g the other powers.

In May, 1911, the Reichstag, after long discussion, accepted a bill
giving a separate constitution to Alsace-Lorraine, making, thereby,
this territory more equal to the other parts of the German Empire.
This action, of course, was welcomed by the inhabitants of
Alsace-Lorraine, and was a long step toward reconciling them
sometime to the German overlordship. In the same degree in which it
accomplished this it caused displeasure in France, where, by this
time, every success in the Germanizing of the "lost provinces" was
viewed naturally with almost as much disapproval as the original
occupation.

It was in the same year, 1911, that the Morocco difficulties arose
again with France, as we have already seen, but in spite of the
appearance of a German gunboat at the port of Agadir and the
threatening attitude of Germany, matters were finally settled
amicably. The terms of the settlement, however, pleased neither the
German nor the French nation at large, and a considerable feeling of
enmity remained.

Late that year, 1911, a determined campaign was started by the
German Navy League in an effort to bring about an increase of
Germany's naval forces through the force of public opinion. This
activity, which met with considerable success, was viewed with alarm
and displeasure in England. These sentiments grew and spread to
France when in the spring of 1912 the newly elected Reichstag
adopted a bill carrying greatly increased expenditures for both army
and navy.

In the summer of 1912 the Balkan question, which is treated in
detail in a separate chapter, assumed threatening proportions.
Germany as well as the other great powers, however, at that time
managed to find a common basis and kept all from active
participation in the two Balkan wars, restricting their activities
to the exertion of their various influences for as just a settlement
as was possible under the circumstances when the time for settlement
had arrived in 1913. In spite of the inactivity of the powers there
can be no doubt that their respective attitudes at that time toward
the various Balkan States and their ambitions had an important
influence on the latter's attitude toward the various powers after
the war of 1914 had broken out.

In December, 1912, the Triple Alliance was renewed, although even
then the conflicting interests of Italy and Austria in the Balkans
had made such a step somewhat doubtful.

The early spring of 1913 brough