2 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 



unit of political strength. In the United States the presidential campaign of 1912 

 and its result have brought a new political party into existence; and the defeat of the 

 Reciprocity Agreement in Canada has checked a notable movement towards cooperation 

 with the neighbouring Dominion. Meanwhile a period of bounding commerce and 

 good financial credit has synchronised with a widespread movement of industrial 

 unrest, largely stimulated by the increased cost of living, in all the countries of Western 

 civilisation. Most of these movements, and the details concerning them, are treated 

 elsewhere in the YEAR-BOOK; in what follows a few specially interesting questions are 

 dealt with, which are of direct international importance and fall naturally for discussion 

 under no one country in particular. 



THE MOROCCO CRISIS OF 1911 



The main disturbance in European politics during 1911 was due to the action of 

 Germany in claiming compensation from France on account of the new situation in 

 North Africa which was being brought about by the extension of French influence in 

 Morocco. It had been hoped that the Act of Algeciras 1 in 1906, followed by the Franco- 

 German Convention of 1909, had finally settled the lines on which France enjoyed a 

 privileged position, as the mandatory of Europe, in the " peaceful penetration " of that 

 country; but the progress of affairs (see MOROCCO, in Part II, sect, iii of the YEAR- 

 BOOK) compelled an extension of the French military occupation, which, in the view of 

 the German Government, went altogether beyond what was warranted, and in June an 

 intimation to this effect was given in Paris by the German Ambassador, who suggested 

 that the German objection to French control of Morocco might be removed by conces- 

 sions of territory elsewhere. The French Government, apparently not taking this 

 diplomatic move seriously, and fortified by the Anglo-French entente, was not disposed to 

 offer any such " compensation," or to admit that its action in Morocco went beyond 

 what had been provided for by existing agreements; and the world was startled soon 

 afterwards (July ist) by the announcement that the German gunboat " Panther " 

 (joined shortly after by the cruiser " Berlin ") had been sent to the closed port of 

 Agadir, near the mouth of the Sus river, for the protection of German trading firms in 

 that part of Morocco. At the same time the German Press became very active, and the 

 suggestion was made that Germany meant to occupy the port of Mogador and assert 

 herself in the southern part of the country. The impression was distinctly given that 

 Germany intended to reopen the whole Morocco question, and to proceed de noro by 

 way of partition between herself, France, and Spain; and though such a policy was 

 afterwards repudiated by the German Chancellor (Nov. 9th), this was the interpretation 

 which both the British and the French Governments and public opinion generally first 

 gave to the German coup. 



On July 3rd, Sir Edward Grey plainly told the German Ambassador in London that 

 the Cabinet must discuss the situation as an entirely new one; the British attitude could 

 not be " disinterested " and Great Britain would decline to recognise any new arrange- 

 ments made without her being consulted; and on July 6th Mr. Asquith stated categoric- 

 ally in the House of Commons that Great Britain would act in concert wifli France. 

 The speeches delivered later in the year by the German Chancellor (Nov. 9th and Dec. 

 5th), and Sir Edward Grey (Nov. 27th), after the crisis had passed away, were the first 

 public explanations of the actual course of events; and for a protracted period, while 

 " conversations " were passing between France and Germany, and the French and 

 English Governments were acting in loyal fulfilment of the understanding between 

 them, peace and war hung in the balance. As Sir Edward Grey subsequently made 

 clear, the real aims and objects of Germany were at first very imperfectly disclosed, a:id 

 the apparent inspiration given to the German Press seemed to indicate that they wov.ld 

 be incompatible with either French or British interests. 



The first concrete proposal (July isth) from Germany by way of territorial compen- 

 sation for the alleged damage to her rights in Morocco was that France should cede the 



1 See E. B. xviii, 858. 



