In 1911, three major crises emerged in Europe that could trigger war, namely the second Moroccan crisis, the Italian-Turkish North African crisis, and the Spanish-Portuguese territorial crisis.
Of the last three major crises, two mine explosions triggered war. However, the second Moroccan crisis, which occurred the earliest, was negotiated, with France at a slight loss and Germany expanding its colonies to avoid war.
The second Moroccan crisis, also known as the Agadir crisis, occurred in 1911. This was an international crisis.
The dispute originated on July 1, when Germany sent the battleship Leopard to the Moroccan port of Agadir to declare Germany's interests in Morocco.
Germany's move is actually to seek compensation from France.
Because according to the resolution of the Algeciras Conference in 1906, France received a lot of benefits in Morocco, but corresponding benefits should be given to Germany. In the end, France gave very little.
This crisis can essentially be regarded as another dispute caused by colonial issues.
Although it is a colonial crisis between Germany and France, the relationship between Britain and Germany has become increasingly bad due to naval issues. Therefore, in many cases, France is willing to bring Britain to an end.
Although the relationship between Britain, France, and Germany was getting worse and worse, none of the three countries were ready for war. In addition, France had indeed acted rogue before, so negotiation became the best option in the end.
On July 9, France and Germany began negotiations, and finally reached an agreement on November 4. Germany recognized France's status in Morocco and ceded part of the territory in northern Cameroon to France (today's southern Chad); France transferred the French Equator
The central and southern French Congo (now the northern part of the Republic of Congo) and adjacent vast areas under African jurisdiction were transferred to Germany as compensation.
After Germany gained a large number of colonies, it gave up its poor interests in Morocco, while France struck while the iron was hot and was also afraid that Germany would cause trouble again.
On March 30, 1912, France made Morocco a protectorate and officially turned it into a colony.
During the Moroccan crisis, Britain supported France during the crisis, which strengthened the close relationship between the Sincere Agreement and the Triple Entente. At the same time, Britain and France also became more sensitive to Germany's expansion of colonies, so the Allied Powers organization gradually changed from a colonial agreement to a
Military alliance.
As part of progress toward a military alliance, after the Moroccan crisis, Britain and France agreed to have the British navy defend the English Channel and France defend the Mediterranean.
The Spanish-Portuguese territorial crisis broke out on September 9, 1911. The two sides also negotiated spiritually, but the negotiations soon collapsed, and Portugal officially declared war on Spain on Japan.
During the Spanish-Portuguese War, European countries thought it would last for several months like the Italian-Turkish War that was going on at the same time. However, Portugal led the Imbilia Alliance and destroyed Spain in just over a month.
army.
The Spanish-Portuguese War broke out in Japan and ended in Japan. After this war, Portugal really dominated the Imbian Peninsula, while Spain, on the other hand, fell apart directly, losing more than half of its territory, and now its name was changed to the Kingdom of Castile.
The three major crises in Europe, the second Moroccan crisis, and the Spanish-Portuguese territorial dispute have all come to an end, but the remaining wars caused by the Italian-Turkish dispute are still going on.
As a major power, Italy had many initiatives and arrangements, but its performance shocked the jaws of all Europeans.
Italy's procrastination in North Africa makes Europeans seem to have seen another Ethiopian colonial joke.
After the unification of the Kingdom of Italy, colonial consciousness gradually emerged, but its colonial road had ups and downs.
Italy was defeated in the war it initiated for Ethiopia, and was humiliated in other European countries.
The famous Prime Minister Bismarck made a vivid comment on Italy's colonial behavior: Italy has a huge appetite but poor teeth, like a fat man with a mouth full of rotten teeth.
The failure of the Ethiopian war did not make Italy give up its colonial ambitions. Italy changed its stride and became cautious. They set their sights on Libya, which is separated by a sea from them.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the competition among European countries for the North African coastal areas that nominally belonged to Turkey became increasingly fierce. Italy attempted to seize Turkish Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (now part of Libya) as a forward base for expansion in North Africa.
