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What crises occurred between the European powers in the period from 1905 to 1913
At this stage Britain realised that the tension between Serbia and Austria could result in a European war, and they sought to intervene, to avoid war and to save Russian face. In March 1909 Germany proposed that the Austrian annexations should stand and not be modified. However Russia delayed in accepting the proposal, so Germany announced that Russia had to accept the annexations, or they would go to war. Because of this, Russia backed down and the crisis ended.
The Bosnian crisis made the Entente powers suspicious of the German’s objective and made the Entente alliance stronger than before, by making Russia even more dependant on Britain and France for support. After 1908 Russia began to build an anti-Austrian coalition in the Balkans with Serbia. They sought to encourage Serbia to create an anti-Austrian movement with the Slave minorities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After the Bosnian Crisis came the second Moroccan crisis in 1911. When order broke down in the capital of Morocco, Fez, the French government sent troops to protect the foreigners in the country. Unfortunately this exceeded the agreement of 1906, so in response, the Germans sent a gunboat to the Moroccan port of Agadir, triggering a second Moroccan crisis. Sending the gunboat was an overreaction by the Germans, and sent all the countries of Europe into alarm. Germany then laid claim on the French Congo as compensation for the French action in Morocco. When this happened, British fleets were readied for action, but calm returned, and the crisis ended, with a small concession of territory in the Congo was made by France to Germany and France was assured a free hand in Morocco. Once again, this strengthened the British and French alliance and Germany gained very little out of it. The crisis was significant because it heightened the tension between the great powers.
The last two crises between 1905 and 1913 were the Balkan Wars, which occurred in 1912 and 1913. In the first Balkan crisis Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro formed the Balkan League, at first to stop Austria from claiming the remaining Turkish provinces in the area, while Turkey was at war with Italy. By October, they decided to take advantage of the situation themselves, and began dividing up the territories between themselves. When this happened, the great powers intervened. Austria demanded that Serbia should be denied access to the sea, while Russia demanded that they should have access. Germany also tried to save the territories of Turkey, as Germany wanted Turkey to be her ally. She also wanted to make sure that Russia didn’t get too many rights in the region. At this stage Britain and France intervened to make sure the crisis didn’t spread. Germany agreed with the Anglo-French in this case, and supported a conference in London in 1913 to resolve the problem peacefully. They decided that Serbia shouldn’t have access to the Adriatic Sea, but they gave her land elsewhere to compensate.
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