1.
Scramble for Africa
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The Scramble for Africa was the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914. It is also called the Partition of Africa and the Conquest of Africa, in 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under European control, by 1914 it had increased to 90 percent of the continent, with only Ethiopia, the Dervish state and Liberia still being independent. The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is referred to as the starting point of the scramble for Africa. The latter years of the 19th century saw the transition from informal imperialism, by influence and economic dominance, to direct rule. But Europeans showed comparatively little interest in the interior for some two centuries thereafter, European exploration of the African interior began in earnest at the end of the 18th century. By 1835, Europeans had mapped most of northwestern Africa, in the middle decades of the 19th century, famous European explorers included David Livingstone and H. M. Stanley, each of whom mapped vast areas of Southern Africa and Central Africa. Arduous expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s by Richard Burton, John Speke and James Grant located the central lakes. By the end of the 19th century Europeans had charted the Nile from its source, traced the courses of the Niger, Congo and Zambezi Rivers, and realized the vast resources of Africa. Even as late as the 1870s, European states still controlled only ten percent of the African continent, the most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique, held by Portugal, the Cape Colony, held by the United Kingdom, and Algeria, held by France. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European control, technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. Industrialisation brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of navigation, railways. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, the development of quinine, an effective treatment for malaria, made vast expanses of the tropics more accessible for Europeans. Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the last regions of the largely untouched by informal imperialism, was also attractive to Europes ruling elites for economic. In addition, surplus capital was more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition. Additionally, Britain wanted the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India. However, in Africa – excluding the area became the Union of South Africa in 1910 – the amount of capital investment by Europeans was relatively small. Consequently, the involved in tropical African commerce were relatively small. Rhodes had carved out Rhodesia for himself, Léopold II of Belgium later, John A. Hobson argued in Imperialism that this shrinking of continental markets was a key factor of the global New Imperialism period
2.
First Boer War
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The war resulted in defeat for the British and the second independence of the South African Republic. The southern part of the African continent was dominated in the 19th century by a set of struggles to create within it a single unified state. British attempts in 1880 to annex the Transvaal were their biggest incursions into southern Africa, in the 1880s, Bechuanaland, became an object of dispute between the Germans to the west, the Boers to the east, and the British in the Cape Colony to the south. Although Bechuanaland had almost no value, the Missionaries Road passed through it toward territory farther north. After the Germans annexed Damaraland and Namaqualand in 1884, the British annexed Bechuanaland in 1885, after the Battle of Blaauwberg Britain had acquired the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa from the Dutch in 1815 during the Napoleonic Wars. Certain groups of Dutch speaking settler farmers resented British rule, even though British control brought some economic benefits, the British did not try to stop the Trekboers from moving away from the Cape. The Trekboers were farmers gradually extending their range and territory with no agenda, the formal abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834 led to more organised groups of Boer settlers attempting to escape British rule, some travelling as far north as modern-day Mozambique. However, British colonial expansion was, from the 1830s, marked by skirmishes, the discovery of diamonds in 1867 near the Vaal River, some 550 miles northeast of Cape Town, ended the isolation of the Boers in the interior and changed South African history. In the 1870s, the British annexed West Griqualand, site of the Kimberley diamond discoveries, however the cultural and historical context was entirely different, and the Boer leaders turned him down. The successive British annexations, and in particular the annexation of West Griqualand, there were other more pressing concerns for the Boer Republics. During the 1870s there was a series of skirmishes within the Transvaal between the Boers and indigenous local tribes, there were also serious tensions between the Transvaal Republic and the Zulus led by King Cetshwayo. The Zulus occupied a kingdom located to the southeast, bordered on the one side by the Transvaal Republic, upon taking the throne, King Cetshwayo had expanded his army and reintroduced many of the paramilitary practices of the famous Shaka, king of the Zulus. He had also started equipping his impis with firearms, although this was a process and the majority had only shields, knobkerries, throwing spears and the famous stabbing spear. Over 40,000 Zulu warriors were a force on their own home ground. The Transvaal Boers became more and more concerned, but King Cetshwayos policy was to good relations with the British in Natal in an effort to counter the Boer threat. In 1877, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the British Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal, annexed the South African Republic, for Britain, using a special warrant. They also feared a war on two fronts, namely that the tribes would seize the opportunity to rebel and the simmering unrest in the Transvaal would be re-ignited. The British annexation nevertheless resulted in resentment against the British occupation, the Transvaal Boers, led by Paul Kruger, thereafter elected to deal first with the perceived Zulu threat to the status quo, and local issues, before directly opposing the British annexation
3.
French conquest of Tunisia
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The French protectorate of Tunisia that was established lasted until the independence of Tunisia on 20 March 1956. Tunisia had been a province of the Ottoman Empire since the Conquest of Tunis, in 1770, Admiral De Broves for Louis XV bombarded the cities of Bizerte, Porto Farina and Monastir in retaliation for acts of piracy. In the 19th century Tunisian commercial contacts with Europe were numerous, France had also made a major loan to Tunisia in the mid-19th century. The Tunisian government was weak, with an inefficient tax system that brought it one-fifth of the tax collected. The economy was crippled with a series of droughts and the elimination of corsairs by Western fleets, lastly, Tunisians had little control on foreign trade as ancient 16th century agreements with European powers limited custom taxes to 3%. As a result, its industry was devastated by imports. Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Frances international prestige was severely damaged, the Italian representative failed through clumsiness, but the British representative Richard Wood was more successful. In order to limit French influence, Wood obtained the reinstatement of Tunisia as a province of the Ottoman Empire in 1871, Great Britain continued to try to exert influence through commercial ventures, these were not successful, however. There were also various Tunisian land ownership disputes among France, Britain, the French wished to take control of Tunisia, neighbour of the French colony of Algeria, and to suppress Italian and British influence there. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, an arrangement was made for France to take over Tunisia while Great Britain obtained control of Cyprus from the Ottomans. Finally, the use of Tunisian territory as a sanctuary by rebel Khroumir bands gave a pretext for the military intervention, on 28 April 1881,28,000 men under General Forgemol de Bostquénard entered Tunisia. On 1 May, the city of Bizerte surrendered to the 8,000 men of Jules Aimé Bréart, Bréart entered Tunis between May 3 and May 6,1881. He had in his possession the Bardo Treaty establishing a protectorate on Tunisia, surprised, Sadok Bey requested several hours for reflection, and immediately gathered his cabinet. Some of its members insisted that the bey should escape towards Kairouan to organize the resistance, the Bardo Treaty was signed by both parties, under the threat of the French troops on 12 May 1881. An insurrection soon broke out in the south on 10 June 1881, six ironclads were dispatched from Toulon to join the French Navy ships in Tunisian waters. In Sfax, three ironclads from the Division of the Levant were already present, together with four cannon boats, Sfax was bombarded, and on 16 July the city was invested after hard fighting, with 7 dead and 32 wounded for the French. At Kairouan 32,000 men,6,000 horses and 20,000 tons of supplies, Kairouan was taken without a fight on 28 October 1881. Great Britain and Germany silently approved the invasion of the country, in 1882, Paul Cambon energetically took advantage of his position as Resident, leaving the Bey essentially powerless, and in effect administering Tunisia as another French colony
4.
Mahdist War
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Eighteen years of war resulted in the joint-rule state of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a condominium of the British Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt. Following the invasion by Muhammad Ali in 1819, Sudan was governed by an Egyptian administration, because of the heavy taxes it imposed and because of the bloody start of the Turkish-Egyptian rule in Sudan, this colonial system was resented by the Sudanese people. Throughout the period of Turco-Egyptian rule, many segments of the Sudanese population suffered extreme hardship because of the system of taxation imposed by the central government. Under this system, a tax was imposed on farmers and small traders. In bad years, and especially during times of drought and famine, fearing the brutal and unjust methods of the Shaiqiyya, many farmers fled their villages in the fertile Nile Valley to the remote areas of Kordofan and Darfur. The jallaba were also known to be slave trading tribes, by the middle 19th century the Ottoman Imperial subject administration in Egypt was in the hands of Khedive Ismail. Thus an ever increasing British role in Egyptian affairs seemed necessary and this commission eventually forced Khedive Ismail to abdicate in favor of his son Tawfiq in 1877, leading to a period of political turmoil. Also in 1873, Ismail had appointed General Charles Chinese Gordon Governor of the Equatorial Provinces of Sudan, for the next three years, General Gordon fought against a native chieftain of Darfur, Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur. Upon Ismails abdication in 1877, Gordon found himself with dramatically decreased support, exhausted by years of work, he resigned his post in 1880 and left early the next year. His policies were soon abandoned by the new governors, but the anger, another widely reported potential source of frustration was the Turco-Egyptian abolition of the slave trade, one of the main sources of income in Sudan at the time. In the 1870s, a Muslim cleric named Muhammad Ahmad preached renewal of the faith and liberation of the land, soon in open revolt against the Egyptians, Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the Mahdi, the promised redeemer of the Islamic world. In August 1881 the then-governor of the Sudan, Raouf Pasha, the captains of the two companies were each promised promotion if their soldiers were the ones to return the Mahdi to the governor. Both companies disembarked from the steamer that had brought them up the Nile to Aba Island, arriving simultaneously, each force began to fire blindly on the other, allowing the Mahdis scant followers to attack and destroy each force in turn at the Battle of Aba. The Mahdi then began a retreat to Kordofan, where he was at a distance from the seat of government in Khartoum. This movement, couched as a progress, incited many of the Arab tribes to rise in support of the Jihad the Mahdi had declared against the Turkish oppressors. Another Egyptian expedition dispatched from Fashoda was ambushed and slaughtered on the night of 9 December 1881, the Mahdi also legitimized his movement by drawing deliberate parallels to the life of the Prophet Muhammad. He called his followers Ansar, after the people who greeted the Prophet in Medina, and he called his flight from the British, the hijrah, after the Prophets flight from the Quraysh. The Egyptian administration in the Sudan, now thoroughly concerned by the scale of the uprising and this force approached the Mahdist gathering, whose members were poorly clothed, half starving, and armed only with sticks and stones
5.
