The actions of the French in Morocco caused strong discontent among the German people and government, and also made the already tense situation in Europe even more intense, and war seemed to be imminent.

In order to appease the high public anger at home, and the fact that the actions of the French had indeed touched the interests of Germany, Wilhelm II adopted the strategy of Foreign Minister Gidren, sending warships to the important ports of Morocco as a hole card to sit back and watch the situation in Morocco develop.

On March 1, 1911, Germany formally submitted a memorandum to France and other European powers, declaring that in order to protect the safety of German nationals and German interests in Morocco, the German government had decided to send warships to the port of Agadir and withdraw immediately when the situation in Morocco returned to calm.

Before the German government decided to act, Wilhelm II cautiously questioned Kidren, who had come up with the idea.

In response to Wilhelm II's cautious question, German Foreign Minister Gidren said with a little confidence: "We are only acting accordingly, and we are not hindering French action in Morocco." As long as the French are willing to pay the corresponding benefits in the colonies, we can withdraw our warships immediately and recognize the French occupation of Morocco. ”

Such words reassured Wilhelm II a little, and he decided to send the Leopard gunboat to Agadir, an important port in Morocco.

It is worth mentioning that the Leopard gunboat did not sit idly by and watch the crisis in Morocco after entering the port of Agadir, as Foreign Minister Kidren said.

The first thing this small warship, with a tonnage of less than 2,000 tons, did not communicate with the French after entering the port of Agadir, but aimed its guns directly at the city of Agadir.

This famous provocation in history, known as the "leopard's jump", directly caused the already fierce Franco-German relations to suddenly strain, and countless people even thought that war was imminent, and sold their assets one after another.

As the so-called prosperous antique troubled gold, if the war really comes, everyone knows that the various assets in their hands are the least valuable.

Only by exchanging it as much as possible for hard currency such as gold and important materials before the war can it survive better after the war comes.

This behavior also made the stock exchange markets in Germany and France almost full. The number of people who sold their shares was too large, and a large number of small and medium-sized German and French companies quickly went bankrupt overnight.

The people of Germany and France are full of complaints, and their hatred of each other is deepening.

The sudden appearance of the gunboat Leopard in the port of Agadir took the French troops stationed in the harbor by surprise.

To add insult to injury, as soon as the small gunboat arrived in port, it immediately aimed its guns at the city, or rather at the French troops stationed in it.

Such a bold and provocative act directly shocked and angered the French troops stationed in the port.

Regardless, France remains one of the most powerful powers in the world at the moment. Even if Germany's comprehensive strength has surpassed France, it cannot send such a small warship to provoke France so much.

The French army was furious, but the infantry really had no good way to deal with the gunboats, so they could only report to the country quickly, slightly adding fuel and vinegar, and ask the country to quickly send battleships to help.

After all this refueling by the French army, Paris soon received news from Morocco.

The French government was very angry at the sudden appearance and obvious appearance of German warships, believing that it was a great shame for an old power like France to dare to directly provoke French troops and actions with just a small gunboat.

But this was not the end, and the next day Germany sent a telegram to the French government, demanding that the French government give Germany adequate compensation for the Moroccan action and guarantee Germany's interests.

I don't know who leaked the news, and the French people also learned of the German threat and took to the streets to demand that the government directly declare war on Germany and protect the interests of France and the French.

In the face of enemy countries and people, fools know how to choose.

On March 4, 1911, the French government officially announced to Germany that the French government was not willing to accept German diplomatic blackmail, and only promised to guarantee the safety of the Germans in Morocco.

The intransigence and unyielding attitude of the French brought the "negotiations" between Germany and France to an impasse.

Under the "clever plan" of Foreign Minister Kidren, the Germans did not back down, but chose to continue the blackmail and sent the cruiser Berlin to Morocco.

If the dispatch of the Leopard gunboat was only a diplomatic blackmail and intimidation, then the dispatch of the cruiser Berlin seemed to the French to be a threat of war and blackmail.

