‘[the size of the navy] is not a matter of life and death to them as it is to us.’ - Sir Edward Grey, 1909
”You English,” he said, “are mad, mad, mad as March hares…” – Wilhelm II to the Daily Telegraph, 28th October 1908
1894 Franco-Russian Alliance
A German newspaper complained that the Agadir Crisis had ‘amused the world and ended by making us look foolish’
All the major powers (except Britain) had introduced conscription
At the Algeciras Conference in 1905, only Austria-Hungary supported Germany
1882 Triple Alliance (Germany, Austro-Hungary, Italy)
By 1914, the armies of the Great Powers numbered more than 4 million men, with another 2 million reservists waiting to be called up
Germany launched its first Nassau-class ship in 1908
1890 German-Russian lapse (the end of the Reinsurance Treaty)
HMS Dreadnought launched in 1906
In 1911 Wilhelm II accepted French control of Morocco in return for 100,000 sq miles of the French Congo
In 1889 Britain adopted the Two Power Standard
In 1898, Wilhelm II announced that Germany would build 41 battleships and 61 cruisers. This was evidence of Tirpitz’s “Risk Theory”
In 1901 Wilhelm II made his ‘Place in the Sun’ speech to the North German Naval Association
In 1905 Wilhelm II visited Tangier and made a speech saying he supported the independence of Morocco
1904 Entente Cordiale (Britain and France)
In 1911 France sent troops to put down an uprising in Morocco and used the rebellion as the opportunity to take over
1879 Dual Alliance (Germany and Austro-Hungary)
In 1911 the British Chancellor, David Lloyd George, threatened to go to war if Germany continued to be aggressive towards France
1907 Triple Entente (France, Russia, Britain)
In total, between 1906-1914, Britain built 29 Dreadnought-class ships compared to Germany’s 17
Wilhelm II pursued Weltpolitik – a “headstrong and incoherent insistence that Germany should have a say in all major issues”
Wilhelm II was sent the Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir to threaten the French in 1911