Anglo-Egyptian War
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The Anglo-Egyptian War occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha and vastly expanded British influence over the country, in January 1882 the British and French governments sent a Joint Note to the Egyptian government, declaring their recognition of the Khedives authority. On 20 May 1882, British and French warships arrived off the coast of Alexandria, on 11 June 1882, an anti-Christian riot occurred in Alexandria that killed 50 Europeans. Colonel ‘Urabi ordered his forces to put down the riot, but Europeans fled the city, the reasons why the British government sent a fleet of ships to the coast of Alexandria is a point of historical debate, as there is no definitive information available. May I also venture to say that it has given the Liberal Party a new lease of popularity, first, they describe a plot by Edward Malet in which he portrayed the Egyptian government as unstable to his superiors in the cabinet. The British fleet bombarded Alexandria from 11–13 July and then occupied it with marines, the British did not lose a single ship, but much of the city was destroyed by fires caused by explosive shells and by ‘Urabists seeking to ruin the city that the British were taking over. Tewfik Pasha, who had moved his court to Alexandria during the unrest, declared ‘Urabi a rebel, ‘Urabi then reacted by obtaining a fatwa from Al Azhar shaykhs which condemned Tewfik as a traitor to both his country and religion, absolving those who fought against him. ‘Urabi also declared war on the United Kingdom and initiated conscription, the British army tried to reach Cairo through Alexandria but was stopped for five weeks at Kafr El Dawwar. In August, a British army of over 40,000, commanded by Garnet Wolseley and he was authorised to destroy ‘Urabis forces and clear the country of all other rebels. The engineer troops had left England for Egypt in July and August 1882, the engineers included pontoon, railway and telegraph troops. Wolseley saw the campaign as a challenge as he did not believe the Egyptians would put up much resistance. Seeking to ascertain the strength of the Egyptians Kafr El Dawwar position and this action was reported by Orabi as a battle, and Cairo was full of the news that the advancing British had been repulsed. While, most historians describe the action merely as a reconnaissance in force which was never intended as an assault on the Egyptian lines. However, the end result was that the British abandoned any hope they may have had of reaching Cairo from the north, Wolseley arrived at Alexandria on 15 August and immediately began to organize the movement of troops through the Suez Canal to Ismailia. This was quickly accomplished, Ismailia was occupied on 20 August without resistance, Ismailia was quickly reinforced with 9,000 troops, with the engineers put to work repairing the railway line from Suez. A small force was pushed along the Sweet Water Canal to the Kassassin lock arriving on 26 August, the main body of the army started to move up to Kassassin and planning for the battle at Tell El Kebir was undertaken. Skirmishing took place but did not interfere with the build up, on 12 September all was ready and during that night the army marched to battle. 13 September 1882 - Urabi redeployed to defend Cairo against Wolseley and his main force dug in at Tell El Kebir, north of the railway and the Sweet Water Canal, both of which linked Cairo to Ismailia on the canal
6.
Battle of Dogali
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The Battle of Dogali was fought on 26 January 1887 between Italy and Ethiopia in Dogali near Massawa, in present-day Eritrea. The Italians wanted to create their own colonies in Africa and started to occupy coastal Eritrea, soon they were at war with the Ethiopians in 1885. On his own initiative, Ras Alula Engida, then governor under Emperor Yohannes IV, hundreds of his men were slaughtered by cannon and rifle fire, while only four Italians were injured, forcing Ras Alula to pull his men back. The besieged Italians needed ammunitions and requested supplies, on January 26, a battalion of 500 men under Colonel Tommaso De Cristofori, sent to reinforce the Italian garrison at Sahati, were attacked while in march by Ras Alulas men at Dogali. Italians felt that the battle of Dogali was an insult to be avenged and this would later lead to the First Italo-Ethiopian War which ended in their defeat at Adwa. In 1936, they obtained their revenge with the Second Italo-Ethiopian War with a brief occupation only to be defeated by a joint British. Following Eritrean independence, the monument was removed, henze diplomatically notes in a footnote, When I crossed the battlefield in 1996, I could detect no trace of the monument. Observers, including Erlich and others, attribute this to Eritrean Tigrinya views of their own relationship with Ethiopia as a whole. Since Alula fought for the Empire and not for Medri Bahri, he is viewed as a traitor on the Eritrean side of the border, a hero on the Ethiopian side. The huge square in Rome in front of Termini railway station is called Piazza dei Cinquecento, near the square is also a monument to those soldiers. The Italian cruiser Dogali was named for the engagement
7.
First Franco-Dahomean War
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The First Franco-Dahomean War, which raged in 1890, was a conflict between France, led by General Alfred-Amédée Dodds, and the Dahomey under King Béhanzin. The French emerged triumphant after winning the Battle of Abomey, at the close of the 19th century, European powers were busy conquering and colonizing much of Africa. In what is today Benin, the colonial power was the French Third Republic. The French had established ties with the indigenous peoples of the area including one of West Africas most powerful states at the time. In 1851, a Franco-Dahomean friendship treaty was ratified allowing the French to operate commercially, by 1890, the Fon kingdom of Dahomey was at the height of its power. It laid claim to almost all the coast of modern Benin plus much of south-central Benin as far north as Atcheribé, one of Dahomeys most important tributaries was the small kingdom of Porto-Novo near the coast. The kingdom had been at odds with Dahomey on and off since the middle of the 18th century, in 1861, Porto-Novo was attacked by British anti-slaving ships. Porto-Novo asked for and received French protection in 1863, but this was rejected by Dahomey, another issue of contention was the status of Cotonou, a port the French believed was under their control because of a treaty signed by Dahomeys representative in Whydah. Dahomey ignored all French claims there as well and continued to collect customs from the port, in 1874, King Tofa took power in Porto-Novo and re-established French protection over the kingdom after Dahomey attacked it in 1882. Dahomey continued raiding the town, which culminated in an incident that brought the Fon, in March 1889, Dahomey attacked a village on the Ouémé where a village chief under the protection of the French. After remarking that the flag of the tri-color would protect him, then in March of that year, France sent a mission to Dahomeys capital of Abomey to assert its claims to Cotonou and offer an annual payment. The crown prince and later king Béhanzin received the mission but nothing was achieved other than mutual distrust, France responded to these events by building up its force in Cotonou to 359 men,299 of which were Tirailleurs or French trained Senegalese and Gabonese. On February 21, the French arrested the senior Fon officials in Cotonou, skirmishes with local militia also broke out. It wasnt long before word of this got back to Abomey, Dahomey sent a force straight to Cotonou with plans to bring it firmly back under Fon control once and for all. On March 4, a Dahomey army of several thousand charged the log stockade around Cotonou at approximately 5 in the morning and this was usual for the Fon army of Dahomey that almost always marched at night and attacked just before dawn. Prying apart the stakes and shoving their muskets through, the Fon fired into the enclosure, some even managed to surmount the 800-meter perimeter inflicting casualties within the walls. After four hours of fighting, often occurring hand-to-hand despite withering French firepower and even gunboat shells. The French sustained few losses, but the Fon suffered several hundred dead, after regrouping, Dahomey sent another force south, this time toward Porto-Novo
8.
Pioneer Column
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The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annexe the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Southern Rhodesia. Rhodes was anxious to secure Matabeleland and Mashonaland before the Germans, the next step was to occupy the territory. Frank Johnson, a 23-year-old adventurer, however, undertook to deliver the territory in nine months with a mere 250 men for £87,500, frederick Selous, a hunter with close knowledge of Mashonaland, agreed to join the effort as guide. Johnson published recruitment notices in Kimberley offering each volunteer 1,200 hectares of land and 15 mining claims, johnsons column eventually consisted of 180 civilian colonists,62 wagons and 200 volunteers. A further party of 110 men,16 wagons,250 cattle and 130 spare horses later attached itself to the column, the troopers were equipped with Martini-Henry rifles, revolvers, seven-pound field guns and Maxim machine guns, as well as an electric searchlight. The route began at Macloutsie in Bechuanaland on 28 June 1890, on 11 July, it crossed the river Tuli into Matabeleland. It proceeded north-east and then north over a distance of about 650 kilometres intending to terminate at an open area explored by Selous a few years earlier that he called Mount Hampden. However, the column halted about 15 kilometres before that at a flat and marshy meadow bounded by a steep rocky hill. The British union flag was hoisted on the day,13 September. The Pioneer Corps was officially disbanded on 1 October 1890 and each member was granted land on which to farm, the effects of the Pioneer Column were immense. The Shona and Matabele were forcibly compelled to join the world of the West. This was accomplished through a hut tax aimed at forcing African men to leave their herds, a new moral order was also imposed that has dramatically altered the culture and beliefs of the indigenous people and stopped their population decline. In 1927, the government of Southern Rhodesia issued a new British South Africa Company Medal to commemorate the earlier 1890 Pioneer Column, samkange, Stanlake, On Trial for My Country, Heinemann African Writers Series 1966, for an African perspective. Hill, Geoff, The Battle for Zimbabwe, Zebra Press, hensman, Howard, History of Rhodesia, Wm Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh & London,1890, for a contemporary and jingoistic British view. Nehanda Nyakasikana Shangani Patrol Category, Members of the Pioneer Column
9.
Second Franco-Dahomean War
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The French emerged triumphant and incorporated Dahomey into their growing colonial territory of French West Africa. The Fon ceased hostilities with the French after two defeats, withdrawing their forces and signing a treaty conceding to all of Frances demands. However, Dahomey remained a potent force in the area and quickly re-armed with modern weapons in anticipation of a second, after re-arming and regrouping, the Fon returned to raiding the Ouémé Valley, the same valley fought over in the first war with France. Victor Ballot, the French Resident at Porto-Novo, was sent via gunboat upriver to investigate and his ship was attacked and forced to depart with five men wounded in the incident. King Benhanzin rejected complaints by the French, and war was declared immediately by the French, the French entrusted the war effort against Dahomey to Alfred-Amédée Dodds, an octoroon colonel of the Troupes de marine from Senegal. Colonel Dodds arrived with a force of 2,164 men including Foreign Legionnaires, marines, engineers, artillery and these forces were armed with the new Lebel rifles, which would prove decisive in the coming battle. The French protectorate kingdom of Porto-Novo also added some 2,600 porters to aid in the fight, the Fon, prior to the outbreak of the second war, had stockpiled between 4,000 and 6,000 rifles including Mannlicher and Winchester carbines. These were purchased from German merchants via the port of Whydah, King Béhanzin also bought some machine-guns and Krupp cannons, but it is unknown that these were ever put to use. On June 15,1892, the French blockaded Dahomeys coast to prevent any further arms sales, then, on July 4, the first shots of the war were fired from French gunboats with the shelling of several villages along the lower Ouémé Valley. The carefully organized French army began moving inland in mid-August toward their destination of the Dahomey capital of Abomey. The French invasion force assembled at the village of Dogba on September 14, some 50 miles upriver on the border of Dahomey, at around 5 a. m. on September 19, the French force was attacked by the army of Dahomey. The Fon broke off the attack after three to four hours of fighting, characterized by repeated attempts by the Fon for melee combat. Hundreds of Fon were left dead on the field with the French forces suffering only five dead, the French forces moved another 15 miles upriver before turning west in the direction of Abomey. On October 4, the French column was attacked at Poguessa by Fon forces under the command of King Béhanzin himself, the Fon staged several fierce charges over two to three hours that all failed against the 20-inch bayonets of the French. The Dahomey army left the field in defeat losing some 200 soldiers, the French carried the day with only 42 casualties. The Dahomey Amazons were also conspicuous in the battle, after the hard-fought victory at Poguessa, the Fon resorted to guerilla tactics rather than set-piece engagements. It took the French invasion force a month to march the 25 miles between Poguessa and the last major battle at Cana just outside Abomey, the Fon dug foxholes and trenches in their desperate battle to slow the French invasion. On October 6, the French had another encounter with the Fon at the village of Adégon
10.
