Imperial Rivalry, the Naval Race, and Militarism

Imperialist competition among the European great powers for colonial territory generated recurring diplomatic tensions in the decades before 1914. The First Moroccan Crisis of 1905 erupted when Kaiser Wilhelm II made a provocative visit to Tangier, publicly declaring his support for Moroccan independence in direct challenge to French colonial claims; the crisis was resolved at the Algeciras Conference of 1906, where Germany had hoped to fracture the recent Entente Cordiale but instead saw Britain firmly back France, reinforcing rather than weakening the Franco-British relationship. The Second Moroccan Crisis, or Agadir Crisis of 1911, erupted when Germany sent the gunboat Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir; it was resolved through German recognition of the French protectorate over Morocco in exchange for territorial compensation in the French Congo, but it left German public opinion feeling humiliated and reinforced British and French perceptions of Germany as an aggressive, destabilizing power.