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German Unification and the Beginnings of Imperialism
The Geman Empire being the last to unify themselves, were lost when it came to Imperialism. Bismark did not find it an important aspect of their new Empire until 1883 when he mysteriously changed his mind on the matter by colonizing New Guinea in the following years. By this time, many of the other European powers had colonized parts of Africa, leaving little for Germany to colonize itself. But Germany would recover. -
Italian Unification and the Italian Empire
While not being a major player in colonization and the Scramble for Africa, Italy still held some colonial powers in Africa. The came to control Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, and for a short time, Ethiopia, with Ethiopia being one of the only African nations to repel the invading European forces. Like Germany, Italy arrived late to the party and much of Africa had been taken, leading to their poor record of colonization. -
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The Scramble for Africa
A thirty-three year time period where European colonization was major in African nations. Led to many wars and trade disputes that may have fueled the agression for WWI. -
Germany's Rise in African Imperialism
With Bismark's forced retirement due to the ideals of Weltpolitik (World Politics) not being in his views for Germany's future, Emperor Wilhelm II focused on such views. By 1914, Germany held the third largest colonial position in Africa out of all the other colonial European nations. Many international crises would follow in the turn of the 20th century that eventually led to the conflict that became WWI. -
Fashoda Incident
A close call to an early war between France and Britain, the incident was about an imperialist territorial dispute around the countries of Egypt and Sudan. The French wanted to control the Nile and exclude Britain from the region by sealing its waterways. After months of scoping the area and seeing how well the British had their navy based in the area, the French pulled out. The French government sought to be their allies at the time being, as they could saw Germany becoming a potential threat. -
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The Moroccan Crisis
Morocco had been on a tipping point with France and the United Kingdom on who to ally with, when Germany began to intervene in the internal affairs. Germany promised the Moroccan Sultan welfare and security at a higher purpose than the other nations. The interruption disrupted such compromises until the situation was to be resolved over 13 countries at the Algeciras Conference. -
The Algeciras Conference
A 13 nation conference held to discuss the Moroccan dispute. Germany and Austria-Hungary faced against the other 11 powers of Europe in a three month trial over who shall ally themselves with Morocco. The result left France with all the assets and policies over Morocco. Germany attempted to use this situation as an attempt to isolate Britain and weaken their world economic powers. This only lengthening the gap between the U.K, France, and Germany for WWI -
Agadir Crisis
French forces were sent into Morocco after threats against the Sultan were made, thus breaking the deals made from the Algeciras Conference. Other European powers saw this as an invasion attempt and intervened with their own military help. France eventually established a protectorate over Morocco as they tried before during its first crisis. As an attempt to show that they were a formidible power on their own, they attracted Britain to their sides, a move Germany did not like. -
Germany's Financial Crisis
Before the Agadir Crisis' end, Germany suffered a huge downturn in their stock market, forcing many citizens to sell their fine metals for money. The Germans blamed the French who were posing the largest threat at the time with the problems in Morocco. Eventually the gold standard would go down as well and the economy would begin its descent into Depression. -
World War I
With 96% of Africa being claimed, the struggle for the continent had ended and all that remained were the fears of expansion and of being left behind in world politics and trade. The resources that stemmed from certain colonies also would give way to the future conflict looming ahead. -