First Matabele War
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The First Matabele War was fought between 1893 and 1894 in the country today called Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele Kingdom, Lobengula had 80,000 spearmen and 20,000 riflemen, armed with nine-pound Martini-Henrys, which were modern arms at that time. However, poor training meant that these were not used effectively, matters came to a head when Lobengula approved a raid to forcibly extract tribute from a Mashona chief in the district of the town of Fort Victoria, which inevitably led to a clash with the Company. The British government agreed that the British South Africa Company would administer the territory stretching from the Limpopo to the Zambezi under royal charter, queen Victoria signed the charter in 1889. However, in 1893, a chief in the Victoria district named Gomara refused tribute, in order to save face, Lobengula was impelled to send a raiding party of several thousand warriors to bring his vassal to heel. The raiding party destroyed several villages and murdered many of the inhabitants, as a result the Company officials demanded from the raiders that they leave immediately. The Ndebele refused and in the hostilities that developed the Ndebele sustained a number of casualties. There was a delay of just over two months while Jameson corresponded with Rhodes in Cape Town and considered how to amass enough troops to undertake an invasion of Matabeleland. BSAP columns rode from Fort Salisbury and Fort Victoria, and combined at Iron Mine Hill, around the point of the country. Together the force totalled about 700 men, commanded by Major Patrick Forbes, Forbes combined column moved on the Matabele kings capital at Bulawayo, to the south-west. An additional force of 700 Bechuanas marched on Bulawayo from the south under Khama III, the most influential of the Bamangwato chiefs, and a staunch ally of the British. The Matabele army mobilised to prevent Forbes from reaching the city, by the time the Matabele withdrew, they had suffered around 1,500 fatalities, the BSAP, on the other hand, had lost only four men. Lobengula fled Bulawayo as soon as he heard the news from Bembesi, in keeping with custom, he. In the resultant conflagration, the large store of ivory, gold and other treasure was destroyed. The reconstruction of Bulawayo began almost as soon as the fires were out, the column of Khamas men from the south had reached the Tati River, and won a victory on the Singuesi river on 2 November. The town, mostly made up of wood-beam huts with mud walls, was largely destroyed, on 3 November, Bulawayo was reached by the Victoria column from Mashonaland, accompanied by Jameson and Sir John Willoughby. By this time, Lobengula and his warriors were in flight towards the Zambezi. An attempt was made to induce Lobengula to surrender, but no replies were received to the messages, the United Salisbury Column later arrived in Bulawayo, and on 13 November, Major Patrick Forbes organized his column and started in pursuit of Lobengula
11.
Anglo-Ashanti wars
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The wars were mainly due to Ashanti attempts to establish strong control over the coastal areas of what is now Ghana. Coastal peoples, such as the Fante and the inhabitants of Accra, in the Ga-Fante War of 1811, the Akwapim captured a British fort at Tantamkweri and a Dutch fort at Apam. In the Ashanti-Akim-Akwapim War of 1814–16 the Ashanti defeated the Akim-Akwapim alliance, local British, Dutch, and Danish authorities all had to come to terms with the Ashanti. The African Company of Merchants was dissolved in 1821 and the British assumed control of the Gold Coast, by the 1820s the British had decided to support one of the other tribes, the Fanti, enemies of the Ashanti. Inland, the Ashanti kings who ruled from the Golden Stool, said to have come from their great god guardian of the Ashanti soul, Nyame, economic and social friction played their part in the causes for the outbreak of violence. The immediate cause of the war happened when a group of Ashanti kidnapped and murdered an African sergeant of the Royal African Corps, a small British group was led into a trap which resulted in 10 killed,39 wounded and a British retreat. The Ashanti tried to negotiate but the British governor, Sir Charles MacCarthy, rejected Ashanti claims to Fanti areas of the coast and this started the First Anglo-Ashanti War which ran until 1831. The British were overrun, suffered losses, and ran out of ammunition, almost all the British force were killed immediately, only around 20 managed to escape. MacCarthy, along with the ensign and his secretary, attempted to back, he was wounded by gunfire, however. Ensign Wetherell was killed whilst trying to defend MacCarthys body and Williams taken prisoner, mcCarthys gold-rimmed skull was later used as a drinking-cup by the Ashanti rulers. On Mr Williamss recovering his senses, he saw the headless trunks of Sir Charles McCarthy, Mr Buckle, and Ensign Wetherell. During his captivity he was lodged under a shed in the same rooms as the heads which. Major Alexander Gordon Laing returned to Britain with news of their fate, the Ashanti swept down to the coast, but disease forced them back. The new governor of the Gold Coast, John Hope Smith, started to gather a new army, mainly comprising natives, including Denkyiras, in August 1826 the governor heard that the Ashanti were planning on attacking Accra. A defensive position was prepared on the open plain 10 miles north of Accra, on 7 August the Ashanti army appeared and attacked the centre of the British line where the best troops were held, which included some Royal Marines, the militia and a battery of Congreve rockets. The battle dissolved into hand-to-hand fighting but the Ashanti force were not doing well on their flanks whilst they looked like winning in the centre. The novelty of the weapons, the explosions, rocket trails, soon they fled leaving thousands of casualties on the field. In 1831, the Pra River was accepted as the border in a treaty, in 1863, a large Ashanti delegation crossed the Pra river pursuing a fugitive, Kwesi Gyana
12.
First Italo-Ethiopian War
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The First Italo-Ethiopian War was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from 1895 to 1896. It originated from a treaty which, the Italians claimed, turned the country into an Italian protectorate. Full-scale war broke out in 1895, with Italian troops having initial success until Ethiopian troops counterattacked Italian positions and besieged the Italian fort of Meqele, forcing its surrender. Italian defeat came about after the Battle of Adwa, where the Ethiopian army dealt the heavily outnumbered Italians a decisive loss and forced their retreat back into Eritrea. This was not the first African victory over Western colonizers, according to one historian, In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia alone had successfully defended its independence. The Khedive of Egypt Ismail Pasha, Ismail the Magnificent had conquered Eritrea as part of his efforts to give Egypt an African empire, Ismail had tried to follow that conquest with Ethiopia, but the Egyptian attempts to conquer that realm ended in humiliating defeat. Egypt had very much in the French sphere of influence until 1882 when Britain occupied Egypt. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 had turned the Horn of Africa into a strategic region as a navy based in the Horn could interdict any shipping going up. By building naval bases on the Red Sea that could intercept British shipping in the Red Sea, the French hoped to reduce the value of the Suez Canal for the British, and thus lever them out of Egypt. On 3 June 1884, a treaty was signed between Britain, Egypt and Ethiopia that allowed the Ethiopians to occupy parts of Eritrea and allowed the Ethiopian goods to pass in and out of Massawa duty-free. After initially encouraging the Emperor Yohannes IV to move into Eritrea to replace the Egyptians, in 1882, Italy had joined the Triple Alliance, allying herself with Austria and Germany against France. On 5 February 1885 Italian troops landed at Massawa to replace the Egyptians, the Italian government for its part was more than happy to embark upon an imperialist policy to distract its people from the failings in post Risorgimento Italy. To compensate, a chauvinist mood was rampant in Italy with the newspaper Il Diritto writing in an editorial, the year 1885 will decide her fate as a great power. It is necessary to feel the responsibility of the new era, to become again strong men afraid of nothing, with the love of the fatherland, of all Italy. On March 25,1889, the Shewa ruler Menelik II, having conquered Tigray and Amhara, Menelik II continued the policy of Tewodros II of integrating Ethiopia. However, the treaty did not say the same thing in Italian and Amharic. Italian diplomats, however, claimed that the original Amharic text included the clause, moreover, Menelik did not know Italian and only signed the Amharic text of the treaty, being assured that there were no differences between the Italian and Amharic texts before he signed. Francesco Crispi, the Italian Prime Minister was an ultra-imperialist who believed the newly unified Italian state required the grandeur of a second Roman empire, Crispi believed that the Horn of Africa was the best place for the Italians to start building the new Roman empire
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Second Matabele War
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It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele people, which led to conflict with the Shona people in the rest of Rhodesia. In March 1896, the Ndebele revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company in what is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, the Mlimo the Ndebele spiritual leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. He convinced the Ndebele and the Shona that the settlers were responsible for the drought, locust plagues, the Mlimos call to battle was well-timed. This left the country nearly defenceless, the British immediately sent troops to suppress the Ndebele and the Shona, but it cost the lives of many on both sides. Months passed before the amount of British forces were adequate to break the sieges and defend the major settlements, the Mlimo planned to wait until the night of 29 March, the first full moon, to take Bulawayo by surprise immediately after a ceremony called the Big Dance. He promised, through his priests, that if the Ndebele went to war and his plan was to kill all of the settlers in Bulawayo first, but not to destroy the town itself as it would serve again as the royal kraal for the newly reincarnated King Lobengula. Once the settlers were purged from Bulawayo, the Ndebele and Shona warriors would head out into the countryside, however, several young Ndebele were overly anxious to go to war, and the rebellion started prematurely. On 20 March, Ndebele rebels shot and stabbed a native policeman, over the next few days, other outlying settlers and prospectors were killed. Frederick Selous, the famous hunter, had heard rumours of settlers in the countryside being killed. When news of the murder reached Selous on 23 March. Nearly 2,000 Ndebele warriors began the rebellion in earnest on 24 March, many, although not all, of the young native police quickly deserted and joined the rebels. The Ndebele headed into the countryside armed with a variety of weapons, including, Martini-Henry rifles, Winchester repeaters, Lee-Metfords, assegais, as news of the massive rebellion spread, the Shona joined in the fighting, and the settlers headed towards Bulawayo. Within a week,141 settlers were slain in Matabeleland, another 103 killed in Mashonaland, with few troops to support them, the settlers quickly built a laager of sandbagged wagons in the centre of Bulawayo on their own. Barbed wire was added to Bulawayos defences, oil-soaked fagots were arranged in strategic locations in case of attack at night. Blasting gelatin was secreted in outlying buildings that were beyond the defence perimeter, smashed glass bottles were spread around the front of the wagons. Except for hunting rifles, there were few weapons to be found in Bulawayo, fortunately for settlers, there were a few working artillery pieces and a small assortment of machine guns. Selous raised a troop of forty men to scout southward into the Matobo Hills. Maurice Gifford, along with 40 men, rode east along the Iniza River, whenever settlers were found, they were quickly loaded into their wagons and closely guarded on their way to Bulawayo
14.
