Algeciras Conference

(1906)

   The Algeciras Conference was an international conference convened to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis of 1905; it was held at the Spanish port of Algeciras from January 16 to April 7, 1906. Germany had insisted on a conference to resolve its dispute with France over Morocco but found itself isolated at the conference, with support only from Austria-Hungary. Although the conference confirmed Moroccan independence under a Sultan, it granted France and Spain the right to police the country under a Swiss inspector-general and gave France economic control over Morocco. This amounted to a diplomatic defeat for Germany, leading to the resignation of Friedrich von Holstein from the Foreign Office. There could now be no talk of a Franco-German reconciliation. The Entente Cordiale between France and Britain was therefore strengthened by Germany’s diplomatic blunder. In 1911, Germany provoked a further confrontation over Morocco in the Agadir Crisis, arguing that France had breached the Algeciras agreement.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Anderson, Eugene N. The First Moroccan Crisis, 1904-1906. Handen, CT: Archon Books, 1966;

    Martel, Gordon. The Origins of the First World War. 3rd ed. London: Longman, 2003.

   ANNIKA MOMBAUER