Turkey Warns of War on Montenegro

July 31, 1911: In response to increasing attack of Albanians Christian tribesmen, know as Malissori, on Turkish troops, and their fleeing to the mountains of Montenegro, where many ethnic Albanians live, the Ottoman government has threatened action again the tiny country of Montenegro.

TURKS MENACE WAR ON MONTENEGRINS

60,000 Troops Massed on Border and Ultimatum Ready, London Correspondent Says.

TO RISK INTERVENTION

Assert That King Nicholas Must Cease Harboring Malissori or Have His Realm Invaded.

Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

LONDON. July 31. — The correspondent of the London Times at Constantinople says the Council of Ministers has decided to telegraph to Sadreddin Bey, Turkish Minister at Cettinje, instructing him to summon the Malissori to surrender by Thursday and to inform the Montenegrin Government that if it continues to harbor them the troops, who are much excited, will be obliged to pursue the Malissori as far as the frontier.

Malissori: fighting for Albanian homeland

   A dispatch from Salonica to the Daily Mail says:
   "The appointment of Abdulla Pasha to the command of the Turkish troops in Albania, with title of Commander in Chief of the Western Army, may be regarded as the first step on the part of Turkey toward putting an end on the northwestern frontier. Abdulla Pasha will be in command of  a force of 60,000 men, with three mountain batteries and three field batteries, and I am able to state on good authority that immediately Abdulla Pasha has reached his headquarters on the Montenegrin frontier the Ottoman Government will send an ultimatum to King Nicholas of Montenegro demanding the cessation of hospitality toward the Malissori tribe.
   "Should the presence of 50,000 or 60,000 Turkish troops ready to cross the frontier fail to convince the King of the desirability of a change of tactics, the Turks intend to declare war and invade Montenegro, disregarding the possible result of European intervention. All the little Balkan States are keeping a careful watch on the situation and are ready to take a hand in the game in case of the outbreak of hostilities."

French Prime Minister Undermines Negotiations in Moroccan Crisis

July 27, 1911: Another communique between Prime Minister Caillaux and German Foreign Ministers, soon to be intercepted by French Officials.

Only after German codes were obtained during World War I, could the full texts of dispatches between the German Foreign Minister in France and German Officials show the extent of secret negotiations between French Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux and the German Government. In dispatches between July 26 and 27th of 1911, Caillaux feared that ceding the entire Congo coast, in exchange for German recognition of French authority in Morocco, would be humiliating to France and would infuriate the English, who wished to limit German colonial growth.

Through the mediator, Hyacinthe-Alphonse Fondère, French Colonial Explorer and businessman, the secret negotiations, which possibly lead to great monetary gains by the prime minister, eventually did lead to Germany expanding their territorial gains in the Congo.

Intercepted by French officials, the French Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs, Justin de Selves, would become furious at the Prime Minister.  The documents were ultimately obtained by the French newspaper, Le Figaro, leading to speculation that Caillaix's wife murdered the editor of the paper to prevent release of these very explosives communiques, in 1914. Ultimately, their release was suppressed until after the war.

To the Foreign Office, Berlin

Alfonse Fondère

 "Caillaux has charged  Fondère to inform the embassy that he is moved by a sincere desire to come to an understanding with us, and that he would prefer to bring an agreement on broad lines, settling all differences which have arisen between us during the past years. This would help bring him to justify before public opinion the cession of Colonial territory, by pointing out the great advantage of suppressing all matters of friction with us.
   The greater the extent of the agreement and the larger the number of different objects embraced by it, the more able would France be to show a spirit of accommodation in the cession of Colonial territory; whereas a deal limited to Morocco and the Congo would cause here an impression of humiliation and could hardly be achieved in a form satisfactory to us.

Wilhelm von Schoen

   Caillaux asks for an inquiry to be made in Berlin as to what would be desired n the most different possible directions. What he is thinking of - although these would be but small concessions - is a German Chairman of the Ottoman Debt, the retrocession of 30 per cent. of the stock of the Bagdad Railway to the Paris Bourse (stock exchange) and an understanding about railways in the East. He has also considered the possibility of ceding to us the French possessions in Oceanica (Oceania). I am sending at midday tomorrow the Counselor of Embassy in order to give you a verbal report.

Caillaux urges strongly that nothing about these overtures should be communicated to Cambon(French Ambassador to Germany)."  Signed Schoen (Wilhelm von Schoen German ambassador in Paris)  

Germany Favors Treaty with U.S.

From the New York Times: Continued Arbitration by The Hague

Berlin, July 24, 1911. - The German Government has finished its study of the American-German arbitration treaty proposals and has formulated its comment thereon, which comment has been forwarded to Washington as a basis of negotiation. An official statement of the nature of the German views cannot be obtained here, but there is reason to believe that they are favorable.
   Though the arbitration negotiations between the United States and Germany are not so far advanced as those between the former country and Great Britain and France, this is explained by the fact that Germany received the American proposals later than the other countries, and is not to be construed as due to a hostile attitude on the part of this Government.

Sun Yat-Sen visits San Francisco

Statue of Sun Yat-Sen

July 22, 1911: San Francisco - Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, with a purported $325,000 bounty on his head from the Chinese government, visited the Chinese community in San Francisco. The head of the Young China movement stayed for some time, disregarding Chinese spies and government inspectors. The purpose of the visit was to strengthen  the Chinese Revolutionary movement by uniting different Chinese social and political groups.

