Repository: UIHistories Project: War Publications - WWI Compilation 1923 - Article 15 [PAGE 12]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

13 Sinoe von Tirpitz had accepted the naval rati*, of ten to ixt< n, there remained only two matters that needed serious consider at ion: tl Baghdad Railway and Germany's demand for colonial possessions. On%oth these points the negotiators seem to have reached satisfact* ry agreements. (1). England agreed that the Germans might extend the Baghdad Railway to Basra, a point about 70 miles from the Persian Gulf. From Basra to the Gulf the road was to be built and controlled by the English. This left almost the whole of the great river valley to German capitalists and engineers. In return the Germans agreed to recognize the rights of earlier English investments in this region. (2). Portugal still had important colonial possessions in East and West Africa which the Germans coveted. The Portuguese had held these for four centuries, but had done very little to develop them and might find it expedient to sell them. Sir Edward Grey could not dispose of these colonies, but he agreed that, in case Portugal should wish to sell them to Germany or ask Germany to assist in developing them, England would offer no objections. These agreements were made, but the treaties were never signed. Sir Edward Grey insisted that the agreements must be made public; Berlin demanded that they be kept secret. Finally, in July, 1914, the Germans concluded that the treaties might be of value and agreed to Sir Edward's terms; but it was then too late. Meanwhile a spirit of dissatisfaction and wrath had descended upon the ruling classes in Germany. To the earlier chauvinism, bigotry, and lust for territorial expansion there was now added a painful sense of humiliation and defeat. The Fatherland, though destined, as the Prussians believed, to direct and reshape the world, found its aims and ambitions foiled or balked at every turn. The Morocco venture (1911) had brought nothing but disappointment. In the First Balkan War the Turk, now a friend of Germany, had been disastrously beaten. In the second Balkan War, Bulgaria, for whom the Central Powers had hoped a victory, was defeated (1913). As a result of these wars the Turkish frontier was moved 400 miles away from the Austrian border, and Serbia had planted her flag in the route to the Aegean. Roumania, though ruled by a Hohenzollern, was cultivating the friendship of the Triple Entente, and there was danger that the Baghdad Railway in its European section would have to pass through unfriendly territory in