interfere with the decisions that they make because they had agreed not to unless wanted to. The British also feared that Germany wanted to take Agadir and turn it into a German naval base. Concerned because of the British naval base so they went and sent some of their battleships to Morocco just as a precaution if war broke out. As a result of this conflict the Germans recognized that France pas the protector of Morocco. Germany was given territory in Middle Congo from France and also France was given a small amount of land south-east of Fort Lamy.

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  3. http://www.worldportsource.com/images/maps/morocco.gif

    This link shows the map of Morocco and it shows why Britain brought their ships to Gibraltar in case of a war. Britain didn't want to have Germany on the Atlantic coast because if a war broke out they would have access to the Atlantic and the West Coast of Europe.

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  4. The second Moroccan is a perfect example of how a simple over reaction can bring two countries to the very brink of war. It all started in May 1911 when France sent troops to stomp out a rebellion they thought was endangering the major city of Fez. These troops were there strictly to keep the peace, however Germany saw this as a ruse to occupy the territory. In response the Germans sent the naval cruiser the Panther to the Atlantic coast and docked it in the Agidar harbor.This was an attempt by Germany to spark a real rebellion as well as assert their dominance in Morocco. This crisis would end in negotitations France was recognized as the protectorate of the region and Germany would gain african territories. French and British natives would assert their dominance after this incident with Britain focusing its navy around the North Sea, and French in the Mediterainian. Germany would gain imperial power in an attempt to save face. Though war was averted there was still underlying issues and tensions that would surface again in WWI.
    The link I used was:
    http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/tpsocialsciences/world_history/world_war1/morocco2.htm

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  5. As I began reading through the different crises that were talked about on the blog, one crisis particularly caught my eye; The Second Moroccan Crisis. I found this crisis very interesting because through the conflict, Germany’s relations with the rest of Europe deteriorated. In this conflict, Germany wanted more influence in African and thus they wanted to gain influence over Morocco and steal control of it from the French. While reading the different posts online, I began to feel bad for Germany because it seemed fully isolated in Europe. As in the First Moroccan Crisis, Germany, with its desire to gain Morocco, had counted on France's isolation and eventual submission, which did not prove to be the case as Britain once again backed France, its partner in the Entente Cordiale of 1904. Through this Entente Cordiale France and Britain, two of the biggest countries with some of the biggest foreign empires, were tied to one another and this left Germany “in the dust” in terms of imperialism. France and Britain had already acquired vast empires al over the world, but thanks to Otto von Bismarck’s preference of not expanding, Germany lost out in this competition for expansion that was happening all over the world.

    Furthermore, in the second Moroccan crisis France got the support of its people in Morocco and Germany’s attempt to begin insurrection against France failed miserably. Just like in the First Moroccan crisis, Germany had very little effect on France’s control of Morocco and in the end Germany lost the battle for African imperial influence. After Russia too gave its support to France, though somewhat ambiguously, and Austria-Hungary failed to lend Germany even its diplomatic support, the Germans were forced to back down from Morocco. In the end, Germany reluctantly agreed to recognize the French protectorate over Morocco in return for very small territorial concessions in other regions of Africa.

    After reading about this conflict, I began to see Germany’s anger against all of the other countries in Europe; the same anger that would be present in World War I. Ever since the Second Industrial Revolution ended and the age of Imperialism began, Germany had constantly been put in “the back seat of the bus”. The Second Moroccan Crisis is a perfect example of this because through the crisis, the French took control of the Mediterranean and the British the North Sea and the English Channel. As the two countries moved from friendship to alliance, the domestically powerful Germany found itself increasingly isolated, with only tenuous support from its fellow Triple Alliance members, Austria-Hungary and Italy. In essence, the roots of World War I seem to stem from this conflict and just by reading about the Second Moroccan Crisis, I can sense the anger that Germany had and how bad it wanted to release this anger through war. Obviously, this anger and others along with it would be released by Germany at the start of World War I.

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  6. I find this crisis to be very interesting because it exemplifies the precautions that the greater nations took in order to keep their territorial gains. Not only did the french intervene in Morocco because of their attempt to calm any rebellious actions but they also found themselves to be in a position of complication with Germany. I have found it particularly interesting on the involvement of Germany on the road towards WWI. Germany hoped to isolate the French from Great Britain, yet in reality ended up isolating themselves from the group of nations that would soon form together and create the Allied powers. Furthermore I found it interesting that Germany had sent their warship(The Panther) to the Atlantic Coast of Moracco with the hopes of creating a rebellion. The Germans have caused many problems and tesions in Europe by their involvement in the different crisis, such as the Moroccan, Balkan, and basically everything else that was problematic, especially their future unrestricted submarine warfare, which like their sending of their warship caused more tensions and problems that would gain them a loss in support from the other nations.

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  7. This crisis started when there was an uprising in France. France dispatched troops to end a rebellion in Fez. While all of this Germany occupied Morocco by sending a naval ship to to the Agidor Harbor. Germany was trying to cause a rebellion in Morocco. France was upset about the situation and this almost pitted the two in a war. In the end France negotiated that they are the protectorate of that region and Germany would gain territory in Africa. The British and French navies then mobilized to defend the land in the Mediterrenian and The North Sea.

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  8. I like the irony of this situation. Germany came into the picture with the hopes of basically deteriorating the relationships between France, Britain, and Russia. Their tactics were smart in that they tried to take land that would, in essence, split up these three powers. However, I feel like they seriously overlooked the possiblity that those nations would actually come together over the precaution of Germany trying to take over. I feel like it was a plan that had potential to do some serious damage if the other nations didn't come together. The way I look at it, if there happened to be some turmoil between the other nations at the time, the plan might have actually worked for Germany because the other nations might not have trusted each other enough to come together against a common enemy and they would have been a lot weaker when WWI actually broke out.

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