Tripolitania and Cyrenaica are a desert of Turkey in North Africa with limited economic value, but an important strategic position. It faces Sicily and can control the narrow sea surface in the central Mediterranean.
In the process of carving up the territories in North Africa occupied by the Turkish Porte government in 1881, Algeria (France began to invade in 1830 and gradually turned it into a colony) and Tunisia (in 1881) successively became French protectorates. Therefore, Turkey's influence in North Africa
The nominal territory is also owned by the Western colonists, and France is preparing to annex the Turkish provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica on this basis.
This attempt was opposed by European countries, especially Italy, which had long wanted to establish colonies in North Africa. To this end, Italy actively carried out political and diplomatic activities and reached agreements and tacit understandings with various powers (forming the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria).
Italian interests in North Africa were recognized.
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 during the year, purchase land, and actively expand its power; it also sent naval officers to change into fishermen's clothes to serve in the two provinces.
In the name of fishing for sponges off the coast of Tripolitania, coastal surveys were conducted; in the name of missionary work, Italian Catholic priests were ordered to go deep into the interior to collect intelligence.
Italy learned the lesson of its failure in Ethiopia in 1896 and kept looking at the opportunity to choose. When the second Moroccan crisis occurred, Italy believed that if it did not act again, it might lose the opportunity to defeat the Italians in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.
On the pretext of unfair treatment, they preemptively struck before Turkey sent troops to North Africa. On September 28, 1911, they issued an ultimatum to the Ottoman Turks, demanding that the Ottoman Turks surrender, otherwise they would threaten to invade the above-mentioned areas.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Faced with the threat of Italy, a great power, Ottoman Turkey called on all countries to stop Italy's invasion attempt, but the major European countries persuaded Turkey to accept Italy's request.
Turkey, which has always been subservient to the great powers, this time rejected the good intentions of the great powers and decided to use force to protect its interests.
The ultimatum expired, and Italy and Türkiye officially entered war.
Although the Italian army had already prepared to invade, when the war broke out, a large number of Italian troops were not ready. This is really very Italian.
The Italian army appeared in Tripoli on the evening of September 28, 1911, but did not start bombarding the port until September 3. Shortly after the bombing, the city was easily occupied by 1,500 Italian troops. The success of Tripoli increased the Italians' colonial enthusiasm.
The fall of Tripoli did not make Turkey give up its will to fight. They organized local Arabs and Bedouins to defend themselves against the Italian invasion.
The success in Tripoli made Italy very happy and decided to make persistent efforts. The Italian landing force appeared on the 1st, and Italy sent a human contingent this time. Italy was confident that this was enough to complete the conquest.
In Italy's plan, cities such as Tobruk and Derna were considered easy to conquer, but the important town of Benghazi was not so easy, so they focused here. The smooth start allowed Italy to underestimate the enemy, and soon they faced
The first real failure.
On August 23, a poorly disciplined Italian force was surrounded by mobile Arab cavalry, and then the regular Ottoman troops also joined the battle, and were almost completely wiped out in the end.
This failure was portrayed by the Italian media as a simple resistance, but there would be more and more slaps in the face later. As the war progressed, Italy's losses increased.
The failure on the front line made the Italian government, which could not afford to be humiliated, furious. They could not afford to lose this war.
Soon, the Italian combat corps expanded to 100,000 people. Facing the Arab army and 8,000 Turkish troops, the war became a human sea tactic.
On March 4, Italian reinforcements landed in Tobruk after a small bombing and marched towards the hinterland where the force configuration was weak. A small Turkish army and local Libyan troops were organized by General Mustafa Kemal.
In good order, they fought back.
On March 6, 1912, the Battle of Tobruk ended, and General Kemal Kemal won the victory. With this achievement, he was assigned to the Derna Military Camp on March 6, 1912, and held important positions, which gave him more power to coordinate
battlefield.
Not long after Kemal arrived in Derna, the Italian army also began planning an attack here.
This chapter has been completed!