The World War and What was Behind It Part 9

The Italian people had been very friendly to the French, and this going over to their enemies would never have been possible but for an act of France which greatly angered Italy. For many years, France had been in control of Algeria on the north coast of Africa. This country had once been a nest of pirates, and the French had gone there originally to clean them out. Next to Algeria on the east is the county of Tunis, which, as you will see by the map, is very close to Sicily and Italy. The Italians had been looking longingly at this district for some time, intending to organize an expedition and forcibly annex it to their kingdom. They waited too long, however, and one fine day in 1881 they found the prize gone,--France had seized this county for herself. It was Italy's anger over this act of France more than anything else that enabled Bismarck to get her into an alliance with Germany and her ancient enemy, Austria.

France now saw herself hemmed in on the east by a chain of enemies. It looked as though Bismarck might declare war upon the republic at any time, and be perfectly safe from interference, with Austria and Italy to protect him. Russia, smarting under the treatment which she had been given by the Congress of Berlin, was full of resentment against Germany. Both the French and the Russians felt themselves threatened by Bismarck's Dreibund, and so, in self-defense each country made advance toward the other. The result was the "Dual Alliance" between France and Russia, which bound either country to come to the aid of the other in case of an attack by two powers at once.

In this way, the balance of power, disturbed by Bismarck's "Dreibund,"

was again restored. Many people thought the forming of the two alliances a fine thing, "for," said they, "each party is now too strong to be attacked by the other. Therefore, we shall never again have war among the great powers."

England was not tied up with either alliance. On account of her position on an island, and because of her strong navy, she did not feel obliged to keep a large standing army such as the great powers on the continent maintained.

These nations were kept in constant fear of war. As soon as France equipped her army with machine guns, Germany and Austria had to do the same. As soon as the Germans invented a new magazine rifle, the Russians and French had to invent similar arms for their soldiers. If Germany pa.s.sed a law compelling all men up to the age of forty-five to report for two weeks' military training once every year, France and Russia had to do the same. If Italy built some powerful wars.h.i.+ps, France and Russia had to build still more powerful ones. This led to still larger s.h.i.+ps built by Germany and Italy. If France built a fleet of one hundred torpedo boats, the Triple Alliance had to "go her one better" by building one hundred and fifty. If Germany equipped her army with war balloons, Russia and France had to do the same. If France invented a new kind of heavy artillery, Germany and Austria built a still bigger gun.

This mad race for war equipment was bad enough when it had to do only with the five nations in the two alliances about which you have been told. However, the death of the old emperor of Germany in 1888 brought to the throne his grandson, the present Kaiser,[5] and he formed a plan for making Germany the leading nation on the sea as Bismarck had made her on the land. He saw France and England seizing distant colonies and dividing up Africa between them. He at once announced that Germany, too, must have colonies to which to export her manufactures and from which to bring back tropical products. This meant a strong navy to protect these colonies, and the race with England was on. As soon as Germany built some new battles.h.i.+ps, England built still others, larger and with heavier guns. The next year, Germany would build still larger s.h.i.+ps, and the next England would come back with still heavier guns. As fast as England built s.h.i.+ps, Germany built them. Now, each battles.h.i.+p costs from five to fifteen million dollars, and it does not take long before a race of this kind sends the taxes too high for people to stand. There was unrest throughout Europe and murmurs of discontent were heard among the working cla.s.ses.

[5]The present Kaiser's father reigned only ninety-nine days, as he was a very sick man at the time of the old emperor's death.

Questions for Review

1. How did France pay off her war indemnity so promptly?

2. Why did Bismarck's three-emperor-alliance fail?

3. What is meant by "the balance of power"?

4. What was the condition of the Serbs, Bulgarians, etc. before 1878?

5. Why did Russia covet Constantinople?

6. Why did the powers prevent the treaty of San Stephano from being carried out?

7. What wrongs were done by the Congress of Berlin?

8. Why did Bismarck form the Triple Alliance?

9. How was he able to induce Italy to join her old enemy, Austria?

10. What was the effect of the formation of the Triple Alliance on France and Russia?

11. What result had the formation of the two alliances on the gun-industry?

12. How was England brought into the race for war equipment?

CHAPTER XIV

The "Entente Cordiale"

Ancient enemies.--England and France in Africa.--A collision at Fashoda.--Germany offers to help France.--Delca.s.se the peacemaker.--A French-English agreement.--Friends.h.i.+p takes the place of hostility.--England's relations with Italy, Russia, and Germany.--Germans cultivate the friends.h.i.+p and trade of Turkey.--The Morocco-Algeciras incident.--The question of Bosnia and Herzegovina.--England joins France and Russia to form the "Triple Entente."--The Agadir incident.

England and France had never been friendly. There had been wars between them, off and on, for five hundred years. The only time that they had fought on the same side was in the campaign against Russia in 1855, but even then there was no real sympathy between them.

