The Pact of Cartagena was an exchange of notes that took place at Cartagena on 16 May 1907 between France, Great Britain, and Spain. The parties declared their intention to preserve the status quo in the western Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, especially their insular and coastal possessions. The pact aligned Spain with the Anglo-French entente cordiale against Germany's ambitions in Morocco, where both Spain and France had mutually recognised spheres of influence.

The First Moroccan Crisis or the Tangier Crisis was an international crisis between March 31 1905 and April 7 1906 over the status of Morocco. Germany wanted to challenge France's growing control over Morocco, aggravating France and Great Britain. The crisis was resolved by the Algeciras Conference of 1906, a conference of mostly European countries that affirmed French control; this worsened German relations with both France and Britain, and helped enhance the new Anglo-French Entente.