The Algeciras Conference ends the First Moroccan Crisis

On 7 April 1906, in the Spanish town of Algeciras (PL), across the bay from Gibraltar, the delegates of twelve states signed the General Act of the conference (PL) on Morocco. The talks had lasted since 16 January and had been called at Germany’s demand: ever since Wilhelm II’s visit to Tangier a year earlier, Berlin had insisted that the fate of Morocco be decided by all the powers, not by France alone. The conference ended the First Moroccan Crisis, but not as Berlin had hoped. Germany found itself isolated, while France came out of it with the support of Britain, Russia, Spain and even Italy, Germany’s ally.

The dispute over the police

Around the table sat Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Spain, the United States, France, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Morocco itself. The longest disputes concerned the state bank and the police in the ports. France wanted the police to be organised by French and Spanish instructors; Germany sought international control. On 3 March the British delegate, Arthur Nicolson, moved that the conference turn from the arguments over the bank to the question of the police. As he reported to the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Russia and the Netherlands voted for his motion, the United States, Belgium and Sweden went along with the majority, and only Germany, Austria-Hungary and Morocco were opposed. A vote on the order of business revealed the balance of forces that would hold to the end.

On 26 March the German delegate Joseph von Radowitz agreed that French and Spanish instructors should take charge in all eight ports. Germany still demanded that the police be supervised by the diplomatic body in Tangier, and its delegates made it clear that otherwise they would leave the conference, but the matter ended in a compromise: supervision was to be carried out by an officer of the Swiss army. On 31 March the last disputed questions were settled, and the following week was spent drafting the text. The French Le Temps, which reflected the views of the Quai d’Orsay, wrote with relief of an arrangement in which no one was “either victor or vanquished”.

The General Act

The Act based reforms in Morocco on “the triple principle of the sovereignty and independence of His Majesty the Sultan, the integrity of his domains, and economic liberty without any inequality”. The police, between 2,000 and 2,500 men, were to be under the Sultan’s authority and recruited from Moroccan Muslims, but for five years French and Spanish officers would train them and oversee their administration: Spanish at Tetuan and Larache, French at Rabat and three other ports, mixed at Tangier and Casablanca. A Swiss inspector-general based in Tangier was to report to the Sultan and to the diplomatic body. A State Bank of Morocco was also created, with the exclusive right to issue banknotes for 40 years. The Act further regulated arms smuggling, customs and taxes.

The Moroccan delegates did not sign the document, because the distance prevented them from receiving the Sultan’s reply in time. In an additional protocol the powers undertook that the Italian minister Giulio Malmusi, dean of the diplomatic corps, would obtain his assent. The Sultan adhered to the Act on 18 June 1906. The United States stated that it had no political interest in Morocco and assumed no responsibility for enforcing the provisions.

Balance sheet

Formally, Germany upheld the principle that Morocco was the business of all the powers, but France kept its pre-eminence there, and the attempt to break up its agreement with Britain had failed. During the crisis the two countries had even begun informal staff talks on military and naval cooperation in the event of war. In Berlin the conference brought disappointment. At the beginning of April Friedrich von Holstein, an influential official of the Auswärtiges Amt who until the end of February had helped to run Moroccan policy, resigned, and on 5 April the Chancellor, Bernhard von Bülow, collapsed in the chamber of the Reichstag. The Moroccan question remained open and was to return.