Details of moroccan crises (10)

Morocco and Spain are only separated by a sea, which is very close to Western Europe. But in the past, Morocco was relatively strong and was able to resist the invasion of Spanish and Portuguese neighbors many times. Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century, only a few northern areas became Spanish colonies, and Morocco remained one of the few autonomous countries in Africa. However, since 1830, when France established a colony in Algeria in eastern Morocco, Morocco began to face the threat of France. /kloc-In the second half of the 0/9th century, the French actively expanded their colonies in North Africa, so that Morocco was surrounded by French colonies in the east and south, and the French also took Morocco as their next goal. At first, France still ignored the opposition of Britain and Germany and did not attack Morocco, but in 1904, Britain cancelled the international understanding and supported France to turn Morocco into a French colony. After Britain "gave the green light", France began to actively intervene in Morocco's internal affairs in an attempt to make Morocco a French protectorate. Germany, hostile to Britain and France, is naturally quite dissatisfied. Germany is a latecomer to colonialism compared with Britain and France, so Germany has far fewer colonies in Africa than Britain and France. Determined to establish a colonial empire overseas, Kaiser Wilhelm II took a fancy to Morocco, which has not yet become a colony, and tried every means to prevent Morocco from falling into French hands. 1905 In February, when the French Foreign Ministry put forward a series of plans to "assist" Morocco's reform in an attempt to turn Morocco into a French protectorate, a month later, Kaiser Wilhelm II made a surprise visit to Morocco, openly supporting Morocco's autonomy and opposing any country's monopolization of Morocco's interests. Later, Germany issued a tough statement, saying that if French troops crossed into Morocco, German troops would also cross into France. These actions of Germany obviously run counter to France's plan to colonize Morocco, which also makes the relationship between Germany and France tense. This is the first crisis in Morocco. In order to avoid confrontation with Germany, France held an international conference to solve the Moroccan problem. On the surface, Germany won a diplomatic victory, but after the conference, most of the more than ten countries attending the conference supported France. As a result, although the meeting guaranteed Morocco's status, France still had the privilege to help Morocco maintain domestic order. In other words, France could interfere in Morocco's internal affairs at any time. 19 1 1 year, civil strife broke out in Morocco, and France sent troops to Morocco in the name of maintaining order in Morocco and occupied Fez, the city where civil strife broke out. But not to be outdone, Germany sent warships into Agadir, a Moroccan port city, and German and French troops entered Morocco at the same time. At this time, Britain issued a statement supporting France's military action in Morocco, and even spared no expense to go to war with Germany, which made the situation very tense. Germany saw the alliance between Britain and France, and the situation was not good. As a result, they all decided to give up competing with France for Morocco. Finally, Germany reached an agreement with France at the end of 19 1 1. Germany recognized France's right to protect Morocco, and France transferred some French colonies in Central African Congo to Germany in exchange. France also turned Morocco into its own protectorate in March 19 12. Although moroccan crises did not trigger the war between Germany and France, the relationship between Germany and Britain and France became tense. In addition, Germany was the loser in moroccan crises, and then actively looked for opportunities to retaliate against Britain and France. Therefore, in the Bosnian crisis, Britain, France and Germany, which were not involved in the incident, fully supported the involved allies and eventually joined the war.

Reference: Shen Lian: Outline of French General History