Anglo-Zanzibar War
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The Anglo-Zanzibar War was a military conflict fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted between 38 and 45 minutes, marking it as the shortest recorded war in history, the immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. The British authorities preferred Hamud bin Muhammed, who was favourable to British interests. The British considered this a casus belli and sent an ultimatum to Khalid demanding that he order his forces to stand down, in response, Khalid called up his palace guard and barricaded himself inside the palace. The ultimatum expired at 09,00 East Africa Time on 27 August, the Royal Navy contingent were under the command of Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson while their Zanzibaris were commanded by Brigadier-General Lloyd Mathews of the Zanzibar army. Around 2,800 Zanzibaris defended the palace, most were recruited from the civilian population, the defenders had several artillery pieces and machine guns, which were set in front of the palace sighted at the British ships. A bombardment opened at 09,02 set the palace on fire, the flag at the palace was shot down and fire ceased at 09,40. The sultans forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured, Sultan Khalid received asylum in the German consulate before escaping to German East Africa. The British quickly placed Sultan Hamud in power at the head of a puppet government, the war marked the end of the Zanzibar Sultanate as a sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence. Zanzibar was a country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Tanganyika. The main island, Unguja, had been under the control of the Sultans of Oman since 1698 when they expelled the Portuguese settlers who had claimed it in 1499. Sultan Majid bin Said declared the independent of Oman in 1858, which was recognised by Great Britain. The subsequent sultans established their capital and seat of government at Zanzibar Town where a complex was built on the sea front. The complex was constructed of local timber and was not designed as a defensive structure. All three main buildings were adjacent to one another in a line, and linked by wooden covered bridges above street height. Britain had recognised Zanzibars sovereignty and its sultanate in 1886, after a period of friendly interaction. However, Germany was also interested in East Africa, and the two powers vied for control of trade rights and territory in the area throughout the late 19th century. Sultan Khalifah had granted rights to the land of Kenya to Britain and that of Tanganyika to Germany, many of the Arab ruling classes were upset by this interruption of a valuable trade, which resulted in some unrest
15.
Benin Expedition of 1897
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Rawsons troops captured, burned, and looted Benin City, bringing to an end the west African Kingdom of Benin. As a result, much of the art, including the Benin Bronzes, were looted. At the end of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Benin had managed to retain its independence, the territory was coveted by an influential group of investors for its rich natural resources such as palm-oil, rubber and ivory. In March 1892, Henry Gallwey, the British Vice-Consul of Oil Rivers Protectorate, visited Benin City hoping to annexe Benin Kingdom and make it a British protectorate. Although the King of Benin, Omo n’Oba, was sceptical of the British motives he was willing to endorse what he believed was a friendship, the treaty signed by the king agreed to the abolition of the Benin slave trade and human sacrifice. The King refrained from endorsing Gallweys treaty when it became apparent that the document was a ploy intended to make Benin Kingdom a British colony. Consequently, the King issued an edict barring all British officials and this vigilance and the Colonial Offices refusal to grant approval for an invasion of Benin City scuttled the expedition the Protectorate had planned for early 1895. Even so, between September 1895 and mid-1896 three attempts were made by the Protectorate to enforce the Gallwey Treaty. In March 1896, following price fixing and refusal by Itsekiri middle men to pay the required tributes, in October 1896 Lieutenant James Robert Phillips the Acting Consul-General visited the Benin River District and had meetings with the agents and traders. In the end the agents and traders were able to him that there is a future on the Benin River if Benin territories were opened. Benin had developed a reputation for sending messages of resistance. But the way Benin treated its slaves and the display of large quantities of human remains hardened British attitudes towards Benins rulers. The trader James Pinnock wrote that he saw a number of men all handcuffed and chained there. T. B Auchterlonie described the approach to the capital through an avenue of trees hung with decomposing human remains, after the lane of horrors came a grass common thickly stewn with the skulls and bones of sacrificed human beings. To disguise their true intent, the weapons were hidden in the baggage carried by the porters. His request to London was to depose the king of Benin City, replace him with a Native Council, unfortunately for Phillips, some Itsekiri trading chiefs sent a message to the Benin king that the white man is bringing war. The Benin king however argued that the British should be allowed to enter the city so that it can be ascertained whether or not the visit was a friendly one. The Iyase ignored the views, and ordered the formation of a strike force that was commanded by the Ologbosere, a senior army commander
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Fashoda Incident
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The Fashoda Incident or Crisis was the climax of imperial territorial disputes between Britain and France in Eastern Africa, occurring in 1898. A French expedition to Fashoda on the White Nile river sought to control of the Upper Nile river basin. The French party and a British detachment met on friendly terms, the British held firm as both nations stood on the verge of war with heated rhetoric on both sides. Under heavy pressure the French withdrew, securing Anglo-Egyptian control over the area, the status quo was recognised by an agreement between the two states acknowledging British control over Egypt, while France became the dominant power in Morocco. France had failed in its main goals, bell says, Between the two governments there was a brief battle of wills, with the British insisting on immediate and unconditional French withdrawal from Fashoda. The French had to accept terms, amounting to a public humiliation. Fashoda was long remembered in France as an example of British brutality. It was a victory for the British as the French realized that in the long run they needed the friendship of Britain in case of a war between France and Germany. It was the last crisis between the two that involved a threat of war and opened the way for closer relations in the Entente cordiale of 1904. It gave rise to the Fashoda syndrome in French foreign policy, during the late 19th century, Africa was rapidly being claimed and exploited by European colonial powers. After the 1885 Berlin Conference regarding West Africa, Europes great powers went after any remaining lands in Africa that were not already under another European nations influence and this period in African history is usually called the Scramble for Africa. The two principal powers involved in this scramble were Britain and France, along with Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. France also had an outpost near the mouth of the Red Sea in Djibouti, the British, on the other hand, wanted to link their possessions in Southern Africa, with their territories in East Africa, and these two areas with the Nile basin. Sudan, which included todays South Sudan and Uganda, was the key to the fulfilment of these ambitions. This red line through Africa was made most famous by the British and South African political force Cecil Rhodes, who wanted Africa painted Red. The French east-west axis and the British north-south axis could not co-exist, Fashoda was also bound up in the Egyptian Question, a long running dispute between the United Kingdom and France over the legality of the British occupation of Egypt. Since 1882 many French politicians, particularly those of the colonial, had come to regret France’s decision not to join with Britain in occupying the country. They hoped to force Britain to leave, and thought that a colonial outpost on the Upper Nile could serve as a base for French gunboats and these in turn were expected to make the British abandon Egypt. Another proposed scheme involved a dam, cutting off the Nile’s water supply
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Second Boer War
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The Second Boer War, usually known as the Boer War and also at the time as the South African War, started on 11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902. Great Britain defeated two Boer states in South Africa, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, Britain was aided by its Cape Colony, Colony of Natal and some native African allies. The British war effort was supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India. All other nations were neutral, but public opinion in them was largely hostile to Britain, inside Britain and its Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War. The British were overconfident and under-prepared, the Boers were very well armed and struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. Staggered, the British brought in numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener and they relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900. The onward marches of the British Army were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defense of their homeland, the British quickly seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as the civilian leadership went into hiding or exile. In conventional terms, the war was over, Britain officially annexed the two countries in 1900, and called a khaki election to give the government another six years of power in London. However, the Boers refused to surrender and they reverted to guerrilla warfare under new generals Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey. Two more years of attacks and quick escapes followed. As guerrillas without uniforms, the Boer fighters easily blended into the farmlands, which provided hiding places, supplies, the British solution was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. The civilian farmers were relocated into concentration camps, where very large proportions died of disease, especially the children, then the British mounted infantry units systematically tracked down the highly mobile Boer guerrilla units. The battles at this stage were small operations with few combat casualties The war ended in surrender, the British successfully won over the Boer leaders, who now gave full support to the new political system. Both former republics were incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910, the conflict is commonly referred to as simply the Boer War, since the First Boer War is much less well known. Boer was the term for Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans descended from the Dutch East India Companys original settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. It is officially called the South African War and it is known as the Anglo-Boer War among some South Africans. In Afrikaans it may be called the Anglo-Boereoorlog, Tweede Boereoorlog, in South Africa it is officially called the South African War
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Herero Wars
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The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa. The Hereros were cattle grazers, occupying most of central and northern South West Africa, during the Scramble for Africa, South West Africa was claimed by Germany in August 1884. At that time, it was the only overseas German territory deemed suitable for white settlement, German colonists arriving in the following years occupied large areas of land, ignoring any claims by the Herero and other natives. There was continual resistance by the natives, a sort of peace was worked out in 1894. In that year, Theodor Leutwein became the colonys governor, white settlers were further encouraged and took more land from the natives. That caused a deal of discontent. In 1903, some of the Khoi and Herero tribes rose in revolt, troops were sent from Germany to re-establish order but only dispersed the rebels, led by Chief Samuel Maharero. However a conclusive battle was fought on August 11,1904 at the Battle of Waterberg in the Waterberg Mountains, Chief Maharero believed his six to one advantage over the Germans would allow him to win in a final showdown. The Germans had time to bring forward their artillery and heavy weapons, both sides took heavy losses, but the Herero were scattered and defeated. In October 1904, General Lothar von Trotha issued orders to every male Herero. As soon as the news of this order reached Germany, it was repealed, when the order was lifted at the end of 1904, prisoners were herded into concentration camps and given as slave labor to German businesses, many died of overwork and malnutrition. It took until 1908 to re-establish German authority over the territory, by that time tens of thousands of Africans had been either killed or died of thirst while fleeing. At the height of the campaign some 19,000 German troops were involved, at about the same time, diamonds were discovered in the territory, which briefly greatly boosted its prosperity. However, in 1915, during World War I, British and South African forces occupied South West Africa, on 16 August 2004,100 years after the war, the German government officially apologized for the atrocities. We Germans accept our historic and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time, said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, in addition, she admitted the massacres were equivalent to genocide. The Herero Wars and massacre are depicted in a chapter of the 1963 novel V. by Thomas Pynchon, the tragic story of the Herero genocide also appears in Pynchons 1973 novel Gravitys Rainbow. The heavy toll of the Herero genocide on individual lives and the fabric of Herero culture is seen in the 2013 historical novel Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov. The war and massacre is significantly featured in The Glamour Of Prospecting, in the book he describes his first hand accounts of witnessing the concentration camp on Shark Island amongst other aspects of the conflict
