Wilhelm II lands at Tangier

On 31 March 1905 the German Emperor Wilhelm II went ashore at Tangier, the Moroccan port at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. He spent only a few hours in the town, but his words, that he had come to the Sultan as to a fully independent ruler, sounded like a challenge in Paris. For the first time Germany openly questioned French plans for Morocco and the agreement France had concluded with Britain a year earlier. So began the First Moroccan Crisis (PL).

Morocco and France’s agreements

Morocco, ruled by the young Sultan Abdelaziz (PL), was one of the last independent states in Africa. France, which held neighbouring Algeria, wanted to bring it under its control. The Foreign Minister, Théophile Delcassé, had prepared the diplomatic ground: in the agreement of 8 April 1904 Britain left France a free hand in Morocco in exchange for Egypt, and in the autumn Paris came to terms with Spain. Nobody formally asked Germany for its opinion. Talking to the British ambassador on 22 March 1905, Delcassé explained that Berlin had known the content of the agreements and had raised no objections, and that the Chancellor, Bernhard von Bülow, had publicly declared that Germany had only commercial interests in Morocco. He therefore could not understand what Germany wanted to achieve by the Emperor’s visit.

Berlin saw things differently. The French envoy Saint-René Taillandier, who was presenting a programme of reforms to the Sultan, had allegedly claimed, according to the Germans, that he spoke in the name of all Europe, and the Sultan had asked Berlin whether this was true. The Emperor’s visit was meant to be the answer. According to Wilhelm II’s memoirs, it was Bülow who persuaded him to call at Tangier during a Mediterranean cruise on the steamer Hamburg. The Emperor wrote that he considered the Moroccan question too explosive; from Lisbon he telegraphed that he was giving up the visit, but the Chancellor insisted, citing the expectations of German public opinion and of the Reichstag. Wilhelm gave in, as he himself wrote, “with a heavy heart”.

A few hours in Tangier

Landing in the open roadstead was difficult, and only a few days earlier the British ambassador in Madrid had advised the Germans that the Emperor should view the town from his ship. On the pier he was greeted by the Sultan’s great-uncle, Moulay Abdelmalek. According to the account the German chargé d’affaires gave to the press, the Emperor replied that he was visiting the Sultan as an independent sovereign and trusted that under his sovereignty Morocco would remain free and open to the peaceful competition of all nations, “without monopolies or exclusion”. He rode on horseback through the town to the German legation, where he received the Sultan’s letter and declared that he had come to safeguard German interests in Morocco effectively, and that he would seek an understanding on them with the Sultan as an “absolutely independent” sovereign.

Stronger were the words not meant for print. Kaid Maclean, a Briton in the Sultan’s service, told the British minister in Tangier in secret that when he was presented to the Emperor, the Emperor said to him: “I do not acknowledge any agreement that has been come to. I come here as one Sovereign paying a visit to another perfectly independent sovereign. You can tell Sultan this.” To the French chargé d’affaires he declared in a louder voice: “As far as I am concerned I am decided to cause the interests of German commerce to be respected.”

Consequences

Already at Gibraltar, where he called after the visit, the Emperor felt the coolness of the British. Germany demanded an international conference on Morocco and refused to negotiate with Delcassé, who wanted to reject it together with Britain and Spain. The Prime Minister, Maurice Rouvier (PL), did not want to risk war. The Council of Ministers did not back Delcassé, who resigned on 6 June 1905, and France agreed to the conference. Germany had forced a concession, but instead of breaking up the Anglo-French agreement the visit to Tangier drew the two countries even closer together.