The beginning of the First World War started in the early 1890s and the causes that led to its outbreak have been regarded as a hard topic to debate on. Consumed by the hunger for power and control, several countries had no option but to engage in controversies, military conflicts and the forging alliances to seek power and control (McKay & Crowston, 2016). Apparently, Germany and Britain went into war due to several reasons which cut across politics and the economy of Europe at that time. These included imperialism, nationalism, and militarism. Germany was held responsible as being the main cause of the war due to the massive formation of the alliance like Austria-Hungary. However, the immediate cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28th June 1928 . Despite that, there were three significant political changes that preceded the First World War. These were; The First Moroccan Crisis, the Second Moroccan Crisis and the Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This crisis between 1900 and 1914 played part in World War 1 as they reinforced hostilities between the powers (McKay & Crowston, 2016).
In the First Moroccan Crisis, is historically known as the Tangier Crisis. It was an international crisis that took place between 1905 in March and 1906 May over the economic and political State of Morocco whom France, Britain, and Germany wanted to acquire as a colony due to the heightened imperialism at that time (McKay & Crowston, 2016). Kaiser Willem (II) of Germany paid Tangier a visit in 1905 and met with the representatives sent by the Moroccan leader Sultan Abdelaziz. Following the declaration by the Kaiser that he was in full support of the reign of Sultan Abdelaziz, the French felt that their vast influence in Morocco had been challenged deeply. Due to German influence, the Sultan opted to reject a proposal made by the French in terms of reforming Morocco. Moreover, it was a test of the Anglo-French Entente. Abdelaziz further invited a conference that would host delegates who would advise him accordingly on the reformation of politics and economy of Morocco. During the Algeciras Conference of 1906, delegates favored French so that they could cement their relationship with Britain. King Edward (VII) of Britain condemned the actions of Germany in the crisis where he stated: “These are the most mischievous and uncalled for an event which the German Emperor has been engaged in since he came to the throne” (Chomsky, 2017).
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During the Second Moroccan Crisis in 1911, historically known as the Agadir Crisis, Germany sent a gunboat dubbed as the ‘Panther’ to the port of Agadir. Germany argued that the main cause of that reason was to protect its citizens at Agadir from the French forces and troops. Furthermore, the Germans claimed that France had failed to obey the terms that were reached during the Algeciras conference of 1906 (McKay & Crowston, 2016). The British were in an alliance with the French against Germany. As a result, Germany almost declared a war against Britain but these plans were altered by the agreement between France and Germany where Germany would leave Morocco that had the French favor after the Algeciras conference and in return, Germany would be given some rights to Congo by France. The aftermath of this was the feeling of the German citizens in Agadir and Germany too that they had suffered a vast humiliation due to the decision made by the German government in backing down from Morocco. By gaining from the German sway of interests from Morocco, Britain, and France concluded a serious naval alliance to protect the French coast from further German attacks in high fleets gunboats (Chomsky, 2017).
Finally, the annexation crisis of Bosnia took place in 1908-1909. On October 8 in 1908 Austria-Hungary which had become German states announced the annexation of Bosnian territories within the Ottoman Empire (McKay & Crowston, 2016). Following the trickery of Russia by Austria, the annexation process was able to succeed. After the Ottoman Empire had declared independence to the Bulgarians, a protest from the Great Powers and the Balkan nations of Serbia and Montenegro was sparked as they attempted to decline this unilateral decision by Austria-Hungary. In April 1909, the Berlin Treaty brought the annexation to an end. Impacts of the crisis are that it destroyed complete relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Russia vowed never to be tricked again and also hastened its military buildup process in case of an eventual war (McKay & Crowston, 2016).
References
Chomsky, N. (2017). Who Rules the World? London: Hamish Hamilton.
McKay, J. P., & Crowston, C. H. (2016). A History of Western Society, Concise Edition (Vol. 2). New York, New York: Berdford Publishers.