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Maji Maji Rebellion
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The Maji Maji Rebellion, sometimes called the Maji Maji War, was an armed rebellion against German colonial rule in German East Africa. The war was triggered by a German policy designed to force the population to grow cotton for export. After the Scramble for Africa among the major European powers in the 1880s and these were German East Africa, German Southwest Africa, Cameroon, and Togoland. The Germans had a weak hold on German East Africa. However, they did maintain a system of forts throughout the interior of the territory and were able to some control over it. Since their hold on the colony was weak, they resorted to using violently repressive tactics to control the population, Germany began levying head taxes in 1898, and relied heavily on forced labor to build roads and accomplish various other tasks. In 1902, Carl Peters ordered villages to grow cotton as a cash crop, each village was charged with producing a quota of cotton. The headmen of the village were left in charge of overseeing the production, the German policies were not only unpopular, as they had serious effects on the lives of the natives. The social fabric of society was being changed rapidly, the social roles of men and women were being changed to face the needs of the communities. Since men were forced away from their homes to work, women were forced to some of the traditional male roles. Also, the fact that men were away strained the resources of the village, there was thus a lot of animosity against the government at this period. In 1905, a drought threatened the region, all that as well as opposition to the governments agricultural and labor policies led to open rebellion against the Germans in July. The insurgents turned to magic to drive out the German colonizers, a spirit medium named Kinjikitile Ngwale claimed to be possessed by a snake spirit called Hongo. Ngwale began calling himself Bokero and developed a belief that the people of German East Africa had been called upon to eliminate the Germans, German anthropologists recorded that he gave his followers war medicine that would turn German bullets into water. This war medicine was in water mixed with castor oil. Empowered with this new liquid, Bokeros followers began what would become known as the Maji Maji Rebellion. The end of the war was followed by a period of famine, known as the Great Hunger, the followers of Bokeros movement were poorly armed with spears and arrows, sometimes poisoned. However, they were numerous and believed that they could not be harmed because the Germans bullets would turn to water and they marched from their villages wearing millet stalks around their foreheads
20.
Bambatha Rebellion
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The Bambatha rebellion was a Zulu revolt against British rule and taxation in Natal, South Africa, in 1906. The revolt was led by Bambatha kaMancinza, leader of the clan of the Zulu people, who lived in the Mpanza Valley. In the years following the Anglo-Boer War British employers in Natal had difficulty recruiting black farm workers because of increased competition from the mines of the Witwatersrand. The colonial authorities introduced a £1 poll tax in addition to the hut tax to pressure Zulu men to enter the labour market. Bambatha, who ruled about 5,500 people living in about 1,100 households, was one of the chiefs who resisted the introduction and collection of the new tax. The government of Natal sent police officers to collect the tax from recalcitrant districts, in the resulting introduction of martial law, Bambatha fled north to consult King Dinuzulu, who gave tacit support to Bambatha and invited him and his family to stay at the royal homestead. Bambatha returned to the Mpanza Valley to discover that the Natal government had deposed him as chief and he gathered together a small force of supporters and began launching a series of guerrilla attacks, using the Nkandla forest as a base. Following a series of successes, colonial troops under the command of Colonel Duncan McKenzie set out on an expedition in late April 1906. Once they succeeded in getting face to face with and surrounding the rebels at Mome Gorge, as the sun rose, colonial soldiers opened fire with machine guns and cannon, on rebels mostly armed only with traditional assegais, knobkerries and cowhide shields. Bambatha was killed and beheaded during the battle, however, many of his supporters believed that he was still alive, Bambathas main ally, the 95-year-old Zulu aristocrat Inkosi Sigananda Shezi of the amaCube clan was captured by the colonial troops and died a few days later. Between 3,000 and 4,000 Zulus were killed during the revolt, more than 7,000 were imprisoned, and 4,000 flogged. King Dinizulu was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment for treason, the war cost the Natal government GB£883,576. Gandhi actively encouraged the British to recruit Indians and he argued that Indians should support the war efforts in order to legitimise their claims to full citizenship. The British, however, refused to commission Indians as army officers, nonetheless, they accepted Gandhis offer to let a detachment of Indians volunteer as a stretcher bearer corps to treat wounded British soldiers. This corps of 21 was commanded by Gandhi, later in 1927 he wrote of the event as No war but a man hunt. In 2006, the anniversary of the rebellion was commemorated in a ceremony which declared Chief Bambatha a national hero of post-Apartheid South Africa. Also, his picture appeared on a stamp and a street was renamed in his honor. According to speeches in the ceremony, the body had not really been Bambathas
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Agadir Crisis
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The Agadir Crisis or Second Moroccan Crisis was an international crisis sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco in April 1911. Germany reacted by sending the gunboat SMS Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir on 1 July 1911, frances pre-eminence in Morocco had been upheld by the 1906 Algeciras Conference, following the First Moroccan Crisis of 1905–06. Anglo-German tensions were high at this time, partly due to a race between Imperial Germany and Great Britain, including German efforts to build a fleet two thirds the size of Britains. Germanys move was aimed at testing the relationship between Britain and France, and possibly intimidating Britain into an alliance with Germany, Germany was also enforcing compensation claims, for acceptance of effective French control of Morocco. In 1911, a rebellion broke out in Morocco against the Sultan, by early April, the Sultan was besieged in his palace in Fez. The French prepared to send troops to put down the rebellion, under the pretext of protecting European lives and property. On 8 June, the Spanish army occupied Larache, and three days later Ksar-el-Kebir, on 1 July, the German gunboat SMS Panther arrived at the port of Agadir, under the pretext of protecting German trade interests. The larger Bremen-class cruiser SMS Berlin arrived days later, replacing the gunboat, a German civilian, Hermann Wilberg, seventy miles to the north, journeyed south to be rescued only to arrive three days after the Panther. There was a reaction from the French and the British. The British government attempted to restrain France from adopting hasty measures and to dissuade her from sending troops to Fez, in April, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey wrote what the French contemplate doing is not wise, but we cannot under our agreement interfere. He felt that his hands were tied and that he had to support France, the British became worried by Panthers arrival in Morocco. The Royal Navy had a base in Gibraltar, in the south of Spain. They believed the Germans meant to turn Agadir into a base on the Atlantic. Britain sent battleships to Morocco, in case war broke out, as in the First Moroccan Crisis, British support of France showed the strength of the Entente Cordiale. In the midst of crisis, Germany was hit by financial turmoil. The stock market plunged by 30 percent in a single day, the Reichsbank lost a fifth of its gold reserves in one month. It was rumored this crisis had been orchestrated by the French finance minister, faced with the possibility of being driven off the gold standard, the Kaiser backed down and let the French take over most of Morocco. The speech was interpreted by Germany as a warning that she could not impose a settlement on France
22.
French conquest of Morocco
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The French conquest of Morocco took place in 1911 in the aftermath of the Agadir Crisis, when Moroccan forces besieged the French-occupied city of Fez. On 30 March 1912, Sultan Abdelhafid signed the Treaty of Fez, formally ceding Moroccan sovereignty to France, on 17 April 1912, Moroccan infantrymen mutinied in the French garrison in Fez. The Moroccans were unable to take the city and were defeated by a French relief force, in late May 1912, Moroccan forces unsuccessfully attacked the enhanced French garrison at Fez. The last aftermath of the conquest of Morocco occurred in 1933–34, French protectorate in Morocco Spanish protectorate in Morocco France–Morocco relations French Algeria French Tunisia Bidwell, Robin. Morocco under Colonial Rule, French Administration of Tribal Areas 1912–1956, burke, E. Pan-Islam and Moroccan resistance to French colonial penetration, 1900–1912
23.
Italo-Turkish War
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The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from September 29,1911, to October 18,1912. As a result of conflict, Italy captured the Ottoman Tripolitania Vilayet, of which the main sub-provinces were Fezzan, Cyrenaica. These territories together formed what became known as Italian Libya, during the conflict, Italian forces also occupied the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea. Although minor, the war was a significant precursor of the First World War as it sparked nationalism in the Balkan states, seeing how easily the Italians had defeated the weakened Ottomans, the members of the Balkan League attacked the Ottoman Empire before the war with Italy had ended. The Italo-Turkish War saw numerous changes, notably the airplane. The Turks, lacking anti-aircraft weapons, were the first to shoot down an aeroplane by rifle fire, when Italian diplomats hinted about possible opposition by their government, the French replied that Tripoli would have been a counterpart for Italy. In 1902, Italy and France had signed a treaty which accorded freedom of intervention in Tripolitania. However, the Italian government did little to realize the opportunity and knowledge of Libyan territory, the Italian press began a large-scale lobbying campaign in favour of an invasion of Libya at the end of March 1911. It was fancifully depicted as rich in minerals, well-watered, also, the population was described as hostile to the Ottoman Empire and friendly to the Italians, the future invasion was going to be little more than a military walk, according to them. The Socialist party had strong influence over public opinion, however, it was in opposition and also divided on the issue. It acted ineffectively against a military intervention, the future fascist leader Benito Mussolini – at this time still a left-wing Socialist – took a prominent anti-war position. A similar opposition was expressed in Parliament by Gaetano Salvemini and Leone Caetani, an ultimatum was presented to the Ottoman government led by the Committee of Union and Progress party on the night of 26–27 September. Through Austrian intermediation, the Ottomans replied with the proposal of transferring control of Libya without war and this suggestion was comparable to the situation in Egypt, which was under formal Ottoman suzerainty, but was actually controlled by the United Kingdom. Giolitti refused, and war was declared on September 29,1911, despite the time it had had to prepare the invasion, the Italian Royal Army was largely unprepared when the war broke out. The Italian fleet appeared off Tripoli in the evening of September 28, the city was conquered by 1,500 sailors, much to the enthusiasm of the interventionist minority in Italy. Another proposal for a settlement was rejected by the Italians. The Turks did not have an army in Trablusgarp. Many of the Ottoman officers had to travel there by their own means, often secretly, through Egypt, the Ottoman navy was too weak to transport troops by sea
24.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
25.
