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====Colonial Tensions====
[[File:Kaiser_Wilhelm_II_of_Germany_-_1902.jpg|left|thumbnail|200px|Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, 1902]]
While Germany was in many ways the most powerful country in Continental Europe, it lacked a large colonial Empire. The French and British Empires extended over large areas of the globe. Europe strategists at the time believed that only countries with large colonial empires could survive and prosper. The German political elite was eager to secure more colonies.<ref>Lewiston, <i>German</i>', p. 54.</ref> German had a few colonies in Africa and the Pacific Islands. These colonies did not satisfy German ambitions, and they aggressively sought more territories. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, argued that his country deserved to have its ‘place in the sun’sun. ’ These demands increased international tensions.
A prime example of these imperial ambitions played out during the First Moroccan Crisis in 1905. France was the predominant power in Morocco and was slowly absorbing the North African country. In March 1905, the German Kaiser visited Morocco and gave his support to the Sultan. This visit encouraged the Moroccans to defy the French. The Kaiser’s intervention was widely seen as an effort to frustrate the French and to extend Germans influence in North Africa.<ref>Lewiston, ''Germany'', p. 67</ref> The French saw this as German interference with French internal affairs and threatened war. The colonial issue was significant in the lead up to the First World War. Many Marxists after the war broke out stated that it was the rivalry for colonies that led directly led to the outbreak of hostilities in 1914.