In the face of such blatant threats and intimidation from Germany, the anger of the French people is almost unstoppable, and they even claim to overthrow the cabinet if the country retreats.

Don't underestimate the voice of the French people, saying that they really dare to overthrow the cabinet.

It just so happened that the French government was also very angry at this time, so it chose to continue to be tough on Germany.

After Germany continued its blackmail, the French government directly refused to meet the German ambassador to France, demonstrating France's tough attitude.

France's repeated refusal also made the German people very angry. Both sides believe that the other is at fault, and even marches and initiatives among the population calling for the government to declare war have been in full swing.

On 7 March, the main forces of the German Army moved towards the French border, and the situation seemed to have a faint hint of war.

Not far behind, the French side was not far behind, and only the day after receiving the news, on the afternoon of March 8, the main force of the French Army also set out to go to the border area adjacent to Germany.

Because of the strength of the German army, the French directly announced mobilization in some border areas to prevent the Germans from potentially undeclared war.

The actions of both sides directly contributed to the constant conflict on the German-French border, and it seemed that as long as the top leaders of both sides gave orders, millions of troops would have to fight to the death.

After France announced military mobilization, Germany also announced military mobilization, and Wilhelm II directly ordered the German General Staff to issue battle plans to the armies.

This is good, and the oil cylinder is directly ignited.

The British originally wanted to sit back and watch the Franco-German struggle, make German-French relations worse, and directly eliminate the possibility of German-French union.

But the British are not thinking about going to war directly with Germany now, after all, before the frequent launch of super dreadnoughts, the number of dreadnoughts of the Germans was about the same as that of the British, and the naval advantage was actually not great.

Needless to say, the German army is not boasting that it is the best in the world, and the strength of the French alone is simply not enough to resist the German army.

At this time, the British government did not know that Germany's goal was only to blackmail the French Congo colonies, and thought that the Germans were really angry and wanted to wage a real war with France.

What's more, if war were to come, the Germans would occupy Agadir and establish a naval base on the Atlantic coast, which would seriously threaten the British shipping route south from Europe to the Cape of Good Hope, so the British were also very opposed to the German occupation of Moroccan ports.

On March 10, 1911, the British officially came to warn the German ambassador to England: "This incident [the Second Moroccan Crisis] affects the interests of the British more deeply than any other incident, and the British Empire resolutely does not recognize and oppose any solution without the participation of the British." ”

The fate of the British did not take the Germans seriously, and the German government insisted on a separate negotiation with France to resolve the crisis.

But the Germans did not expect that the attitude of the British in this crisis would be so firm that it would even directly push Anglo-German relations into the abyss.

On March 17, 1911, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George gave a speech in London that caused a sensation around the world, in which he declared: "I am prepared to make a great sacrifice for the preservation of peace. But if we are forced to be in a position where peace can only be maintained at the cost of the great superiority which Britain has gained over the centuries through heroism and victorious deeds, and if Britain is so humiliated in matters concerning its vital interests as if it no longer had any role in the family of the peoples of the world, then I would like to stress that the peace that is paid for such a price is a humiliation and must not be tolerated by a great empire of ours. ”

This speech was extremely gunpowdery, and even directly put the current German-French conflict on the surface, declaring the British to support France's firm position.

What is even more worth mentioning is that the speaker of such a speech was not Foreign Minister Gray, who has always opposed or even hostile Germany, but Lloyd George, the minister of the exchequer who has always advocated peace and friendship with Germany.

Such a shift strengthens the deterrent effect of the speech. And on the day of the end of the speech, the British government announced that the Navy was in a state of combat readiness.

If Lloyd George's speech was an indication of the position and attitude of the British, then the announcement of the British Navy's entry into combat readiness was an announcement of how firm the position of the British was.

If the Germans continue to be tough, there is a high risk of war with Britain and France. This is something that the Germans do not want to see at the moment, because many of the German dreadnoughts are still in shipyards, and it will take a long time before they are officially launched.