Triple Alliance (1882)
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The Triple Alliance, also known as the Triplice, was a secret agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed on 20 May 1882 and renewed periodically until World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been allied since 1879. Italy sought support against France shortly after it lost North African ambitions to the French, each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any other great power. The treaty provided that Germany and Austria-Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation, in turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France. In the event of a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Italy promised to remain neutral, when the treaty was renewed in February 1887, Italy gained an empty promise of German support of Italian colonial ambitions in North Africa in return for Italys continued friendship. Italy and Austria-Hungary did not overcome their basic conflict of interest in that region despite the treaty, in 1891 attempts were made to join Britain to the Triplice, which, though unsuccessful, were widely believed to have succeeded in Russian diplomatic circles. Shortly after renewing the Alliance in June 1902, Italy secretly extended a similar guarantee to France, by a particular agreement, neither Austria-Hungary nor Italy would change the status quo in the Balkans without previous consultation. On 1 November 1902, five months after the Triple Alliance was renewed, following parallel negotiation with both Triple Alliance, aimed to keep Italy neutral, and the Triple Entente, aimed to make Italy enter the conflict, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Carol I of Romania, through his Prime Minister Ion I. C, brătianu, had also secretly pledged to support the Triple Alliance, but he remained neutral since Austria-Hungary started the war. The man chiefly responsible for the Triple Alliance was Otto von Bismarck, Bismarck wanted to prevent a war on two fronts, which is why he targeted these two countries specifically. By the late 1870s, Austrian territorial ambitions in both the Italian peninsula and Central Europe had been thwarted by the rise of Italy and Germany as new national powers. With the decline and failed reforms of the Ottoman Empire, Slavic discontent in the occupied Balkans grew, the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina was a step taken in response to Russian advances into Bessarabia. Unable to mediate between Turkey and Russia over the control of Serbia, Austria–Hungary declared neutrality when the conflict between the two powers escalated into the Russo-Turkish War. To counter Russian and French interests in Europe, an alliance was concluded with Germany in October 1879, World War I started in 1914. The Kingdom of Italy, like some of the other European powers, wanted to set up colonies, in the years before World War I, many distinguished military analysts predicted that Italy would attack its supposed ally in the event of a large scale conflict. Italys adherence to the Triple Alliance was doubted and from 1903 plans for a war against Rome were again maintained by the Austrian general staff. Mutual suspicions led to reinforcement of the frontier and speculation in the press about a war between the two countries into the first decade of the twentieth century. As late as 1911 Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, chief of the Austrian general staff, was advocating a preemptive strike against Austrias supposed Italian ally
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Franco-Russian Alliance
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The Franco-Russian Alliance, or Russo-French Rapprochement, was an alliance formed by the agreements of 1891–93, it lasted until 1917. The development of ties between the two countries created the economic prerequisites for the Russo-French Alliance. The history of the dates to the beginning of the 1870s, to the contradictions engendered by the Franco-Prussian War. The Russian government had supported France during the war scare of 1875, in 1877, during the new Franco-German war scare, Russia maintained friendly relations with France. However, after the Berlin Congress of 1878, French diplomacy, in aiming at a rapprochement with Great Britain and Germany, france’s alienation from Russia and her policy of colonial seizures lasted until 1885, when the Franco-German contradictions became heightened after the French defeat in Annan. Early in 1887, new complications arose in Franco-German relations, France appealed to the Russian government for aid. In concluding the so-called Reinsurance Treaty with Germany in 1887, Russia insisted on maintaining for France the same conditions that Germany had stipulated for its ally, at the end of the 1880s, Russo-German economic discrepancies grew stronger. The Russo-French political rapprochement contributed to the influx of French capital into Russia, at the end of the 1880s and the beginning of the 1890s, Russia received a number of large loans from France. During a visit by a French squadron to Kronstadt in July 1891, France was interested significantly more than Russia in a military alliance and endeavored to supplement the 1891 agreement with military obligations. By an exchange of letters between December 15,1893, and December 23,1893, both announced their ratification of the military convention. This formalized the Russo-French military-political alliance and it was a response to the formation of an aggressive military bloc headed by Germany. In Europe, two opposing hostile imperialist blocs had formed, relying on Russian support, France intensified its colonial policy. After the Fashoda Incident of 1898 with Great Britain, it endeavored even more to strengthen the alliance with Russia, the alliance with France also facilitated the tsarist government’s expansion into Manchuria in the 1890s. During the preparatory period and the first years of the existence of the Russo-French Alliance, the role was played by Russia. By constantly receiving new loans from France, Russian tsarism gradually fell into dependence on French imperialism. Prior to World War I, the cooperation of the staffs of both countries assumed closer forms. In 1912 a Russo-French naval convention was signed, Russia and France entered the war united by the treaty of alliance. This had a significant effect on the course and outcome of the war and this led to the defeat at the battle of the Marne, to the collapse of the Schlieffen Plan, and finally to the defeat of Germany
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Anglo-German naval arms race
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The Anglo-German naval arms race of the early 20th century preceded and was one of the several intertwined causes for World War I. There were also other naval buildups in several countries which were emerging as great powers, such as the United States and Japan. The German aim was to build a fleet that would be 2/3 the size of the British navy, from 1905 on, the British navy developed plans for such a blockade that was a central part of British strategy. In reaction to challenge to their naval supremacy, from 1902 to 1910. This competition came to focus on the new ships based on HMS Dreadnought. By 1913, there was intense debate about new ships due to the growing influence of John Fishers ideas. The naval race between Britain and Germany generated massive public support on each side, in the midst of the race, the British public coined the slogan We want eight and we wont wait. Referring to the number of dreadnoughts they wanted the government to build, with the surge of public support, the government did commission more shipbuilding. British defense policy was to ensure that the British navy was at least the size of the two largest navies as outlined in the Two Power Standard. This was not the case as the war approached, due to financial and logistical constraints, and the speed of expansion of the German navy, Britain did, however, boast the largest and mightiest navy when war broke out in 1914. Britain managed to build HMS Dreadnought in just 14 months and by the start of the First World War Britain had 49 battleships, although the naval race continued it was economically impossible for the Germans to close the gap before the war broke out. In 1912, the German chancellor Bethmann Hollweg ended the arms race. His aim was to secure an understanding with the British to end the increasingly isolated position of Germany, russian military expansion compelled the Germans to prioritise spending on their army and therefore less on the navy. Causes of World War I Imperial German Navy Germany–United Kingdom relations International relations of the Great Powers Brandenburg, from Bismarck to the World War, A History of German Foreign Policy 1870-1914 pp 266-99, 394-417. Kelly, Patrick J. Tirpitz and the Imperial German Navy excerpt and text search Kennedy, the Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914 Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers excerpt and text search Lambert, sir John Fishers Naval Revolution excerpt and text search Massie, Robert K. Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the coming of the Great War, Steinberg, Johnathan. The Tirpitz Plan, Historical Journal 16#1 pp 196–204 in JSTOR
28.
