Moroccan Crisis

At Oscar's sincere invitation, Diesel agreed to join Oscar's engine manufacturing company. Oscar bought all the patents for Diesel's diesel engine for five million Marks.

At the same time, Oscar hired Diesel as the chief engineer of the diesel engine division of the German Engine Manufacturing Company, responsible for further diesel engine research. Before long, Oscar would invest at least twenty million Marks to establish a research center and factory in Augsburg, so that highly reliable diesel engines could be produced as soon as possible.

In May 1905, the German Engine Manufacturing Company was officially established. In addition to the previously established diesel engine division, there were also the steam turbine division and the gasoline engine division. In the future, there would also be an aero engine division, ensuring that they could cover land, sea, and air in every respect. Of course, what Oscar valued most was still military application. Once the armed forces entered the mechanized age, demand for all kinds of high-power engines would be enormous, and this would bear directly on their combat strength. Beginning to lay the groundwork now would undoubtedly ensure that Germany stayed ahead of every other nation in the world in this regard.

Oscar's enterprises had officially entered a period of rapid development. The German Shipyard had begun a massive expansion. With torrents of capital pouring in, this medium-sized shipyard, founded more than a century ago, was undergoing earthshaking changes. Though the German Engine Manufacturing Company had only just been founded, it was already at the forefront of the world in diesel engines and steam turbines because it possessed complete sets of technology. Oscar was organizing engineers to study the Curtis steam turbine technology acquired from the United States, striving to fully master it as soon as possible and then manufacture large steam turbines suitable for battleships, allowing the battleships they built to possess greater speed.

Although Oscar knew this road would be exceedingly difficult, he also enjoyed the feeling of changing the world through his own strength. Even though his impact on Germany and world history was still very small, Oscar believed this was an excellent beginning. As long as he could continue developing, the influence he could exert would grow greater and greater. Before long, Germany too would undergo enormous changes because of him. Of course, the inertia of history remained immensely powerful. Oscar could not be certain whether Germany would win the war and change its future fate because of his appearance. All he could do was give his utmost effort to let Germany achieve victory.

While Oscar's enterprises were developing at high speed, Germany encountered a diplomatic crisis. German diplomacy suffered a major defeat. Throughout German society, the people were filled with righteous indignation. This also caused the situation around the world to begin growing tense.

Morocco, a country located in northwestern Africa. From the fifteenth century onward, Western powers had begun invading Morocco. After entering the twentieth century, the situation in Morocco became even more chaotic and complicated. France and Spain fought for their respective interests in Morocco. At the same time, German capital also poured into Morocco in vast quantities.

In April 1904, Britain and France signed an agreement. France promised not to interfere with Britain's actions in Egypt, while Britain recognized Morocco as France's sphere of influence. However, this infringed upon Germany's interests in Morocco.

In February 1905, France demanded that Morocco carry out reforms under French supervision, attempting to turn Morocco into a French protectorate. Germany immediately pushed back. On March 31, German Emperor Wilhelm II visited the Moroccan city of Tangier and declared that Germany would safeguard Morocco's independence and that all foreign powers must enjoy absolutely equal status in Morocco. Germany's Prime Minister Bülow then proposed to all nations that had signed the 1880 Madrid Convention that the Moroccan question be submitted to an international conference for discussion.

The Madrid Convention stipulated that the commercial and other rights enjoyed by all foreign countries and their citizens in Morocco should be entirely equal. Germany's diplomatic note to France threatened war, while French Foreign Minister T. Delcassé adopted a hard-line attitude and received Britain's support. The situation abruptly became tense.

On June 6, fierce arguments broke out at a French Cabinet meeting. Delcassé was forced to resign, and Prime Minister M. Rouvier concurrently assumed the post of Foreign Minister, continuing negotiations with Germany.

On July 8, an agreement was reached. Both sides agreed to convene an international conference of the nations that had signed the Madrid Convention to discuss the Moroccan question.

However, Germany was clearly unable to gain the upper hand on the Moroccan question.

At the Imperial Palace, Wilhelm II convened an Imperial Council. Prime Minister Bernhard von Bülow, Foreign Minister von Kiderlen-Wachth, Chief of the General Staff Moltke the Younger, Minister of War von Falkenhayn, First Sea Lord Tirpitz, and Crown Prince Wilhelm attended the meeting.

As for Oscar, although his performance over the past year had become completely different from before and had won Wilhelm II's attention, overall, he still was not qualified to attend such an important meeting.

"Father Emperor, we absolutely cannot continue yielding any longer. What the French have done in Morocco has completely ignored our interests there. This is damage to the interests of the German Empire, a trampling of the German Empire's sovereignty. We absolutely cannot compromise again. We must use our powerful military strength to let the French see our determination and make them retreat in the face of difficulty." Crown Prince Wilhelm's impassioned voice echoed through the office.

On the Moroccan question, Crown Prince Wilhelm's attitude was extremely hard-line. He knew that it represented the voice of the people. The military's position was equally hard-line. By acting this way, he would undoubtedly gain more support and further consolidate his position as Crown Prince.

Oscar's recent development had made Crown Prince Wilhelm feel a profound sense of crisis. He needed to find every possible way to ensure the stability of his position as Crown Prince.

"Your Majesty, public sentiment at home is also rather heated. Most people believe that we cannot keep retreating. Otherwise, the Empire's overseas interests will not be guaranteed," Prime Minister Bülow said as well.

Germany had only completed unification in 1870. Although it developed very rapidly afterward, once it became a first-rate world power, it discovered that the world had long since been carved up. Germany had received only a few insignificant colonies in the wave of dividing the world, utterly mismatched with Germany's powerful economic and military strength. Moreover, Britain, France, and other nations had erected trade barriers in their respective colonies, preventing German industrial goods from entering. This made all of Germany increasingly dissatisfied with Britain, France, and the others.

This Moroccan incident happened to ignite all the fury of the German people.