Causes of World War 1.

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Causes of World War 1

The Kruger Telegram (1896)

In 1896 Cecil Rhodes in an armed attack, using British South African police tried to start an uprising in Johannesburg against the Boers. This was an illegal act against the Transvaal state because thousands of Germans were active in the commercial life of the country. This meant that the Germans were very concerned about the fate of the Boer republic. They went about showing their concern in a very clumsy way. After Berlin had been told that the raid had not been approved by the British government, the matter had should have been closed. However the German foreign minister invited Russian and French co-operation against Britain. By doing this he hoped that this pressure would provoke Britain to join the triple alliance. However France and Russia refused. The Kaiser then took policy into his own hands and sent a telegram to Kruger, the Boer president, supporting the independence of the Transvaal state. This message caused outrage in Britain because the Transvaal state was not a fully independent state. The Transvaal state had also accepted British control over its external relations in 1884. The British press as a result treated