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 friendship 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 fashion. French warships 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 friendship. 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 ships up to this time had carried on almost all of Europe’s commerce with India and the neighboring countries.
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 assured 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, Delcassé, 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.