[4] Britain and France's Entente Cordiale of 1904 had defined diplomatic cooperation between them and recognized British authority over Egypt and French control in Morocco (with some Spanish concessions).

On 31 March 1905, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Tangier and delivered a speech calling for an international conference to ensure Morocco's independence, with war the alternative.

However, with the situation in June 1905 worsening to the point of war between Germany and France and possibly Britain, Roosevelt in July persuaded the French to attend a January peace conference in Algeciras.

However, Germany was somewhat excluded in the initial decisions,[1] and British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey showed Britain's support of France in the conference via meetings with French Ambassador Jules Cambon, which made the Entente Cordiale actually grow stronger.

Russia likewise wholeheartedly supported France's position in order to secure French financial markets in the hope of acquiring a large loan to recuperate losses incurred by the Russo-Japanese War.

The representatives of the US and European nations could easily contact their capitals to consult their respective governments, while Fes had no telephone or telegraph, nor was it served by any rail or paved road that would allow them to inform the sultan of developments at the conference.

[12] The Sultan of Morocco retained control of a police force in the six port cities, which was to be composed entirely of Moroccan Muslims and budgeted at an average salary of a mere 1000 pesetas a year but was to be instructed by French and Spanish officers.