Chapter 292 The Leap of the Leopard and the Italian-Turkish War
The French actions in Morocco aroused strong dissatisfaction among the German people and government, and also made the already tense European situation more intense, and war seemed imminent.
In order to quell the high public anger in the country, and because the French actions had indeed touched German interests, William II adopted the strategy of Foreign Minister Kidron and sent warships to important ports in Morocco, using them as a trump card to sit back and watch. Developments in the situation in Morocco.
On March 1, 1911, Germany officially submitted a memorandum to France and other European powers, stating that in order to protect the safety of German expatriates and German interests in Morocco, the German government decided to dispatch warships to station at the port of Agadir. Retreat immediately as soon as the situation in Morocco returns to calm.
Before the German government decided to act, Wilhelm II cautiously asked Kidron, who proposed this brilliant plan.
Faced with William II's cautious question, German Foreign Minister Kidron said with some confidence: "We only took corresponding actions and did not hinder France's actions in Morocco. As long as the French are willing to pay corresponding benefits in the colonies, We can completely withdraw the warships immediately and recognize the French occupation of Morocco."
Such words made William II feel a little relieved, and then decided to send the Leopard gunboat to the important port of Agadir in Morocco.
It is worth mentioning that the Leopard gunboat did not sit back and watch the crisis in Morocco after entering the Agadir port, as Foreign Minister Kidron said.
The first thing this small warship with a tonnage of less than 2,000 tons did after entering the Agadir port was not to communicate with the French, but to directly aim its guns at the city of Agadir.
This famous provocation in history, known as the "Leap of the Leopard", directly caused the already intense German-French relations to suddenly become tense. Countless people even thought that war was coming and sold off their assets one after another.
As the saying goes, antiques in prosperous times are worth gold in troubled times. If war really comes, everyone will know that the various assets in their hands are the least valuable.
Only by exchanging as much hard currency as gold and important supplies before the war can you survive better after the war.
This behavior also made the stock exchange markets in Germany and France almost full. Countless people sold their stocks, causing numerous small and medium-sized companies in Germany and France to go bankrupt overnight.
The people of Germany and France are full of complaints, and their hatred for the other country is getting deeper and deeper.
The gunboat Leopard suddenly appeared in the port of Agadir, surprising the French troops stationed in the port.
What's even more serious is that as soon as this small gunboat arrived at the port, it immediately aimed its guns at the city, or rather at the French troops stationed in the city.
Such a bold and provocative behavior directly shocked and angered the French troops stationed at the port.
In any case, France is still one of the most powerful powers in the world. Even if Germany's comprehensive strength has surpassed France, it cannot send such a small warship to provoke France in this way.
The French army was very angry, but the infantry really had no good way to deal with the gunboats. They could only quickly and slightly embellished the report to the country, asking the country to quickly dispatch battleships to assist.
After the French army's embarrassment, Paris soon received news from Morocco.
The French government was very angry about the sudden appearance of German warships and obvious demonstrations. They believed that Germany dared to directly provoke the French army and actions with just a small gunboat. It was a great shame for an established power like France.
But this was not over yet. The next day, Germany called the French government and asked the French government to provide Germany with adequate compensation for its actions in Morocco and to guarantee Germany's interests.
What was originally a threatening action turned out to be a threat this time. I don’t know who leaked the news. The French people also learned about Germany’s threat and took to the streets to demonstrate, demanding that the government directly declare war on Germany and protect France and France. people's interests.
Facing 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 ensure the safety of Germans in Morocco.
The French's toughness and unwillingness to make concessions brought the "negotiations" between Germany and France to a deadlock.
Under the "ingenious plan" of Foreign Minister Kidron, the Germans did not give in. Instead, they chose to continue blackmail and sent the cruiser Berlin to Morocco.
If the dispatch of the Leopard gunboat was just a diplomatic blackmail and intimidation, then the dispatch of the Berlin cruiser seemed to the French to be a war threat and blackmail.
Today's France is not the soft persimmon it was a few decades ago. Faced with such blatant threats and intimidation from Germany, the French people's anger is almost unstoppable, and they even claim to directly overthrow the cabinet if the country gives in.
Don't underestimate the public voice of the French. They say they overthrow the cabinet but they really dare to overthrow the cabinet.
It 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 blackmail, the French government directly refused to meet the German ambassador to France, demonstrating France's tough attitude.
France's repeated refusals also made the German people very angry. Both sides believe that the other is at fault, and there are even endless demonstrations and initiatives among the people asking the government to declare war.
On March 7, the main force of the German Army moved towards the French border, and the situation seemed to have the potential to start a war.
The French side was not to be outdone. On the second day after receiving the news, that is, on the afternoon of March 8, the main force of the French army also set off for 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 possible undeclared war.
The actions of both sides directly contributed to the continuous conflicts on the German-French border. It seemed that as long as there was an order from the top leaders of both sides, millions of troops would engage in a life-and-death struggle.
After France announced military mobilization, Germany also announced military mobilization, and Wilhelm II directly ordered the German General Staff to issue combat plans to all armies.
This time it was good, the oil tank was directly ignited.
The British originally wanted to sit back and watch the struggle between Germany and France, making the relationship between Germany and France worse, and directly eliminating the possibility of a German-French alliance. But the British are not thinking about going to war with Germany directly now. After all, before the frequent launch of super-dreadnought ships, the Germans had about the same number of dreadnoughts as the British, and their naval advantage was actually not great.
Of course, there is no need to say more about the army. The German army is not boasting about being the best in the world. 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 colony, and thought that the Germans were really angry and wanted to start a real war with France.