Emperor Puyi

The secret organization was gaining strength inside China, lead by the Western educated doctor, who sought a representative government for the Chinese people, currently led by the Qing or Manchu Emperor Puyi, and ruled by his regent the Dowager Empress Longyu. The doctor surreptitiously moves throughout the United States, strengthening his forces and instigating disturbances, such as that reported in Shantung.

One example of a reported meeting was with the Gee Gong Tong, the ancient Chinese Masonic Society, that had recently adopted the constitutional ideas of the Young China leaders..

Lloyd George's Mansion House Speech

July 21, 1911:
In response to Germany's perceived aggressive actions at Agadir in Morocco, and French compromise in settling the dispute by negotiating Germany's expansion of Togo and Kamerun (Cameroon), in exchange for the acknowledgement of the Morocco as a French Protectorate, David Lloyd George, future British Prime Minister during World War I, at the behest of the British Foreign Minister, Sir Edward Grey, dedicated a portion of his now famous Mansion House Speech, to remind both Germany and France, that England would not be left out of world affairs:

Personally I am a sincere advocate of all means which would lead to the settlement of international disputes by methods such as those which civilization has so successfully set up for the adjustment of differences between individuals, and I rejoice in my heart at the prospect of a happy issue to Sir Edward Grey's negotiations with the United States of America for the settlement of disputes which may occur in future between ourselves and our kinsmen across the Atlantic by some more merciful, more rational, and by a more just arbitrament than that of the sword.

But I am also bound to say this -- that I believe it is essential in the highest interests, not merely of

this country, but of the world, that Britain should at all hazards maintain her place and her prestige amongst the Great Powers of the world. Her potent influence has many a time been in the past, and may yet be in the future, invaluable to the cause of human liberty. It has more than once in the past redeemed Continental nations, who are sometimes too apt to forget that service, from overwhelming disaster and even from national extinction. I would make great sacrifices to preserve peace. I conceive that nothing would justify a disturbance of international good will except questions of the greatest national moment. But if a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace could only be preserved by the surrender of the great and beneficent position Britain has won by centuries of  heroism and achievement, by allowing Britain to be treated where her interests were vitally affected as if she were of no account in the Cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically that peace at that price would be a humiliation in tolerable for a great country like ours to endure. National honour is no party question. The security of our great international trade is no party question; the peace of the world is much more likely to be secured if all nations realize fairly what the conditions of peace must be. And it is because I have the conviction that nations are beginning to understand each other better, to appreciate one another's point of view more thoroughly, to be more ready to discuss calmly and dispassionately their differences, that I feel assured that nothing will happen between now and next year which will render it difficult for the chancellor of the exchequer in this place to respond to the toast proposed - of the continued prosperity of public peace.

France and England plan for mobilization against Germany

 July 20, 1911: On this date, Sir Henry Wilson, Director of Military Operations on the British General Staff, met in secret with General Auguste Dubail, French Army Chief of Staff, to formulate an  agreement for a joint plan to mobilize 150,000 men in the event that Germany declared war on either nation. Though the Dubail-Wilson plan did not become necessary in 1911, it would be used three years later when World War I broke out.

Per the Dubail-Wilson agreement, the British were to mobilize following intervention, specifying 150,000 men and 67,000 horses to be landed at Havre, Boulogne and Rouen between 4th-12th day of mobilization and be sent to Mauberge region and ready for action on 13th day.

Although it may appear that the agreement had been a result of Germany's actions in the Agadir crisis, it may also had been a result of war games,which indicated that Germany would have moved easily through Belgium and France unless there was early commitment of the British Expeditionary Force ^[1] .

^[1]Sanders, Charles W, Jr. "No Other Law: The French Army and the Doctrine of the Offensive", The Rand Corporation, 1987

Deposed Shah of Persia Returns to Reclaim Throne with Russian Aid

Shah Qajar of Iran

July 18, 1911:  Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, the deposed Shah of Persia, landed at the Caspian Sea port of Astarabad (present day Gorgan, Iran) with an army in an attempt to regain the throne that he had lost in 1909. Apparently disguised, and carrying a fake passport, the Shah escaped to Persia with Russian-supplied guns, cannons and munitions, and Austrian cannons procured on a trip to Vienna, that had been packed in crates labeled "mineral water"^[1].

The Shah, based on an agreement between Russia and England, lived in exile in Odessa in Russia, after abdicating his throne to his 12 year old son. He had wanted to rescind the recently established Persian Constitution, and a civil war ensued, in 1909, between the constitutionalists and monarchists.  Russia had agreed to prevent the Shah from participating in political and other activities which could weaken the newly established monarchy and constitutional government. In exchange, the shah would receive an annual stipend of $82,500 ($2 million, today). Russian and England would have spheres of influence in Persia, as a result of the agreement, with Russian influence in the Northern part of the country, and England in the south, with the central part of the country under autonomous rule.

Upon landing, the Shah's brother and advisers, contacted loyal supporters and tribesmen, to march on Tehran and reclaim the throne.

Persia would be at the crossroads of World War One, with mixed allegiances and occupying forces in all parts of the country. Of particular interest are the newly developed oil fields.