Entangling Alliances 873The First Moroccan Crisis (1905)
The First Moroccan Crisis solidified the rapprochement between Britain
and France, while highlighting the role of imperial rivalries in international
politics. Germany had only modest commercial interests in Morocco, but
German Chancellor Bernhard von Biilow (1849-1929) convinced William
11 to test the recently concluded Anglo-French agreement and perhaps
force the British government to leave France to its own devices while casting
Germany as defender of Moroccan sovereignty. In March 1905, the Ger
man kaiser arrived in Tangier aboard a yacht. William II demanded that
Germany receive from Morocco the same commercial benefits as any other
trading partner.
The French government reacted with fury, but backed down when
British support for war seemed highly unlikely. Germany also pulled away
from possible conflict, seeing that only Austria-Hungary took its side. The
crisis ended with an international conference in the Spanish town of Alge
ciras in January 1906. Germany recognized the primacy of French inter
ests in Morocco. This left the German government determined that
another humiliation must not be suffered. The incident also seemed to
confirm the bellicose and bullying nature of German foreign policy to both
France and Britain. Anti-German feeling intensified in France among
political moderates as well as those on the nationalist right. French and
British generals and admirals began to draw up joint contingency plans for
combined warfare against Germany.
The Algeciras Conference, and particularly the policies of Russian For
eign Minister Alexander Izvolsky (1856-1919), also brought Russia and
Britain closer together. For Izvolsky,
Russian interests were in the
Balkans, where they competed with
those of Austria-Hungary, not in
Asia, where British interests lay. Set
on the road to recovery from the
disastrous Russo-Japanese War by
British loans, the Russian govern
ment was now eager for better rela
tions with Britain. The British
government had long viewed Rus
sian economic influence in Persia
(Iran) and Afghanistan as threaten
ing to its interests because a strong
Russian presence in Persia might
one day compromise the sea route to
East Asia, and because Afghanistan
served as a buffer between Russia France and Germany quarrel over
and British India. In 1907, taking Morocco (1905).