More importantly, if war comes, the Germans occupy Agadir and establish a naval base on the Atlantic coast, which will seriously threaten the British shipping route from Europe south to the Cape of Good Hope. Therefore, the British are also very opposed to Germany's occupation of Moroccan ports.
On March 10, 1911, the British officially resigned, warning the German ambassador to Britain: "This incident (the second Moroccan crisis) affects the interests of the British more deeply than any other incident, and any solution without the British The British Empire firmly does not recognize and opposes the participation of the British Empire."
The fate of the British did not attract the attention of the Germans. The German government insisted on negotiating alone with France to resolve the crisis.
But the Germans did not expect that the British attitude would be so firm in this crisis, and even directly push Anglo-German relations into the abyss.
On March 17, 1911, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George delivered a speech that shocked the world. He declared: "I am prepared to make heavy sacrifices to maintain peace. But if we are forced to be in such a position, we can only give up. If Britain can maintain peace after centuries of paying the price for the important and superior position it has won with heroic spirit and victorious achievements, if Britain is insulted in this way on issues involving Britain's vital interests, it will be as if she has no longer been in the big family of people of the world. If it plays any further role, then I would like to emphasize that peace bought at such a price is a humiliation and must not be tolerated for a great empire like ours."
This speech was so explosive that it even directly The current conflict between Germany and France is on the table, declaring the British firm stance of supporting France.
What is even more worth mentioning is that the speaker of such a speech was not Foreign Secretary Gray, who had always been opposed or even hostile to Germany, but Finance Minister Lloyd George, who had always advocated peace and friendship with Germany.
Such a shift enhances the intimidating power of the speech. On the day the speech ended, the British government announced that the navy was on combat readiness.
If Lloyd George's speech indicated the position and attitude of the British, then the announcement that the British Navy had entered a state of war readiness was an announcement of how firm the British position was.
If the Germans continue to be tough, a war with Britain and France is very likely to break out. This is something the Germans are not willing to see at the moment, because many German dreadnoughts are still in shipyards, and it will take a long time to officially launch them.
At least for a year or two, the Germans did not want to see a war with Britain and France. After being persuaded by many people in the government, William II gave up his tough attitude towards Britain and France. He was very dissatisfied and reluctantly asked the government to explain the German government's behavior to the British.
On March 20, 1911, after the British Navy's war preparations had been completed, the French government officially notified Britain that Germany had no intention of establishing a foothold on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Their object was simply to demand appropriate compensation from the French in other respects after Morocco was placed under French protection.
On March 24, the Germans lowered their compensation requirements in some aspects and reopened negotiations with France. Only then did the situation in Europe, which had almost entered war, calm down.
But at the same time, it is worth noting that the British's firm stance caused the relationship between Britain and Germany to deteriorate rapidly. The British's good impression of William II no longer existed, and the Germans' good attitude towards Britain also disappeared directly.
The contradiction between Britain, France and Germany has become irresolvable, and the Germans' hatred for Britain and France cannot be offset.
This kind of hatred will even increase with the passage of time. When it accumulates to the point where it is no longer tolerated, it may be the time when world war really comes.
It is worth mentioning that during this crisis, something noteworthy also happened in Europe. However, because of the fierce conflicts and the upcoming war between Britain, France and Germany, no one who noticed this incident was aware of it. many.
The Agadir incident in March this year attracted the attention of the entire Europe and even the world.
This also made Italy feel that it had an opportunity and felt that its ambition to invade Tripoli could be realized.
At the end of March, Italian newspapers that understood the situation suddenly began to violently attack the Turkish government in Tripoli for its abuse and coercion of Italian expats.
Under the fierce propaganda of major Italian newspapers, the Turkish government has been promoted as a devil who does all evil, and Italian expatriates in Tripoli are in urgent need of rescue by the Italian government.
Feeling that it was almost ready, in April 1911, the Italian government officially notified the Turkish government and issued the final notice. The Italian government claims that Turkish rule has plunged Tripoli into chaos and poverty, that Italian businesses in Tripoli have faced Turkish hostility and that Italian expatriates have received life threats.
Therefore, the Italian government, forced to care about protecting its dignity and interests, decided to implement military occupation of Tripoli and Cyrene, and asked the Turkish army to assist and take measures to prevent any possible resistance to the Italian army.
The degree of unreasonableness and absurdity of this treaty is rare even in history.
Naturally, the Turkish government directly rejected Italy's ultimatum and angrily called the Italian government a greedy, shameless, and absurd clown.
On April 27, the Italian government officially declared war on Turkey.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire was already in decay at this time. Facing the invasion of Italy, the Turkish government called on the major European powers to intervene.
But long before that, the Italian government had gone through decades of diplomatic activities and signed the Triple Alliance Renewal, the Italian-French Agreement and the Italian-Russian Laconiki Agreement, which were recognized by European powers such as Germany, France and Russia. Tripoli is Italy's sphere of influence.
Because they had an agreement in advance, the European powers could not condemn Italy for bullying the weak. They could only pretend not to see it. Some powers even persuaded the Turkish government to accept Italy's unreasonable demands in order to avoid an unreasonable incident. The evil war that should have happened.
In fact, the Ottoman Turkish Empire is currently on good terms with Germany. This is the real reason why European powers are unwilling to help Turkey.
Even in the final analysis, Italy and Turkey are in the same camp. The Allied Powers are fighting against each other. It is too late for the Allied Powers to watch the excitement, so how can they interfere?
As for Germany, its diplomatic strategy towards France has just failed, causing the German government to lose a lot of face.
In addition, Italy and Turkey are both allies of Germany. Favoring either side will damage the relationship of the other.
The German government could only express its helplessness. Apart from supporting the Turkish government with a sum of funds, it had no further diplomatic action.
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(End of chapter)