The crown prince's wedding has bathed the country in an atmosphere of joy, but the Moroccan crisis has always been like a flower pot hanging from the edge of a balcony, ready to fall and smash people's heads at any moment. Pen "Fun" Under the instruction of the German emperor, the army adjusted its deployment in the name of celebrating the royal wedding, a large number of elite troops were drawn to the western border or along the railway, the workers of the Krupp factory began to work overtime to produce guns and ammunition, a large number of German reservists received orders to be ready for war at any time, and the whole country was like a sophisticated machine in an orderly state of readiness, and under the reform of Romanticism, it was impossible for France's military force to complete effective military mobilization in a short time.www.biquge.info Ironically, because of the fear of a German attack, on the same day as the wedding of the German crown prince, the French government and parliament forced Foreign Minister Delcasse to resign, and French Prime Minister Rovière, who was inclined to moderate with Germany, also served as foreign minister, advocating a Franco-German direct negotiation solution to the Moroccan question. Regarding the poor performance of the French, Wilhelm II commented contemptuously: "I threw a white glove at the French, and the French did not dare to pick it up. ”

(The European tradition is to throw white gloves at each other during a duel)

Although France's weakness was to the point of shame, the German Emperor and his political staff were also guilty of a great negligence at this time, believing that the goal of intimidating the French Government by force had been achieved, and that there was no longer any need to show an aggressive attitude on this issue, so as not to intensify the anti-German consciousness of the French military and civilians, and therefore proposed a settlement of the Moroccan dispute by means of an international conference. In the eyes of German policymakers, France's plan to dominate Morocco harmed the interests of the majority of the powers, and in the case of Germany's military superiority, the powers should support Germany and suppress France at international conferences.

In the summer of 1905, the international situation, even without an international conference, Germany would not be at a disadvantage on the Moroccan question, and the drastic change in the situation was an unexpected one could have expected - in July 1905, at the suggestion of Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II, who was devastated by the defeat in the war in the Far East and the revolutionary movement at home, went to the Gulf of Finland on a royal yacht to meet with him. On the German royal yacht "Hohenzollern", Wilhelm II took out a copy of the text of the Russian-German treaty and asked the Tsar for his opinion. Because he was put on the side of the British in the Russo-Japanese War, the Tsar wanted to pay tribute to London with a German-Russian alliance treaty. Unexpectedly, the good wishes of the two imperial rulers were not supported by their respective vassals. The Russian ministers not only vigorously opposed the German-Russian alliance, but also deliberately leaked the contents of the treaty in order to stir up the matter, which immediately provoked a strong protest from the French and made the British unable to sit still. At the instigation of the British government, France hardened on Morocco, mobilizing in the face of the military threat of German mobilization of reserves, and at the beginning of the new year of 1906, the French sent more troops to the Franco-German border, and the two countries were on the brink of war.

Although the British government promised to send 10 to France. With an expeditionary force of 50,000, if the two sides went to war, the German army still had a good chance of victory. At a critical moment, US President Theodore. Roosevelt was invited to intercede and promised to protect German investments in Morocco. On the question of whether to settle the dispute by cannon or diplomatically, the German emperor unexpectedly chose the latter, and he decided to send delegates to the international conference in Algeciras, Spain. It turns out that Wilhelm II and his current Prime Minister Bernhard. Feng. Bilo did not have the diplomatic skills of Bismarck, and at the Algeciras Conference, all the powers sided with the French, except for Austria-Hungary, which supported Germany. The isolated German government was finally forced to accept the Algeciras Resolution, with military superiority: France withdrew some of its control over Morocco, but still controlled some important places, while Spanish control of the Moroccan police was in the hands of Spain.

For the ambitious Wilhelm II, the Algeciras Conference was a complete failure, and his relatively moderate idea of an alliance was severely criticized by the main war faction at home, and the defeat led him to the overly absolute notion that there was no point in settling international disputes by multilateral conferences in the face of military superiority. At the same time, the German ruling class recognized the extreme necessity of building a powerful fleet for the struggle for overseas colonies and for dealing with Britain, the discredited arbiter of the world order.

