Subject: History HL

Teacher: Mr. Jean-Pierre Castillejo

Student: Maria do Carmo Carneiro Pacheco Braga da Costa

What issues were at stake between the Great

European Powers in the years 1900-14?
a) in North Africa and
b) in the Balkans

Both the Moroccan and the Balkan crisis are considered short-term causes of
the First World War, not only did they create and rise tension between the Great
European Powers they also made alliances between some of these powers stronger
(the Entente Cordiale for example). They contributed in different and unexpected
ways to the conflict between these countries, but to understand how they really
contributed to the out break of war in 1914 we must look at the issues which were
at stake during these crisis and how their development lead to the Great War.
Let's begin by looking at the first Moroccan crisis which began on the 31st of
March 1905 when Kaiser Wilhelm the second arrived at Tangier. Germany was
attempting to interfere with France's status in Morocco as the Kaiser made it clear
to the Sultan of Morocco that he though of Morocco as an independent state and
not only did he encourage the Sultan to withstand France's pressure, he also
offered support and protection against the French colonization. Germany did this
because they felt left out when it comes to North African affairs and they wanted
their “place in the sun”, this was basically what constituted the Weltpolitik which
influenced most of these actions by the Germans.
Germany's goal however, was not to get Morocco. Germany felt threatened
by the Entente Cordiale (an agreement between France and Britain, not really
considered an alliance, which meant that they would be at peace and support each
other when it comes to North African affairs, in Egypt and Morocco) and they
thought that by challenging France, they would give in and this would disrupt the
Anglo-French Entente and therefore create a gap between Russia, England and
France, the ultimate goal was to keep France isolated and weaken the other
countries.
The Algeciras conference was made to try and stop the conflict that had
prolonged from January 16th to April 7th 1906. Germany fought for the injustice
being performed in Morocco but all countries, except for Austria-Hungary, were
against Germany. Germany was wrong, instead of created a gap between their
major opponents they created an even greater bond as they began to be more and
more suspicious of Germany.
Germany was more isolated than ever after the conference, as historian
Imanuel Geiss states: “Germany turned its back upon international conferenced as
a means of settling international disputes”. No military preparations seemed to be
made by the major powers during he conference but the alliance between France,
Great Britain and Russia became stronger as Britain and Russia removed the Asia
tensions that had bothered the Anglo-Russian relations at the time of the Russo-
Japanese War.
The issues that came through in the first Moroccan crisis were the isolation
of Germany and the greater bonds created between Britain, France and Russia.
Germany was only supported by Austria-Hungary and Italy which meant that the
climate of war was beginning to come through.
On May 1911, tensions in Morocco against the Sultan meant that France
would intervene, however, France's occupation of Fez was seen as a move to get
overall protectorate of Morocco. France's allies, Britain and Russia, weren't happy
when France decided to do this, Britain had tried to dissuade France form sending
troops over to Fez, and their relation were once again strained. The British had
their hands tied and they were forced to help France, they were aso interested in
helping because they realized that Germany was trying to get controll of the port
of Agadir, mobilization in the various ports was being made, they hought that the
Germans might have a base near the Atlantic in case war broke out so the British
supported France, just like in the first Moroccan crisis, respecting the Entente
Cordiale.
On July 7th, Germany informed France that they weren't looking to get any
land in Morocco, but they negotiated for French protectorate in Morocco as long as
Germany got some compensation.A final decision from the French was given on
the 21th of July, when the French said that honor was more important than peace
and that Germany could not impose an unreasonable settlement with France.
France didn't accept Germany's bribery, but they still took over Morocco
assuming full protectorate over the country and ending what remained of its
independence. France and Britain came even closer together and they reinforced
the Entente, with Russia to, as they would support France during the crisis. This
made relations between Britain and Germany worst than they already were and
the crisis led to Britain and France making a naval agreement where the Royal
Navy promised to protect the northern coast of France from German attack.
Tensions were boiling and the war was closer to break-out.
The Ottoman Empire was weakening in the nineteenth century, this gave
space for the submerged Balkan States to emerge. However they weren't
independent, most of these nations seemed to be controlled by European Powers,
this was about to end. But for how long?By the turn of the century, the Balkan
nations began to assert themselves and from 1903 Serbia began to defy more and
more its former protector Austria-Hungary. In 1908 the Balkan appeared to have
settled most of their political crises, even though Serbia's government seemed to
become more expansionist. The “Young Turks” took down Sultan Abdul Hamid, the
Young Turks were a movement against the monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and in
favor of the re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn Esâsî constitution, they were a
modernist group and opposed to the status quo.
In 1908, seeing that the Young Turks were seizing power in Constatinople,
the Austria annexed Bosnia, hoping to get a firmer grip on the Balkans.However
this created a European crisis and provoked Serbia nationalist to start a campaign
against Austria, this completely destabilized the area. At the beginning of 1912,
Russia tried to form an alliance with the Balkans against Austria, but the Balkans
had other plans and the alliance was now against the Ottoman Empire. Things
were starting to boil up and the first Balkan War was broke out in October, after a
few months of war the Balkan were able to take the almost all theTurks out of
Europe.
Everything seemed fine, but the allies turned against each other as the time
came to decide who would get what land, the second Balkan War broke out on the
summer of 1913. After the Balkan wars the area was extremely unstable. Those
who lost were hungry for revenge and the victorious ones were overconfident, but
the Great Europeans Powers were still controlling them. Imanuel Geiss states, and
he is not the only one, that the Balkan wars were a dressed rehearsal for the Great
War. The tensions that came after the Balkan wars lead to the assassination of
Franz Ferdinand which was the trigger even for the break out of World War One.
The culmination of events from 1900 to 1914 lead to break out of war. These
issues lead to conflict between nations which lead to conflicts between alliances and
everyone seemed to be prepared for war. The first Moroccan crisis leas to the
realization that Germany was now alone (except for the support of Italy and Austria-
Hungary) despite its efforts to isolate France, the crisis also made the alliance between
France, Britain and Russia stringer which meant that they all had each others support.
This came in handy when the second Moroccan crisis broke out in 1911, Germany's
efforts at getting some land in North Africa, which was all to do with the Weltpolitik,
failed and once again France was supported by its allies. The consequences of the
second Moroccan crisis weren't as great, since Russia wasn't really involved, but its
events lead to further worsening the relationships between Britain and Germany and
for the two years that followed the crisis there was great height in naval “arms race”
between these two. The Balkan Wars were a culmination of the conflict in the Ottoman
Empire, later on fallen Ottoman Empire, which lead to the trigger event that broke out
World War one. The issues that were at stake between the Great European powers
were key events and negotiations between the Great Leaders which lead to the Great
War.