Agadir Crisis

Part of Causes of World War I

A column of French troops on the move in a tented encampment in Morocco, 30 March 1912.

Date

April 1911

Location

Morocco

Result

Treaty of Fez:

France establishes a full protectorate over Morocco

Belligerents

German Empire

Treaty of Fez:

The Agadir Crisis or Second Moroccan Crisis (also known as the Panthersprung in German) was an international crisis sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco in April 1911. Germany reacted by sending the gunboat SMS Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir on 1 July 1911. Negotiations between Berlin and Paris resolved the crisis: France took over Morocco as a protectorate in exchange for territorial concessions to Germany from the French Congo, while Spain was satisfied with a change in its boundary with Morocco.

France's pre-eminence in Morocco had been upheld by the 1906 Algeciras Conference, following the First Moroccan Crisis of 1905–06.

Anglo-German tensions were high at this time, partly due to an arms race between Imperial Germany and Great Britain, including German efforts to build a fleet two thirds the size of Britain's. Germany's move was aimed at testing the relationship between Britain and France, and possibly intimidating Britain into an alliance with Germany. Germany was also enforcing compensation claims, for acceptance of effective French control of Morocco.

In 1911, a rebellion broke out in Morocco against the Sultan, Abdelhafid. By early April, the Sultan was besieged in his palace in Fez. The French prepared to send troops to help put down the rebellion, under the pretext of protecting European lives and property, dispatching a flying column at the end of April. On 8 June, the Spanish army occupied Larache, and three days later Ksar-el-Kebir.

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