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| First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill (right) with Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden in 1912 |
In 1911, British Home Secretary Winston Churchill became alarmed by the latest diplomatic uproar, known as the Agadir Crisis. He later wrote that, "All the alarm bells throughout Europe began immediately to quiver."
Never reluctant to exceed his brief, Churchill prepared a post-crisis memorandum for the Committee of Imperial Defense in which he foresaw an imminent German-French war. Further, Britain would need to send an expeditionary force to support the French, with an additional force sent from India. The paper included such observations (later proved accurate), that the advancing German would successfully force the Meuse River line initially but be slowed by the Allied defenders. and eventually defeated by their combined forces before Paris.
The memorandum was apparently ignored by the committee, but Churchill, being Churchill, kept thinking and worrying about the possibility of a war starting on the Continent. This recently uncovered letter to a cousin certainly suggests this.
Winston Churchill to the Duke of Marlborough, 6 November 1912
My dear Sunny,
. . . the European situation is far from safe, & anything
might happen. It only needs a little ill will or bad faith
on the part of a great power to
conflict.
Churchill realized the early tensions that would eventually lead to World War One, and his writings and actions prove this during the Agadir Crisis. In 1911, the Agadir crisis was a significant diplomatic event that caused tensions between the major European powers, especially France and Germany, where there was a dispute over the French influence in Morocco. Germany ultimately sent a gunboat to the Moroccan port of Agadir, which alarmed France and Britain. Therefore, Churchill was an expert through his strategic thinking and foresight in predicting a potential German-French war resulting in Britain's involvement. Churchill's proactive approach enabled him to prepare for possible scenarios instead of waiting for events to unfold. He was persistent about the seriousness of the Agadir crisis I wrote to his cousin. Churchill realized how the connectedness of European powers could escalate into a larger war because of the Agadir crisis and the heightened sense of nationalism. Therefore, his writings and actions show his qualities as a leader and thinker during times of crisis.
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