On account of the weakness of the Moroccan government, intervention by foreign powers had been frequent.  Because of the heavy investment of French capital and because the prevailing anarchy in Morocco threatened her interests in Algeria, France came to be regarded as having special interests in Morocco.  In 1904 she gained the assent of Britain and the cooperation of Spain in her policy.  Germany made no protest; in fact, the German Chancellor, von Bulow, declared that Germany was not specially concerned with Moroccan affairs.  But in 1905 Germany demanded a reconsideration of the entire question.

France was forced against the will of her minister of foreign affairs, Delcasse, to attend a conference at Algeciras.  That conference discussed placing Morocco under international control, but because France was the only power capable of dealing with the anarchy in the country, she was left in charge, subject to certain Spanish rights, and allowed to continue her work.  The Germans again declared that they had no political interests in Morocco.

In 1909, Germany openly recognized the political interests of France in Morocco.  In 1911 France was compelled by disorders in the country to penetrate farther into the interior.  Germany under the pretext that her merchants were not getting fair treatment in Morocco, reopened the entire question and sent her gunboat Panther, to Agadir on the west coast of Africa, as if to establish a port there, although she had no interests in that part of the country.  France protested vigorously and Britain supported her.

Matters came very close to war.  But Germany was not yet ready to force the issue.  Her action had been simply a pretext to find out the extent to which England and France were ready to make common cause.  She recalled her gunboat and as a concession to obtain peace, was permitted to acquire some territory in the French Congo country.  But German newspapers and German political utterances showed much bitterness.  Growling and snarling grew apace in Germany, and to those who made a close study of the situation it became evident that Germany sooner or later intended to launch a war.

One of the characteristic German utterances of the time, came from Albrect Wirth, a German political writer of standing, in close touch with the thought and aims of his nation.  The utterance about to be quoted may, in the light of later events, appear indiscreet, as Germany wished to avoid an appearance of responsibility for the world war; but the minds of the German people had to be prepared and this could not be accomplished without some of the writers and public men letting the cat out of the bag.  Wirth said: