Agadir Crisis
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The Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, was the international tension sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911.
Anglo–German tensions were especially high at this time since the Germans had started to attempt to surpass Britain's naval supremacy. When the British heard of the Panther's arrival in Morocco, they believed that the Germans meant to turn Agadir into a naval base on the Atlantic. The main result was to increase British fear and hostility and to draw Britain closer to France.
The German move was aimed at reinforcing claims for compensation for acceptance of effective French control of the North African kingdom, where France's pre-eminence had been upheld by the 1906 Algeciras Conference following the Tangier Crisis (or First Moroccan Crisis) of the previous year.
Franco-German negotiations initiated on July 9 in 1911 at Treaty of Fez, led to the conclusion (November 4) of a convention under which Germany accepted France's position in Morocco in return for territory in the French Equatorial African colony of Middle Congo (now the Republic of the Congo). This 275 000 km² territory, known as Neukamerun, became part of the German colony of Kamerun and part of German West Africa, which only lasted briefly until they were captured by the allies in World War I. The area is partly marsh land where Sleeping sickness was widespread. Also as part of the treaty, Germany ceded France a small area of territory to the south-east of Fort Lamy, now part of Chad, as shown on this map.
France subsequently established a full protectorate over Morocco (March 30, 1912), ending what remained of the country's formal independence.
British backing for France during the crisis reinforced the Entente between the two countries and added to Anglo-German estrangement, deepening the divisions which would culminate in World War I.
In modern Germany, the Agadir Crisis is still the best known example of Gunboat diplomacy.
[edit] See also
- Colonialism
- Scramble for Africa
- First Moroccan Crisis (Tangier Crisis)
- Gunboat diplomacy
