The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 335

Chapter 335: Chapter 291: The Leap of the Leopard and the Italic War_2

France’s repeated refusals have also angered the German people. Both sides believe the other party is at fault, and even protests and initiatives demanding the government declare war have been endless among the public.

On March 7, the German main army moved towards the French border, and the situation seemed to have an implicit intention of waging war.

The French were not willing to lag, and merely one day after receiving the news, afternoon of March 8, the French main army likewise set off, heading to the border area adjacent to Germany.

Due to the German army’s strength, the French directly announced mobilization in parts of the border area to guard against possible unprovoked warfare by the Germans.

Both parties’ actions directly prompted continuous conflicts along the German-French border, seemingly prompting millions of troops to struggle for survival at the behest of the upper echelons.

After France announced its military mobilization, Germany also declared military mobilization, and William II directly ordered the German General Staff to issue battle plans to all armies.

Now, the oil drum had been directly ignited.

Originally, the British wanted to watch the German-French struggle, let the German-French relations become even worse, and directly eliminated the possibility of a German-French alliance.

But the British did not think of waging war against Germany at this time, for before the frequent launches of the super dreadnoughts, the number of German dreadnoughts was not much different from that of Britain, and the advantage of the navy was not significant.

It goes without saying that the German army is considered the best in the world, and solely relying on the power of the French is not enough to resist the German army.

At this time, the British government had no idea that Germany’s goal was only to blackmail France’s Congo colony and still thought that the Germans were really angry and wanted to engage in a real war with France.

More importantly, if war comes, the Germans occupying Agadir and establishing a naval base on the Atlantic coast would seriously threaten Britain’s waterway from Europe to the Cape of Good Hope, so the British strongly opposed Germany’s occupation of the Moroccan port.

On March 10, 1911, Britain formally intervened, warning the German Ambassador to Britain: “This matter (the Second Moroccan Crisis) affects the interests of the British more deeply than any other event, and the British Empire will resolutely refuse to recognize and oppose any solution without the participation of the British people.”

The intervention of the British did not make the Germans pay attention, and the German government insisted on negotiating the crisis with France alone.

But the Germans did not expect that the British attitude in this crisis would be so firm that it would directly push the British-German relationship into the abyss.

On March 17, 1911, British Minister of Finance, Raul George Miller, gave a speech in London that shocked the world, stating, “I am prepared to make a great sacrifice for peace… But if we are forced into such a situation that only by giving up the important superior position that Britain has fought for over centuries with heroic spirit and victorious performance, peace can be maintained, and if such humiliation of Britain is imposed on the issue of Britain’s vital interests as if she no longer plays any role in the world family of peoples, then I must emphasize that the peace obtained at such a cost is an insufferable humiliation for our great Empire.”

The speech had a strong smell of gunpowder and directly brought the current German-French conflict to the forefront, declaring the British’s strong support for France.

What’s worth mentioning is that the speaker of the speech was not the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grey, who has always opposed and even been hostile to Germany, but the Minister of Finance, Raul George Miller, who has always advocated peace and friendly relations towards Germany.

Such a change has enhanced the deterrence of the speech. On the day the speech ended, the British government announced that the navy was on alert.

If Raul George Miller’s speech is to express the position and attitude of the British people, then the announcement of the Royal British Navy entering a state of readiness is to declare how firm the position of the British people is.

If the Germans continue to be tough, a war with the British and French is very likely to erupt. This is something the Germans don’t want to see either because many of their dreadnoughts are still in the shipyard and it will take quite a while to launch officially.

Within one or two years, at least, the Germans are not willing to see a war between Britain and France. After being discouraged by many people in the government, William II reluctantly allowed the government to explain the actions of the German government to the British people.

On March 20, 1911, after the British Navy had completed war preparations, the French government officially notified Britain, declaring that Germany had no intention of setting foot on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Their purpose was just after Morocco was placed under French protection, to demand suitable compensation from the French people in other respects.

On March 24th, Germany reduced its compensation demands in certain aspects and reopened negotiations with France, which calmed the tense situation in Europe that was on the brink of war.

However, at the same time, it is worth noting that the British firm stance led to the rapid deterioration of relations between Britain and Germany. The positive impression of William II among the British no longer existed, and the good attitude of Germans towards Britain also disappeared directly.

The contradictions between Britain, France, and Germany were irreconcilable, and the Germans’ hatred for Britain and France was insurmountable.

Even this hatred would grow more and more as time passed until it became intolerable, perhaps marking the true arrival of the World War.

It is worth mentioning that during this crisis, another noteworthy event occurred in the European region. However, due to the intense conflict between Britain, France, and Germany, and the imminent war, not many people paid attention to this event.

In March of this year, the Agadir Incident attracted the attention of the whole of Europe and even the world.

This also led Italy to believe that it had an opportunity to achieve its ambition to annex Tripoli.

At the end of March, the Italian newspaper Heartfelt God Society suddenly began to aggressively attack the Turkish government for its mistreatment and coercion of Italian immigrants in Tripoli.

Under the intense propaganda campaign of the major Italian newspapers, the Turkish government had been portrayed as a devil doing all sorts of evil, and the Italian immigrants in Tripoli were in urgent need of rescue by the Italian government.

Feeling almost ready, in April 1911, the Italian government officially notified the Turkish government and issued a final notice. The Italian government claimed that Turkish rule had plunged Tripoli into chaos and poverty, Italian enterprises in Tripoli faced hostility from Turkey, and the lives of Italian immigrants were threatened.

As a result, being forced to care for and protect its own dignity and interests, Italy decided to carry out a military occupation of Tripoli and Xilani and demanded that the Turkish army provide assistance and take measures to guard against any possible resistance actions against the Italian army.

The outrageousness and absurdity of this treaty were rare even in history.

Naturally, the Turkish government flatly rejected Italy’s ultimatum and angrily called the Italian government greedy, shameless, and absurd clowns.

On April 27th, Italy officially declared war on Turkey.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire was already in a state of decay at this time, and facing the aggression of the Italian powers, the Turkish government called on the major powers of Europe to intervene.

However, long before this, the Italian government had gone through several decades of diplomatic efforts, successively signing the renewal of the Triple Alliance, the Italo-French Agreement, and the Italo-Russian La Kuan Jie Agreement, allowing Germany, France, Russia, and other European powers to recognize Tripoli as an area of Italian influence.

Since there were prior agreements, the European powers could not condemn Italy for its bullying behavior and had to pretend not to see it. Some powers even advised the Turkish government to accept Italy’s unreasonable demands to avoid a sinful war that should not have occurred in the first place.

In fact, the real reason that the European powers were unwilling to help Turkey was that the Ottoman Turkish Empire was now in a close relationship with Germany.

Moreover, in the end, Italy and Turkey were actually on the same side, both being part of the allied camp. With both Allies fighting each other, the Entente powers were more than happy to watch the drama unfold. Thus, how could they possibly intervene?

On the German side, having just suffered a diplomatic defeat in France, the German government had lost face.

Furthermore, both Italy and Turkey were Germany’s allies, and favoring either side would damage the relationship with the other.

The German government could only express its inability to help, and except for providing some funds to the Turkish government, there were no further actions taken in diplomacy.