My Italian: Chapter 496 The Moroccan Crisis Part 1

Morocco is located in the westernmost country of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Its location is very important. In particular, its important port of Tangier is on the side of the Strait of Gibraltar, the gateway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

Such an important geographical location of Morocco naturally attracted the peeps of the great powers from all over the world. Countries such as Britain, France and Germany have exerted their influence on this country one after another. However, the Alavi dynasty in Morocco, facing the arrival of the great powers, had no way to resist and could only accept it helplessly.

Perhaps because of the important role of geographical location, the influx of great powers from various countries has instead formed a restraining effect, allowing Morocco to survive to this day. After the other surrounding countries were annexed by the great powers, it was able to continue to exist on the land of North Africa that was plundered by the great powers.

However, the good days of the Moroccans are coming to an end, because in April last year, Britain and France conducted friendly negotiations on the colonial issues of the two parties. In the end, the two parties reached an agreement. Regarding Morocco, Britain recognized that France had the right to maintain tranquility and assist reforms in Morocco. Of course, in return, France also promised not to interfere with British actions in Egypt.

Britain and France did not care about other countries in the exchange of interests between Morocco and Egypt. Perhaps it was the two major colonial countries that made the decision, so the matter was settled.

Therefore, when Britain and France agreed on their respective spheres of influence, they stepped up their invasion of their respective targets.

In February 1905, France asked the Sultan of Morocco to carry out "government reform" under French supervision. Obviously, this kind of reform must be carried out under the supervision of French consultants, and its intention is self-evident.

Faced with this unreasonable request from France, Abdullah Azid, the Sultan of Morocco, had no way to refuse, because in addition to sending this diplomatic note, France also prepared an army of 30,000 people on the border with Morocco If the sultan dares to refuse, the French soldiers will start from Algeria to destroy Morocco.

To be fair, the Azid Sultan of Morocco is not a great man at present, and the turmoil in Morocco decades ago has caused the royal family's influence to decline day by day, and now the government orders do not come out of Marrakech.

So in the face of the menacing French, what can he do, he can only do what the French say.

However, although France's invasion of Morocco did not cause resistance in this country, some people were very dissatisfied. This person was Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Because Germany has invested a lot in Morocco in recent years, and because of its rich phosphate resources, the Germans have invested a lot of money here.

In the face of the French's move to turn Morocco into a protectorate, how could the Germans accept it. Morocco has a lot of resources, and its geographical location is so important that Germany also has the ambition to include it in protection.

So in the face of the French's move, Germany immediately protested to it.

However, with the current delicate relationship between Germany and France, how could Germany's protests make Paris take it to heart? Therefore, in the face of German protests, the French government directly ignored them.

France's approach directly aggravated Germany's dissatisfaction, so in response, Kaiser Wilhelm II arrived at the port of Tangier in Morocco on March 31, which is located in the Bay of Tangier in the Strait of Gibraltar, only a few miles away from Europe. At a distance of 15 kilometers, it belongs to the northernmost point of Morocco.

Facing the arrival of the Kaiser, the Moroccans were extremely excited. Of course, nearly 100,000 Moroccans poured into the port of Tangier, intending to witness the demeanor of the powerful European monarch. In addition, senior officials of the Moroccan government also rushed to the port of Tangier earlier. When William II disembarked, he was greeted personally by Prime Minister Dahabi.

And along the way, the Moroccans sprayed the Kaiser with flowers and cheered enthusiastically. It can be seen that no one in Morocco wants to be protected by France. In the face of the enthusiasm of the Moroccans, after meeting with the Azid Sultan, the Kaiser publicly declared that Germany would protect Morocco's independence and territorial integrity.

The words of the Kaiser immediately attracted cheers from the Moroccans. They are cheering that their country has the independence support of a powerful country.

As for France, after the Kaiser publicly supported Morocco's independence, there was even more criticism. At this time, the relationship between Germany and France was already poor, and there was always a voice in France, and Lorraine and Alsace, which France lost in the Franco-Prussian War, were even more brooding. Because there are a lot of coal and iron mines in these two places. After France lost the two places, its steel production was quickly surpassed by Germany,

So in the face of the ever-increasing strength of Germany, how can the French regret it. For this reason, people from all walks of life in France miss these two places everywhere. The famous last lesson is the works that advocate hatred against Germany. To be fair, more people in Lorraine and Alsace speak German.

But for the current moment when nationalism is prevalent, no matter what language you speak or customs, I say that these two places have been an inseparable part of France since ancient times.

So in recent years, because of Lorraine and Alsace, the relationship between Germany and France has become worse and worse.

The behavior of the Kaiser openly appearing in Morocco to stand for the country brought the French's hostility towards Germany to a new peak. A French tabloid drew a cartoon for this, in which the Kaiser had the wings and body of a dragon, drooling over a map of Morocco.

This cartoon was quickly reprinted by other French newspapers, and immediately became popular throughout France. Faced with the humiliation of its own monarch, the German government solemnly warned the French government that if the behavior of humiliating the German monarch is not stopped, then Germany will use what it thinks is appropriate to restore the dignity of the emperor.

Although this sentence was vague, the French government soon received news that two divisions of the German army had been deployed beside the border with France.

Obviously this is the threat of force.

Although France at this time thinks that it is not afraid of the threat of war from Germany~www.mtlnovel.com~, it is definitely not worth it for a comic. Therefore, under the strict order of the government, this cartoon that humiliated the image of the Kaiser, which had been circulated in France for a long time, was not released again.

However, although France made concessions on the issue of comic image, the French did not give in an inch on the issue of Morocco.

The two countries, Germany and France, began to blame each other because of the Morocco problem, and the atmosphere became more and more heated.

At this time, German Prime Minister Bilow suddenly made a proposal. He suggested to all countries participating in the 1880 "Madrid Treaty" that the Morocco question be submitted to an international conference for discussion.

Bilow's proposal is very level, because the Morocco issue was discussed in Madrid as early as 1880. The result was the Treaty of Madrid.

At that time, Germany signed a treaty on Morocco with 14 countries including France, Britain, Spain, and Italy, stipulating that no foreign subjects should be granted any priority in Morocco.

Obviously, Bilow intends to use the power of other countries to make the French retreat.

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