Entente Cordiale
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Credit for the success of the negotiation belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon, Frances ambassador in London, and to the British foreign secretary Lord Lansdowne. The most important feature of the agreement was that it granted freedom of action to the UK in Egypt, arrangements were also made to allay the rivalry between British and French colonists in the New Hebrides. By the Entente Cordiale both powers reduced the isolation into which they had withdrawn—France involuntarily, the UK complacently—while they had eyed each other over African affairs. The UK had no ally but Japan, of use if war should break out in European waters, France had none but Russia. The agreement was upsetting to Germany, whose policy had long been to rely on Franco-British antagonism, a German attempt to check the French in Morocco in 1905, and thus upset the Entente, served only to strengthen it. Military discussions between the French and the British general staffs were soon initiated, Franco-British solidarity was confirmed at the Algeciras Conference and reconfirmed in the Second Moroccan Crisis. This was translated into French as Entente Cordiale and used by Louis Philippe I in the French Chamber that year. When used today the term almost always denotes the second Entente Cordiale, that is to say, the agreement was a change for both countries. The situation for both countries changed in the last decade of the 19th century, the change had its roots in a British loss of confidence after the Second Boer War, and a growing fear that the country was isolated in the face of a potentially aggressive Germany. As early as March 1881, the French statesman Léon Gambetta, the Scramble for Africa prevented the countries from coming to terms, however. On the initiative of Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, there were three rounds of British-German talks between 1898 and 1901, the UK decided not to join the Triple Alliance, broke off the negotiations with Berlin, and revived the idea of a British-French alliance. When the Russo-Japanese War was about to erupt, France and the UK found themselves on the verge of being dragged into the conflict on the side of their respective allies, France was firmly allied with Russia, while the UK had recently signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In order to avoid going to war, both powers shucked off their ancient rivalry and resolved their differences in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Entente was composed of three documents, The first and most important document was the Declaration respecting Egypt and Morocco. In return for the French promising not to obstruct British actions in Egypt, free passage through the Suez Canal was guaranteed, finally putting the Convention of Constantinople into force, and the erection of fortifications on part of the Moroccan coast forbidden. The treaty contained a secret annex dealing with the possibility of changed circumstances in the administration of either of the two countries, the second document dealt with Newfoundland and portions of West and Central Africa. The French gave up their rights over the western coast of Newfoundland, in return, the British gave the French the town of Yarbutenda and the Iles de Los. An additional provision deals with the border between French and British possessions east of the River Niger, the final declaration concerned Siam, Madagascar and the New Hebrides. In Siam, the British recognised a French sphere of influence to the east of the River Menams basin, in turn, both parties disclaimed any idea of annexing Siamese territory
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Russo-Japanese War
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The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan, Russia sought a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean for their navy and for maritime trade. Vladivostok was operational only during the summer, whereas Port Arthur, since the end of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Japan feared Russian encroachment on its sphere of influence. Russia had demonstrated an expansionist policy in the Siberian Far East from the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century, through threat of Russian expansion, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as being within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a buffer zone between Russia and Japan. The Japanese government perceived a Russian threat to its strategic interests, after negotiations broke down in 1904, the Japanese Navy opened hostilities by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China, in a surprise attack. The war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, the complete victory of the Japanese military surprised world observers. The consequences transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japans recent entry onto the world stage and it was the first major military victory in the modern era of an Asian power over a European one. Scholars continue to debate the historical significance of the war, after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Meiji government endeavored to assimilate Western ideas, technological advances and ways of warfare. By the late 19th century, Japan had transformed itself into an industrial state. The Japanese wanted to be recognized as equal with the Western powers, the Meiji restoration had always been intended to make Japan a modernized state, not a Westernized one, and Japan was always an imperialist power, looking towards overseas expansionism. By the 1890s it had extended its realm across Central Asia to Afghanistan, the Russian Empire stretched from Poland in the west to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the east. With its construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway to the port of Vladivostok, in the Tsushima incident of 1861 Russia had directly assaulted Japanese territory. Between the Meiji Restoration and its participation in World War I, the first war Japan fought was the First Sino-Japanese War, fought in 1894 and 1895. The war revolved around the issue of control and influence over Korea under the rule of the Joseon dynasty, from the 1880s onward, there had been vigorous competition for influence in Korea between China and Japan. The Korean court was prone to factionalism, and was divided by a reformist faction that was pro-Japanese. In 1884, a coup attempt was put down by Chinese troops. A peasant rebellion led by the Tonghak religious movement led to a request by the Korean government for the Qing dynasty to send in troops to stabilize the country
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Anglo-Russian Convention
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The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 is the common name used for the Convention between the United Kingdom and Russia relating to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. It delineated spheres of influence in Persia, stipulated that neither country would interfere in Tibet’s internal affairs, the agreement led to the formation of the Triple Entente. The conflicting interests centered on Afghanistan, Iran, and Tibet, on May 20,1882, Germany entered into the Triple Alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary, complementing its industrial and socio-political climb in the world arena. Furthermore, Germany dramatically increased its output from the early 1900s up to the outbreak of World War I. Under a new empire, the German government worked to increase the nations wealth. Thus, military and territorial expansion was Germanys key to making itself a major player in the arena of power. Germanys Middle East took a position, one subordinate to Germanys primary policy toward Europe and America, throughout the late 19th. While of secondary importance, it was a tool that was used to manipulate the Middle Eastern attempt to play off the Western powers against each other, berlin peacefully penetrated the Ottoman Empire and had few colonial aspirations in the region. In 1905, revolutionary activity spread throughout Tehran, forcing the shah to accept a constitution, allow the formation of a majles, major figures in the revolution had secular goals, which then created rifts in the clergy to the advantage of the monarchy. To facilitate the situation in Iran, Britain and Russia discussed splitting Iran “into three zones, the division of Iran reinforced Great Power control over these respective territorial and economic interests in the country as well as allowed for contrived interference in Irans political system. With foreign influence, revolution was outflanked by a combination of European, as a result, Iranians learned that however predatory the two neighbors were, they were even more dangerous when they put aside their rivalries. Consequently, in 1907, Britain and Russia signed an agreement to regulate their economic, with respect to Iran, the Anglo–Russian Agreement recognized the countrys strict independence and integrity, but then divided it into three separate zones. The agreement designated all of northern Iran, which bordered Russias possessions in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, a smaller zone in southeastern Iran, which bordered Britain India, was recognized as an exclusive sphere for Britain. The British zone extended west as far as Kerman in the north, for Britain and Russia, the agreement was important in establishing a diplomatic alignment that endured until World War I. The government of Iran, however, had not been consulted about the agreement, Iranian nationalists, in particular, felt betrayed by Britain, a country they had idealized as a democratic beacon during the Constitutional Revolution. Thus, an important legacy of the agreement was the growth of anti-British sentiment specifically, the agreement lapsed in 1918 after it was renounced by a new revolutionary government in Russia. The Anglo-Russian Convention and the Problem of Central Asia, 1907-1914, Journal of British Studies 11#1 pp. 126–147 in JSTOR Palace, the British Empire and Tibet, Siegel, Jennifer, Endgame, Britain, Russia and the Final Struggle for Central Asia Tomaszewski, Fiona K. A Great Russia, Russia and the Triple Entente Brigham Young University library website
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Bosnian crisis
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In April 1909 the Treaty of Berlin was amended to reflect the fait accompli and bring the crisis to an end. The crisis permanently damaged relations between Austria-Hungary on one hand and Serbia, Italy and the Russian Empire on the other, the Italian historian Luigi Albertini regarded it as laying the grounds for World War I. Although the crisis ended with what appeared to be a total Austro-Hungarian diplomatic victory, Russia became determined not to back down again, the mid-1870s witnessed a series of violent rebellions against Ottoman rule in the Balkans, and equally violent and repressive responses from the Turks. The Russian Tsar, Alexander II, wanting to intervene against the Ottomans, sought, as compensation for this support, Russia agreed to Austria-Hungarys annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Shortly thereafter, the Russians declared war, and, after a few setbacks and this had the effect of bottling up the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, but would be worthless if Russian troops gained control of the straits by land. The treaty of San Stefano was overturned by the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, under article 29, Austria-Hungary received special rights in the Ottoman Empires provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Sanjak of Novi Pazar separated Montenegro from Serbia and prevented the geographic, the Bosnian population was already religiously divided among Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Austria-Hungary exercised its rights, taking control of Bosnia-Herzegovina and jointly occupying the Sanjak of Novi Pazar together with the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Berlin allowed for sole Austrian occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and this omission was addressed in the Three Emperors League treaty of 1881, where both Germany and Russia endorsed Austrias right to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, by 1897, under the new Tsar, Nicholas II, the Russian Foreign Minister, Count Michael Muraviev, stated that an Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina would raise an extensive question requiring special scrutiny. In 1903 a coup in Serbia brought in a new pro-Russian Karađorđević dynasty and these Serbs wanted to take over the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and Bosnia-Herzegovina from the Austro-Hungarians. Relations between Serbia and Austria-Hungary gradually deteriorated, however, Russias ability to support Serbia was greatly reduced following military humiliation in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War and the ensuing internal unrest. By 1907, Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Alois Aehrenthal began formulating a plan to solidify Austria-Hungarys position towards Serbia through annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and his opportunity came in the form of a letter from Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky and a subsequent meeting at Buchlau castle in Moravia, Austria-Hungary. On 14 July Aehrenthal responded with guarded acceptance of the proposed discussions, the letter then went on to offer to discuss, as a separate matter, the Straits question, on a friendly basis. On 16 September, Izvolsky and Aehrenthal met face-to-face at Buchlovice Castle, no minutes were taken during these private meetings which lasted a total of six hours. Izvolsky accepted the responsibility to write up the conclusions of the meeting, on 21 September, Aehrenthal wrote to Izvolsky asking for this document to which Izvolsky replied two days later that the document had been sent to the Czar for approval. This document, if it existed, has never been produced. By Aehrenthal’s account given by Albertini, Izvolsky agreed that Russia would maintain a friendly, reciprocally, should Russia move to open the Straits to single ships of war, Austria-Hungary would maintain a benevolent attitude
32.