In the year 1882, events happened in Egypt which gave England an excuse for interfering with the government of that country. Egypt was a part of the Turkish empire, but so long as it paid a certain amount of money to Constantinople, the Turks did not care very much how it was governed. But now a wild chief of the desert had announced himself as the prophet Mohammed come to earth again, and a great many of the desert tribesmen had joined him. They cut to pieces one or two English armies in Egypt, and killed General Gordon, a famous English soldier.

It was 1898 before the English were able to defeat this horde. Lord Kitchener finally beat them and extended the English power to the city of Khartoom on the Nile.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Arab Sheik and His Staff]

In the meantime, the English millionaire, Cecil Rhodes, had formed a plan for a railroad which should run the entire length of Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo. It was England's ambition to control all the territory through which this road should run. But the French, too, were spreading out over Africa. Their expeditions through the Sahara Desert had joined their colonies of Algeria and Tunis to those on the west coast of Africa and others along the Gulf of Guinea. In this same year, 1898, while Lord Kitchener was still fighting the Arabs, a French expedition under Major Marchand struggled across the Sahara and reached the Nile at Fashoda, several miles above Khartoom.

Marchand planted the French flag and announced that he took possession of this territory for the republic of France.

The English were very indignant when they heard of what Marchand had done. If France held Fashoda, their "Cape to Cairo" railroad was cut right in the middle, and they could advance their territory no farther up the valley of the Nile. They notified France that this was English land. Marchand retorted that no Englishman had ever set foot there, and that the French flag would never be hauled down after it had once been planted on the Nile. Excitement ran high. The French people had no love for England, and they encouraged Marchand to remain where he was. The English newspapers demanded that he be withdrawn. Germany, which had already begun its campaign to wrest from England the leading place on the ocean, was delighted at the prospect of a war between France and the British. The German diplomats patted France on the back, and practically a.s.sured her of German help in case it came to a war with England.

Germany now felt that she had nothing more to fear from France. The French population was not increasing, while Germany was steadily growing in numbers. It was England whom Germany saw across her path toward control of the sea.

There was a man in France, however, who had no thought of making up with Germany. The memory of the war of 1870 and of the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine was very strong with him. This was Theophile Delca.s.se, a little man with a large head and a great brain. He refused to be tempted by the offers of German help, thinking that England, with its free government, was a much better friend for the republic than the military empire of Germany could be.

Just when the trouble was at its height, the English amba.s.sador came to see Mr. Delca.s.se, who at that time was in charge of the French foreign office. He had in his pocket an ultimatum, that is to say, a final notice to France that she must give in or England would declare war on her. As he walked into Delca.s.se's presence, he began fumbling with the top b.u.t.ton of his coat. "Don't touch that b.u.t.ton," said Delca.s.se quickly. "Drop your hand. You have something in your pocket which must not be taken out. It is a threat, and if I see it, France will fight. Sit down. Let us talk this matter over coolly. Matters will adjust themselves all right in the end." And they did. Delca.s.se was finally able to quiet the French people, to recall Marchand from Fashoda and to persuade France to refuse the offer of German friends.h.i.+p. England was given a free hand in Egypt, without any interference from the French. Naturally the English were very grateful to Delca.s.se for having refused to profit by German help and declare war. In return for the French agreement to stay out of Egypt, the English promised to help France get control of Morocco.

Very soon after this, Queen Victoria of England died, and her son, Edward VII, became king. He had spent a great deal of time in France, and was very fond of the French and was popular with them. He saw the growing power of Germany, and knew that England could not afford to be without a friend in Europe. He did his best to bring about a feeling of friends.h.i.+p between the English and the French, and was very successful in doing so. He made frequent visits to France, where he was received with great cordiality. In return the English entertained the president of France in London in a princely fas.h.i.+on. French wars.h.i.+ps paid friendly visits to English waters, and the sailors mingled with each other and did their best to understand each other's language. All France, and England as well, welcomed the beginning of the "Entente Cordiale," or friendly understanding between the two nations.

England also went out of her way to cultivate a friendly understanding with Italy. With the other nations of Europe England had no great friends.h.i.+p. Between England and Russia, there had been a hostile feeling for a long time, for the British felt that the Russians would like nothing better than to stretch their empire from Siberia, down to include British India, or at least Afghanistan and Baluchistan, where the British were in control.

The emperor of Germany, on the other hand, was planning for the future growth of the trade of his country. Since his coming to the throne, Germany had made wonderful progress in the direction of manufactures.

She had become one of the leading nations of the world. One of her chief questions was, where to market these goods. In 1896 the emperor paid a visit to Syria and Turkey. He was received with great enthusiasm by the Turks, who were glad to have one strong friend among the powers of Europe. Soon afterwards the Germans began to get more and more of the trade of the Ottoman Empire. A German company was given permission by the Turks to build a railroad across Turkey to the Persian Gulf through Bagdad. German railways ran through Austria-Hungary, which was Germany's ally, to Constantinople and Salonika, the two greatest ports of Turkey in Europe. This short overland route to Persia was looked upon with suspicion and distrust by the English, whose s.h.i.+ps up to this time had carried on almost all of Europe's commerce with India and the neighboring countries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Scene In Constantinople]

Germany was reaching out for colonies. She secured land on the west coast of Africa and, on the east as well. A tract of land in the corner of the Gulf of Guinea also fell to her share. Islands in the Pacific Ocean were seized. Her foreign trade was growing by leaps and bounds, and she threatened to take away from England a great deal of the latter's commerce.

