Who was to blame for the first Moroccan Crisis and what impact did it have?

C/B aim – to explain what happened in Morocco and its impactB/A aim – to explain the events in Morocco, decide who should

be blamed for it and its impact

Morocco was an independent country in 1777. However throughout the 19th C the French and Spanish started showing interest in Morocco.

Spain took over some of it in 1884. In the early 19th C it was one of the few countries in Arica yet

to be completely taken over due to the Sultan playing the Europeans off against each other.

France declared their interest in 1899 when Declasse, the French Foreign Minister publicly said they planned to take it over. In 1900 and

1901 France and Italy agreed that France could take Morocco. In 1904 Britain and France agreed that France could have Morocco as long as France

gave up any of their desires in Egypt.

Which country (or countries) would be

unhappy in 1904 and why?

Homework – due Monday 10th November

• How did European agreements affect European relations?

• What was the First Moroccan Crisis?• What was the Second Moroccan Crisis?• What impact would these crises have?

• The Kaiser publicly stated that Germany wanted equal economic rights in Morocco

• Bulow and the German Foreign Ministry wanted to take over Morocco to stop France getting too powerful

• Bulow managed to convince the Moroccan sultan to stand up to the French

First Moroccan Crisis• In 1905 the Kaiser was on holiday. Bulow arranged for

him to visit Tangier in Morocco. Bulow wanted the Kaiser to do this to show that the Germans supported the Sultan’s anti-French sentiments. The Kaiser was reluctant as he felt his life would be in danger in Tangier.

• The Kaiser did land in Tangier. He then rode to the German embassy and announced that he hoped Morocco would remain an independent state ruled over by the Sultan, that Germany knew how to safeguard her interests and expected everybody to recognise these interests. This was clearly aimed at the French.

List all the countries that could be to blame for the Crisis. How do you judge who should ultimately be to blame?

Which would you ultimately place the blame with?

• The national press in France was horrified by these events as they had assumed that French control over Morocco was a formality. Declassé also openly spoke out against the German move in Tangier and the comments made by the Kaiser. In London the government was also angered by the German move and made it known that Great Britain would not accept a German port in Morocco as it could too easily be turned into a full-blown naval port that would threaten Gibraltar. In May 1905 it was agreed that an international conference should be held on Morocco.

• In 1906 at the Algeciras Conference Germany initially hoped that Britain would side with them against France and support German interests. However, it became clear that Britain wouldn’t do this. Then the Germans hoped that if they gave the French whatever they wanted they could take France away from Britain, isolate Britain, and build an alliance with France and even Russia and Turkey (who were feeling weak and may have wanted to ally with the Germans). However, the French retained their anti-German sentiments.

• It was agreed that Morocco should stay under French influence and the French should control the ports. The French media portrayed Germany as an inferior nation and Britain and France got closer. They would sign the Triple Entente a year later. The British foreign minister also realised that Germany was being very aggressive and tried to do anything possible to avoid their aggression.

Explain what happened in the first crisis.

Is there anyone else you could blame? Could you add anything to these notes?

Who would you ultimately blame?

Period 2 work Complete these questions using all the information if you haven’t done so

already. • List all the countries that could be to blame for the Crisis. • How do you judge who should ultimately be to blame?• Which would you ultimately place the blame with?

List all the international impacts the First Moroccan Crisis would have had. How did the Moroccan Crisis affect the Anglo-German relationship and alliance? Could any of the impacts of the Moroccan Crisis have contributed to WWI?How significant was the Moroccan Crisis for the outbreak of WWI? Include

Alliances and the Anglo-German relationship in your answer.

Period 2 work

How far do these two sources agree in their assessment of whether the Moroccan Crisis contributed to WWI?

Write one paragraph including...• Quotes showing a direct disagreeing cross reference • Explain how they are different • Explain which one is stronger, using explanation and own knowledge

Homework – due Monday 17th November

• Read the pages and answer – Who does the author believe is to blame for both

of the Moroccan Crisis?– What does the author believe is significant about

both of the Moroccan Crisis?

• I’ll email Thursday’s lesson to you and put it on the website.

The Second Moroccan Crisis • German military figures had gained in

influence and France had a greater nationalistic outlook

• In Fez, near Agadir port, riots occurred due to problems in Morocco in 1911. The French sent in troops to keep control of the port as had been agreed in the Algeciras Conference. However, the Germans thought the French would use it to take control of Morocco.

• The Germans decided to send a warship, they didn’t want to send troops as it would antagonise the French and they didn’t want to do nothing as this would antagonise Moltke and the other influential German military leaders. List all the countries that could be to blame for the Crisis.

Which would you ultimately place the blame with?

• Talks were called. The Germans stated that they wanted the French Congo in exchange for French Control in Morocco. The French weren’t keen but did keep the talks going. Britain sent a note to Germany saying that they didn’t want war over Morocco. However, the Times published an article raising the alarm over Germany’s requests, arguing that the British empire in Sub-Saharan Africa was at risk. The Germans complained about the article. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then said “it would be a humiliation intolerable for a great country like ours to endure” if Germany got the French Congo.

• The British media presented a more hawkish front. It was reported that Churchill had completed plans for a British expeditionary force and that he had ensured the protection of the Royal Navy’s cordite supply against suspected German sabotage. It was also reported that the Royal Navy had been put on full alert. This approach by the British media forced Foreign Secretary Grey into announcing that he would not send Royal Navy warships to Morocco but that he would monitor what was happening in Africa with great care and caution so that British interests were not threatened.

• On September 1st 1911 negotiations between France and Germany came to an abrupt halt. This resulted in the stock market in Berlin crashing. It showed just how sensitive the situation had become as the only reason the negotiations had halted was because of an illness to French diplomatist Cambon. Others misread the situation. By November 1911, both Germany and France had come to a conclusion over their particular stance in Africa. France handed to Germany over 107,000 square miles of land, which the French media portrayed as “a few acres of swamp”. Germany handed over to France 6,450 square miles of land in the Upper Cameroons. But neither the Congo nor Morocco turned out to be economic goldmines.

Explain what happened in the second crisis.

Is there anyone else you could blame? Could you add anything to these notes?

Who would you ultimately blame?

What impact did the second Moroccan Crisis have?