Balkan Wars
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The Balkan Wars consisted of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. Four Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in the first war, one of the four, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. Austria-Hungary, although not a combatant, became relatively weaker as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples, the war set the stage for the Balkan crisis of 1914 and thus served as a prelude to the First World War. By the early 20th century, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia had achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1912 these countries formed the Balkan League. The First Balkan War had three main causes, The Ottoman Empire was unable to reform itself, govern satisfactorily, or deal with the rising nationalism of its diverse peoples. The Great Powers quarreled amongst themselves and failed to ensure that the Ottomans would carry out the needed reforms and this led the Balkan states to impose their own solution. Most importantly, the Balkan League had been formed, and its members were confident that it could defeat the Turks. The Ottoman Empire lost all its European territories to the west of the River Maritsa as a result of the two Balkan Wars, which thus delineated present-day Turkeys western border, a large influx of Turks started to flee into the Ottoman heartland from the lost lands. By 1914, the core region of the Ottoman Empire had experienced a population increase of around 2.5 million because of the flood of immigration from the Balkans. Citizens of Turkey regard the Balkan Wars as a disaster in the nations history. Nazım Pasha, Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Army, was responsible for the failure and was assassinated on 23 January 1913 during the 1913 Ottoman coup détat carried out by the Young Turks. The First Balkan War began when the League member states attacked the Ottoman Empire on 8 October 1912, the Second Balkan War was begun on 16 June 1913. Seeing the treaty as trampled, Bulgaria was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, the more numerous combined Serbian and Greek armies repelled the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked into Bulgaria. Romania, who having taken no part in the conflict, had intact armies to strike with, the Ottoman Empire also attacked Bulgaria and advanced in Thrace regaining Adrianople. The background to the lies in the incomplete emergence of nation-states on the European territory of the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the 19th century. Serbia had gained territory during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878, while Greece acquired Thessaly in 1881. All three countries, as well as Montenegro, sought additional territories within the large Ottoman-ruled region known as Rumelia, comprising Eastern Rumelia, Albania, Macedonia, throughout the 19th century, the Great Powers shared different aims over the Eastern Question and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Russia wanted access to the waters of the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, it pursued a pan-Slavic foreign policy
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July Crisis
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The July Crisis was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914 that led to World War I. The assassination had been carried out by those wishing to unite all of the territories with majority South Slavic population not already ruled by the Kingdom of Serbia or Kingdom of Montenegro. This was intended to be achieved either through diplomacy or by a war if the ultimatum were rejected. A month after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and this local conflict ultimately expanded into World War I as more powers became involved. Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, oskar Potiorek was the military commander and governor of the province. After the exercises, on 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand toured Sarajevo with his wife, Sophie, nedeljko Čabrinović bombed Franz Ferdinands motorcade as it approached the Čumuria bridge. Twenty people were wounded, but Franz Ferdinand was unhurt, the bomb thrower had been instructed in Belgrade by Serbian Major Voja Tankosić to take potassium cyanide to prevent his capture. Čabrinović swallowed the cyanide, but it only sickened him, the Sarajevo police arrested Čabrinović and brought him to the police first aid post. Investigator Judge Leo Pfeffer was at the station and was immediately assigned to investigate. Before the investigation got far, news arrived that Gavrilo Princip had shot and killed Franz Ferdinand, Princip took his cyanide, but the cyanide had the same effect on Princip as it had on Čabrinović. The police arrested Princip, and he too was brought to the first aid post, within 45 minutes of the shooting, Princip began telling his story to Pfeffer. A police dragnet quickly caught most of the conspirators, twenty-five people went to trial, but nine were acquitted. Serbia soon thereafter denied making warnings and denied knowledge of the plot, Prime Minister Nikola Pašić himself made these denials to Az Est on 7 July 1914, and to the Paris Edition of the New York Herald on 20 July 1914. By 30 June, Austro-Hungarian and German diplomats began making requests for investigation to their Serbian and Russian counterparts, German Undersecretary of State Arthur Zimmermann addressed these requests to ambassadors to Germany. The Austrian Ambassador to Serbia made a similar request to the Secretary General of the Serbian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, on 5 July, based on further interrogations of the accused assassins, Governor Potiorek telegraphed Vienna that Serbian Major Voja Tankosić had given the assassins instructions. One last avenue of diplomacy and investigation lay open, the lone legal adult amongst the armed assassins was Muhamed Mehmedbašić. Following the assassination, Mehmedbašić fled to Montenegro where he was arrested by the police, in Montenegrin custody, Mehmedbašić confessed to a wider conspiracy including an irredentist Serb terrorist planning meeting in Toulouse, France. Learning of the arrest but not of the confession, Austria-Hungary asked Montenegro to honor their mutual extradition treaty, after Montenegro shared Mehmedbašić’s confession with the French Ambassador, Mehmedbašić escaped to Serbia, possibly with the assistance of the Montenegrin authorities
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Morocco
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Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
35.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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Wilhelm II, German Emperor
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Wilhelm II or William II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was the eldest grandchild of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and his leading generals, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, dictated policy during the First World War with little regard for the civilian government. An ineffective war-time leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands. Wilhelm was born on 27 January 1859 at the Crown Princes Palace, Berlin to Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his wife, Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Britains Queen Victoria. At the time of his birth, his great-uncle Frederick William IV was king of Prussia, a traumatic breech birth left him with a withered left arm due to Erbs palsy, which he tried with some success to conceal. His left arm was about 6 inches shorter than his right arm, historians have suggested that this disability affected his emotional development. In 1863, Wilhelm was taken to England to be present at the wedding of his Uncle Bertie, William attended the ceremony in a Highland costume, complete with a small toy dirk. During the ceremony the four-year-old became restless and his eighteen-year-old uncle Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, charged with keeping an eye on him, told him to be quiet, but Wilhelm drew his dirk and threatened Alfred. When Alfred attempted to subdue him by force, Wilhelm bit him on the leg and his grandmother, Queen Victoria, missed seeing the fracas, to her Wilhelm remained a clever, dear, good little child, the great favourite of my beloved Vicky. His mother, Vicky, was obsessed with his damaged arm and she blamed herself for the childs handicap and insisted that he become a good rider. The thought that he, as heir to the throne, should not be able to ride was intolerable to her, riding lessons began when Wilhelm was eight and were a matter of endurance for Wilhelm. Over and over, the prince was set on his horse. He fell off time after time but despite his tears was set on its back again, after weeks of this he finally got it right and was able to maintain his balance. Wilhelm, from six years of age, was tutored and heavily influenced by the 39-year-old teacher Georg Hinzpeter, Hinzpeter, he later wrote, was really a good fellow. Whether he was the tutor for me, I dare not decide. The torments inflicted on me, in this riding, must be attributed to my mother. As a teenager he was educated at Kassel at the Friedrichsgymnasium, in January 1877, Wilhelm finished high school and on his eighteenth birthday received as a present from his grandmother, Queen Victoria, the Order of the Garter. After Kassel he spent four terms at the University of Bonn, studying law and he became a member of the exclusive Corps Borussia Bonn
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Tangier
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Tangier is a major city in northwestern Morocco. It is located on the Maghreb coast at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. It is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah prefecture of Morocco, the history of Tangier is very rich, due to the historical presence of many civilisations and cultures starting from before the 5th century BC. Between the period of being a strategic Berber town and then a Phoenician trading centre to the era around the 1950s. In 1923, it was considered as having international status by foreign colonial powers, the city is currently undergoing rapid development and modernisation. Projects include new tourism projects along the bay, a business district called Tangier City Center, a new airport terminal. Tangiers economy is set to benefit greatly from the new Tanger-Med port. The citys name is said to come from Tingis, the daughter of Atlas, however, it more likely derives from the Semitic word tigisis, meaning harbour. Tangier is also referred to as Boughaz or nicknamed as the bride of the north by the Moroccans, Tangier was founded in the early 5th century BC by Carthaginian colonists, who were probably the first ones to settle around the coast. The Greeks ascribed the citys establishment to the giant Antaios, whose tomb and skeleton are pointed out in the vicinity, the cave of Hercules, a few miles from the city, is a major tourist attraction. It is believed that Hercules slept there before attempting one of his twelve labours, the commercial town of Tingi came under Roman rule during the 2nd century BC. It was initially autonomous, and then, under Augustus, became a colony and it was the scene of the martyrdoms of Saint Marcellus of Tangier. Tingis was the main Roman city of Mauretania Tingitana in the 4th century and enjoyed huge development, in the 5th century, Vandals conquered and occupied Tingi and from here swept across the Maghreb. A century later, Tangier fell to the Byzantine Empire, before coming under the control of the Umayyad Caliphate in 702, due to its Christian past, it is still a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. When the Portuguese, driven in part by religious fervour, started their colonial expansion by taking Ceuta in 1415. They failed to capture the city in 1437 but finally occupied it in 1471, a partial plan of the original kasbah was found in 2009–12, in a Portuguese document now preserved in the Military Archives of Sweden in Stockholm. The Portuguese rule lasted until 1662, when it was given to Englands King Charles II as part of the dowry from the Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza, the English gave the city a garrison and a charter which made it equal to English towns. The English planned to improve the harbour by building a mole, with an improved harbour the town would have played the same role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy
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Abdelaziz of Morocco
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Abdelaziz of Morocco, also known as Mulai Abd al-Aziz IV, served as the Sultan of Morocco from 1894 at the age of sixteen until he was deposed in 1908. He succeeded his father Hassan I of Morocco and he was a member of the Alaouite dynasty. By the action of Ba Ahmad bin Musa, the Chamberlain of El Hasan, Ba Ahmad became regent and for six years showed himself a capable ruler. There were strong rumors that he was poisoned, on his death in 1900 the regency ended, and Abd al-Aziz took the reins of government into his own hands and chose an Arab from the south, El Menebhi as his chief adviser. His intimacy with foreigners and his imitation of their ways were sufficient to rouse strong popular oppostion, and so the benign intentions of Mulai Abd el-Aziz were interpreted as weakness, and Europeans were accused of having spoiled the sultan and of being desirous of spoiling the country. When British engineers were employed to survey the route for a railway between Meknes and Fez, this was reported as indicating a sale of the country. The strong opposition of the people was aroused, and a revolt broke out near the Algerian frontier. Such was the condition of things when the news of the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 came as a blow to Abd-el-Aziz, see also the Ion Perdicaris affair. In the meantime the murder of Europeans at Casablanca had led to the occupation of that port by France, in September Abd-el-Aziz arrived at Rabat from Fez and endeavored to secure the support of the European powers against his brother. From France he accepted the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour and this was seen as leaning to Christianity and aroused further opposition to his rule, and in January 1908 he was declared deposed by the ulema of Fez, who offered the throne to Hafid. After months of inactivity Abd-el-Aziz made an effort to restore his authority and his force, largely owing to treachery, was completely overthrown on August 19 when near that city, and Abd-el-Aziz fled to Settat within the French lines around Casablanca. In November he came to terms with his brother, and thereafter took up his residence in Tangier as a pensioner of the new sultan, king Abdulaziz led a very active social, but semi-political life in his exile. During the Spanish annexation of Tangier in 1940, he acquiesced insofar as the Moroccan palace authorities called the makhzen played a significant role therein, Abdulaziz died in Tangier in 1943. After the ex-sultans sudden death in 1943, his body was transferred to French Morocco as desired by the Sultan Mohammed V and he was portrayed by Marc Zuber in the film The Wind and the Lion - a fictional version of Ion Perdicaris affair. Madrid, Instituto Jalifiano de Tetuan Morocco Alaoui dynasty History of Morocco El Protectorado español en Marruecos, la historia trascendida
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Algeciras Conference
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The Algeciras Conference of 1906 took place in Algeciras, Spain, and lasted from 16 January to 7 April. Britain and Frances Entente Cordiale of 1904 had defined diplomatic cooperation between them and recognized British authority over Egypt and French control in Morocco, Germany saw this development putting an end to the rivalry between Britain and France, which would further isolate Germany in European affairs. On 31 March 1905, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany visited Moroccos capital, Tangier, german diplomats believed they could convince U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt to challenge French intervention in Morocco. Roosevelt — at that time mediating the Russo-Japanese War, and aware of the U. S. Senates stance to avoid involvement in European affairs — was disinclined to become involved in the Moroccan crisis. However, with the situation in June 1905 worsening to the point of war between Germany and France, in July Roosevelt persuaded the French to attend a January peace conference in Algeciras, Germany had hoped that the Conference would weaken the entente cordial. Wilhelm II had thought he could form an alliance with France and he also thought that better relations with Russia were possible, due to the Revolution of 1905 and Russo-Japanese War putting them in a weak, ally-hungry position. Following their failed attempt to isolate Britain, Germany furthered the growing Anglo-German Naval Race with passage of the Third Naval Law in 1906, the next major event to thicken the tension between these two would be the Bosnian Crisis. The right of Europeans to own land was established, whilst taxes were to be levied towards public works, the Inspector-General in charge would be Swiss and reside in Tangiers. At the last moment, the Moroccan delegates found that they were unable to sign the final Act, but a decree of Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco on 18 June finally ratified it
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Morocco". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 858.
