Revision on WWI

German Chancellor Bulow was worried about the recently signed Entente Cordiale between Britain and France. He decided to test the new friendship between Britain and France, who had until recently been involved in imperial rivalries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. His calculation was that such a crisis would reveal the weakness of ties between the two powers and that Britain would not be prepared to offer a strong support to France in a situation where war would be in sight.

The French government was at the time trying to establish a protectorate over Morocco, and had managed to sign two bilateral secret agreements with Britain 1904 and Spain 1904, which guaranteed the support of the powers in question in this endeavour. A previous agreement with Italy had yet been signed (14–16 December) 1900.

Although the Algeciras Conference temporarily solved the First Moroccan Crisis it only worsened international tensions between the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente that ultimately led to the first world war.

This also showed that the Entente Cordiale was strong as Britain had defended France in the crisis. The crisis can be seen as a reason for the Anglo-Russian Entente being signed the following year since both countries backed France. Kaiser Wilhelm II was angry at being humiliated and was determined not to back down again which led to the German involvement in the Second Moroccan Crisis.