In the second half of 1911, the air in Europe was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and several major European countries were restless.
The first person to cause trouble was, of course, the idiot William II whom Tang Ning described as the big fool.
The place where William II caused trouble was in Morocco, next door to Portugal. This incident was the famous second Moroccan crisis in history.
On July 1, Germany sent the battleship Leopard to the Moroccan port of Agadir to declare Germany's interests in Morocco, which caused a violent backlash from France.
Everyone knows that Morocco is the sphere of influence of Spain and France. Spain occupies the northern part of Morocco, and the remaining Kingdom of Morocco is the sphere of influence of France.
This move by Germany seriously provoked France, but they found an excuse and France was blocked for a while.
Germany's move this time is under the guise of seeking compensation from France.
According to the resolution of the Algeciras Conference in 1906, France received a lot of benefits in Morocco, but France had to give Germany some benefits in certain aspects. However, in subsequent developments, Germany did not receive equivalent returns.
This action by Germany clearly meant to find trouble. Wilhelm II obviously wanted to take the opportunity to defraud France in order to obtain Germany's excessive treatment in Morocco.
However, William II obviously underestimated France. With the support of Britain, France was very assertive this time and did not compromise.
The French government refused to give in on Morocco's interests, which put Germany in a dilemma, and the situation became a stalemate.
Without the support of Britain, France would obviously not have the courage to challenge Germany.
However, with the establishment of the Triple Entente and the support of Britain, France is now very bold and is not afraid of the threat of war at all.
France's confidence in facing Germany, in short, is that Britain is by its side. If there is no Britain and only Russia, France will definitely not be so tough when facing Germany.
The quarrel between Germany and Britain is ultimately due to Wilhelm II's brain damage.
Originally, the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria and Italy faced the Anglo-Russian Entente. Although the situation was favorable to the Triple Alliance, the balance of power was generally so that the two parties would not take action easily and would only maintain a stalemate.
Britain pursues the balance of power on the continent, and the two sides are in confrontation. Although France and Russia are weak, they have not yet reached the point where Britain can personally end the conflict.
In order to balance the balance of power in Europe, the UK is likely to secretly provide blood to the two countries, but it will definitely not come to power personally to side with France as it does now.
The moment the Triple Entente of Britain, France, and Russia was established, the Triple Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Austria was at a disadvantage.
If the Allies did not have Britain, William II could extract a lot of benefits from France. After all, France did not dare to declare war easily. Facing the threat of Germany, they could only take some steps back.
All the advantages that the Triple Alliance had gained were wasted by William II.
The relationship between Britain and Germany became tense when Germany launched an arms race, and finally turned hostile.
Under the leadership of German Emperor Wilhelm II, Germany began to mass-produce dreadnoughts in the 1890s. Britain viewed this as an attempt to challenge her maritime hegemony and began to change its policy toward Germany.
Britain began to change its strategy. William II, who was so clever and unrepentant, continued to increase his power and continued to tease Britain's bottom line. In the end, he forcefully pushed Britain directly to the side of the Franco-Russian Entente.
On July 1, when the British discovered that German warships had arrived in Agadir, they mistakenly believed that Germany wanted to turn the port into a military port for the German army in the Atlantic. Therefore, in this confrontation between Germany and France, the British government completely sided with France.
.
On July 9, after William II saw that Britain was on the side of France, he did not overestimate his capabilities and challenge the two countries. He chose to negotiate.
"William II is still somewhat sane now, but this sanity will only last three years, and Germany will eventually fall into the abyss."
Tang Ning said with a smile when she read the "United Portugal" newspaper that the three countries announced that they would resolve the crisis through negotiation, and understood the direction of history.
When the world's attention is focused on Morocco, some countries with people who are addicted to food cannot bear their desires and have begun to reach out to North Africa.
On August 31, the early morning sunlight shone into the room, and Tang Ning slowly woke up.
Tang Ning first took off the jade arm that was carrying his wife Mary. His movement of getting out of bed woke Mary up. She opened her beautiful eyes in confusion and looked at Tang Ning who had already gotten up.
"You should rest for a while." Tangning said caringly when he saw his wife woke up by him.
The country is on the right track, and Tang Ning is much more relaxed, so she has time to enjoy herself in some aspects.
In the past few days, Charlotte and Diana have had their periods, so as a wife, Mary has taken on a heavier service task than before. She has been very tired recently.
"Okay." Mary replied sweetly, then turned around and grabbed the quilt and fell asleep.
When Tang Ning walked out of the room, he happened to meet the waitress Anne walking over to report the matter to him.
"Your Majesty, I have just received news that Italy, in a very serious diplomatic posture, is issuing an ultimatum regarding North African territory to the Ottoman Empire for the first time.
The Italian Workers' State demanded that the Ottoman Turks hand over the remaining two territories in North Africa to Italy.
Italy's reason for requesting trusteeship is that Italians are being treated unfairly there."
"Bring it over and show it to me."
Anne handed the telegram she had just received to His Majesty the Emperor.
Tangning took the telegram and looked at it carefully. He wanted to see how Italy, which is addicted to food, handles the North African issue.
Across the Italian Sea were the Ottoman North African territories of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.
These two territories are considered a desert land in North Africa and have limited economic value. Although they have no economic value, they have an important strategic position.
These two territories stood opposite Italy, especially Tripolitania, which faced Sicily.
By controlling them, you can control the narrower sea surface in the central Mediterranean.
In 1881, during the process of carving up the North African territories occupied by the Turkish Porte government, Algeria (France began to invade in 1830 and gradually turned it into a colony) and Tunisia (1881) successively became French protectorates.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Therefore, except for these two areas, all of Turkey’s territories are owned by Western colonists, and France is not ready to let go of the remaining two areas, and is increasing its efforts to annex Turkey.
Provinces Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.
France's attempt to push further was opposed by European countries, especially Italy, which had long wanted to establish colonies in North Africa.
In order to oppose France, Italy actively carried out political and diplomatic activities, reached agreements and tacit understandings with various powers (the most important result was the formation of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria), and they recognized Italy's interests in North Africa.
In order to prepare for the annexation of the two provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, Italy continued to immigrate and send businessmen to the two places from 1880 to 1911, purchase land, and actively expand its power; it also sent naval officers to replace fishermen.
Clothes, in the name of fishing for sponges off the coast of Tripolitania, conducted coastal surveys; instigated Italian Catholic priests to go deep into the interior to collect intelligence in the name of missionary work.
Looking at these operations, we can see that Italy has learned the lesson of its failure in Ethiopia in 1896. They have been holding back and have been constantly watching for opportunities to choose.
Now, when the second Moroccan crisis occurs, the current Italian government obviously believes that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
There is a unified opinion among Italian high-level officials, that is, if no action is taken, Italy may lose the opportunity to obtain the Ottoman Turkish North African territories.
The opportunity must not be missed, the time will never come again, Italians just do it.
Therefore, this time, Italy used the unfair treatment of Italians in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica as an excuse to challenge Ottoman Turkey's territorial ownership of North Africa.
On the evening of August 30, 1911, Italy issued its first ultimatum to the Ottomans for the first time.
Tang Ning took a look at the content of the ultimatum. He felt that it was very uninteresting. The Italian ultimatum had an old imperialist tone.
The content of the Italian ultimatum was high-sounding, without innovation. In essence, it threatened Ottoman Turkey to withdraw from North Africa by using force to go to war.
The meaning of the telegram is very simple. Don't say it was unpredicted. If the local chicken doesn't give face and doesn't take advantage of the stage, then the Italian Roman Superman will go crazy.
This chapter has been completed!