The Algeciras Conference had an equally profound impact on Britain, France, and Russia, and the French saw the benefits of the Entente, realizing that only by uniting Britain and Russia could they confront a militarily powerful Germany. In order to take revenge on Germany, to recover Alsace and Lorraine, to wash away the shame of Versailles and Sedan it is necessary to intensify the contradictions between Britain and Germany and Germany and Russia, which makes it more inclined to adopt a provocative attitude towards Germany on all fronts. The British, on the other hand, believed that Germany's intention was to break through the existing world order and dominate the world, so the strategic focus of the British Empire shifted from the eastern colonies to Europe itself, and Germany overtook Russia as Britain's primary enemy. Soon after, Britain and Russia signed the "Agreement on Persia," the "Treaty on Afghanistan," and the "Agreement on Tibet," which diluted the long-standing contradictions between the two countries and enabled Britain, France, and Russia to truly establish a close strategic alliance.

The year after the Algeciras Conference, a senior official of the British Foreign Office, El. Crow submitted to the cabinet the famous "Crow Memorandum: The Current State of Britain's Franco-German Relations", the core idea of which was that Germany's pursuit of "world power" status made the contradictions between Germany and Britain irreconcilable; The evidence is that Germany's quest for world power inevitably requires maritime supremacy, which is contradictory to the survival of the British Empire; The conclusion was that in order to preserve the survival of the British Empire, Germany had to be defeated on all fronts, and Britain had to maintain a tough policy towards Germany. The "Crow Memorandum" later became the basis and basis for Britain's policy of containing Germany politically, militarily encircled, diplomatically isolated, and economically attacked. Under these circumstances, Germany's hostility towards the outside world rose significantly. Imperial Prime Minister von. In a speech to Congress, Bilow declared: "A policy aimed at encircling Germany, forming an encirclement of great powers around Germany, in order to isolate and paralyze Germany, would be disastrous for peace in Europe." It is impossible to form such an encirclement without putting pressure on Germany, and pressure inevitably provokes a backlash, and the result of such pressure and resistance will eventually produce explosive results. ”

Time flies, the inauguration of the Crown Prince William Stadium, the opening of the "Prince William Cup" and the wedding of Prince William have all become the stories of a year ago, Natsuki, who was reborn as the German prince Joachim, has grown another year, the age of the soul is impossible to calculate, and the biological age of this body is 16 years old. In this year, the smoke of the Russo-Japanese War gradually dissipated, and the shadow of the Moroccan crisis scared most of Europe, but fortunately, the war was finally averted, Germany, France, and Britain each canceled the mobilization of the army, and the reservists were discharged from their duty and returned to life. During this period, the "Bremen Mariners" team won the Gold Crown Cup and a huge prize money with excellent performances, and the tournament also gave a significant boost to the development of football in Germany, and the round-robin football league held within the German Navy and Army was also launched. On the other hand, the Friedrich Royal Shipyard, which was handed over to Natsuki by the German royal family, has completed the expansion and upgrading, and based on the additional investment of the royal family and Natsuki's personal contribution, the shareholding structure of the shipyard has changed, and its main shares are still held by the German royal family, and Natsuki has changed from a pure operator to a "major shareholder" with 20% of the shares, and the other 10% of the shares originally owned by him were distributed to Nicholas as a reward. Wiesel and other 7 shipyard backbone personnel.

By expanding its scale and introducing new equipment and technicians, the Friedrich shipyard not only continued to monopolize the German Navy's orders for high-speed torpedo boats, but also successfully won orders for the construction of large torpedo boats for the German Navy in the 1906 class, responsible for 19 of the 59 ships in the master plan. This means that over the next four years, its medium-sized docks will be operating at full capacity, employing more than 1,000 workers – a reproduction of the shipyard's heyday, but also a promising potential.

Based on the experience of the British Sannik Kovyard, the Friedrich shipyard could make a lot of profits even if it only focused on the construction of torpedo boats, but looking at the strategic landscape of the German Navy, Natsuki decided to make up for its shortcomings in a public-private win-win format, that is, to design and build more kinds of naval equipment on the Friedrich shipyard as a platform. John. The submarine division led by Holland showed amazing efficiency, and they successfully built the first 150-ton experimental submarine in the winter of 1905, and attracted the interest of the German and Swedish navies with its good performance, and the Friedrich shipyard finally sold it to the Swedes for 1.2 million marks, and the 300-ton submarine was soon ordered by the German navy, and after delivery, it was officially designated U-5. In terms of cruisers, the shipyard recruited a group of technicians with experience in the repair and construction of cruisers from the Netherlands, and accumulated valuable practical experience in repairing cruisers for the German and Tsarist navies at low prices, and is now preparing for the construction of the first modern cruiser.

(End of chapter)