For at least a year or two, the Germans did not want to see war with England and France. After being persuaded by many people in the government, Wilhelm II was able to dispel his continued tough attitude towards Britain and France, and was very dissatisfied, and reluctantly asked the government to explain to the British the actions of the German government.

On 20 March 1911, after the British navy's preparations for war had been completed, the French government formally notified Britain that Germany had no intention of establishing itself on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Their aim was only to demand appropriate compensation from the French in other respects after Morocco had been placed under French protection.

On 24 March, the Germans lowered their demands for compensation in some respects and reopened negotiations with France, which calmed the situation in Europe, which had almost entered the war.

But at the same time, it is worth noting that the British took a firm stance that led to a rapid deterioration in Anglo-German relations, and the good impression of the British on Wilhelm II ceased to exist, and the good attitude of the Germans towards Britain disappeared altogether.

The contradictions between Britain and France and Germany were irresolvable, and the hatred of the Germans for Britain and France could no longer be counterdone.

Even this hatred will grow more and more over time, and when it accumulates to the point where it is no longer tolerable, it may be the moment when the world war really comes.

It is worth mentioning that during this crisis, there was also a noteworthy event in Europe, but because of the violent conflict between Britain, France and Germany and the impending war, not many people noticed it.

The events in Agadir in March this year have attracted the attention of the whole of Europe and even the world.

It also gave Italy an opportunity to take advantage of it, and felt that its ambition to occupy Tripoli could be realized.

At the end of March, the Italian newspapers suddenly began to attack the Turkish government's ill-treatment and coercion of Italian nationals in Tripoli.

Under the fierce propaganda of the Italian newspapers, the Turkish government has been promoted as a demon who does all kinds of evil, and the Italian diaspora in Tripoli is in dire need of salvation from the Italian government.

Feeling that the preparations were almost complete, in April 1911, the Italian government officially notified the Turkish government and issued a final notice. The Italian government claimed that Turkish rule had plunged Tripoli into chaos and poverty, that Italian businesses in Tripoli had been hostile to Turkey, and that the lives of Italian nationals had been threatened.

As a result, the Italian Government, compelled to care for the protection of its dignity and interests, decided to impose a military occupation of Tripoli and Cyrene and requested the assistance of the Turkish army and to take measures to guard against any possible resistance to the Italian army.

The degree of arbitrariness and absurdity of this treaty is rare even in history.

Naturally, the Turkish government directly rejected the Italian ultimatum and angrily called it a greedy, shameless, absurd clown.

On April 27, the Italian government officially declared war on Turkey.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire was already in decay, and in the face of the invasion of the great power of Italy, the Turkish government called on the major European powers to intervene.

But long before that, the Italian government had been engaged in decades-long diplomacy, with the renewal of the Triple Alliance, the Italian-French Agreement, and the Italian-Russian Conjunici Accord, which allowed the European powers such as Germany, France, and Russia to recognize Tripoli as Italy's sphere of influence.

Because of the agreement, the European powers could not condemn Italy for bullying the weak, and could only pretend not to see it, and even some of the powers in turn persuaded the Turkish government to accept Italy's unreasonable demands in order to avoid a criminal war that should not have happened.

In fact, the Ottoman Empire was currently on good terms with Germany, which was the real reason why the European powers were reluctant to help Turkey.

Even in the final analysis, Italy and Turkey are in the same camp, and the Allied camps are crusading against each other, and the Entente side is too late to see the excitement, so how can they interfere?

On the German side, the diplomatic strategy in the face of France has just failed, which has made the German government lose face.

Add to this the fact that both Italy and Turkey are allies of Germany, and favoring one would damage relations with the other.

The German government could only say that it could not help, and did nothing more than to support the Turkish government with a sum of money.

4200 words for the first update, ask for support, ask for a monthly pass!

Although there is a power outage today, it still continues to be 10,000 per day, and it has been changed to 4200/10000, asking for support and asking for a monthly pass!

(End of chapter)