The German emperor announced that he must always be consulted whenever any changes of territory took place, no matter in what part of the earth. Therefore in 1905 when France, with the help of Great Britain and Spain, told the sultan of Morocco that he had to behave himself, the German emperor in person made a visit to Morocco and a.s.sured the sultan that he didn't have to pay any attention to France.

There was a great deal of excitement over this incident, and a meeting was held at Algeciras, Spain, where representatives of all the great powers came together. In the end, France and England were upheld, for even Italy, Germany's ally, voted against the Germans. On the other hand, Delca.s.se, the Frenchman who settled the Fashoda trouble, was compelled to resign his position as minister of foreign affairs because the Germans objected to him, and the French felt that Germany had humiliated them.

In 1908, the "young Turk" party in Constantinople (the party which stood for progress and for more popular government) drove the old sultan off his throne, and announced that there should be a Turkish parliament, or congress, to which all parts of the empire should send representatives.

You will remember that two counties of the Turkish empire, Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been turned over to Austria to rule by the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Austria at the time solemnly promised that she would never try to annex these provinces. In 1908, however, she forgot all about her promise. When Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted to elect men to represent them in the new Turkish parliament, Austria calmly told them that after this they should consider themselves part of the Austrian Empire, that they belonged to Turkey no longer.

The two provinces were inhabited largely by Serbs, and all Serbia had looked forward to the day when they should once more be joined to herself. These states, like Montenegro, had been part of the ancient kingdom of Serbia. As long as they were in dispute between Austria and Turkey, Serbia had hopes of regaining them, but when Austria thus forcibly annexed them, it seemed to the Serbs that they were lost forever.

Serbia appealed to Russia, for as was said, all the Slavic states look upon Russia as their big brother. The Russians were highly indignant at this breaking of her promises by Austria, and the czar talked of war. His generals and war ministers, however, dissuaded him. "Oh, no, your majesty," said they, "we are in no shape to fight Austria and Germany. Our army was badly disorganized in the j.a.panese war three years ago, and we shall not be ready for another fight for some time to come." Russia protested, but the German emperor notified her that he stood by Austria, and asked Russia if she was ready to fight.

Russia and France were not ready, and so they were obliged to back down, but did so with a bitter feeling toward the "central empires,"

as Germany and Austria are called.

It has already been shown that England for a long time had been suspicious of Russia, fearing that the northern power was aiming at control of India. Of late this hostile feeling had been dying out, especially as the friends.h.i.+p between France and Great Britain grew stronger. It was impossible for Russia, France's partner in the Dual Alliance, to remain unfriendly to England, France's ally in the "Entente Cordiale." Both England and Russia felt that the growth of Germany and the ambition of her war chiefs threatened them more than they had ever threatened each other.

In 1907 Russia and England reached an understanding by which they marked off two great parts of Persia for trading purposes, each agreeing to stay in her own portion, and not disturb the traders of the other country in theirs. After this Russia, England, and France were usually found acting together in European diplomacy, under the name of the "Triple Entente." The "balance of power" had been leaning toward Germany and her allies, but the English navy, added to the scales on the other side, more than balanced the advantage in land forces of the Triple Alliance.

Three years later, Morocco again gave trouble, and France, with England's backing and Spain's friends.h.i.+p, sent her troops among the Moors to enforce law and order. Any one could see that with Tunis and Algeria already in French hands, it was only a question of a little while before Morocco would be theirs also.

This time Germany rushed her wars.h.i.+p Panther to the Moorish port of Agadir. This was a threat against France, and the French appealed to England to know whether they could look to her for support. Russia was now in much better shape for war than she had been three years before, and notified France that she was ready to give her support. Therefore, when Mr. Lloyd-George, the little Welshman who was really the leader of the British government, stood up before a big crowd of English bankers and told the world that "to the last s.h.i.+p, the last man, the last penny," England would support France, it was plain that somebody would have to back down or else start a tremendous European war.

It was now Germany's turn to give way. Strong as she was, she did not propose to fight France, Russia, and England combined. So, although the French gave Germany a few square miles of land in central Africa in return for the Kaiser's agreement to let France have her way in Morocco, the result was a backdown for Germany, and it left scars which would not heal.

During all this period from 1898 to 1914 there were incidents happening, any one of which might have started the world war. Fashoda, Algeciras, Bosnia, Agadir--each time it seemed as if only a miracle could avert the conflict. Europe was like a powder magazine. No man knew when the spark might fall that would bring on the explosion.

Questions for Review

1. What were the plans of the English regarding Africa?