Early reign and rebellion in Fez . Mawlay Hassan was proclaimed sultan of Morocco on the death of his father in 1873. His first action was to crush an urban revolt in the capital
Fez in 1874, which he had to besiege for a few months. The tanners rose up in protest "raging like lions and tigers" through the streets of Fez, pillaging the house of Muhammad Bennis, the Minister of Finance, turning Fez into a battleground. Hassan I, who was on campaign sent letters calling for the pacification of the city. Shortly after, the hated tax collectors were withdrawn, and the rebellion halted. The tax collectors soon reappeared, leading to the rebellion commencing again more violently. The local Fez militiamen took up positions in minarets of
Fes el Bali and fired down on the army, but the two sides later negotiated peace and the rebellion was definitely terminated. Of strong Arab culture, he did not know any foreign language, although Hassan I was a conservative ruler, he realised the need for modernization and the reform policy of his father.
Relations with Europe Sultan Hassan I managed to maintain the independence of Morocco while neighbouring states fell under European influence, such as
Tunis which was
conquered by France in 1881 and
Egypt which was
occupied by Britain in 1882. Both
Spain and
France hoped for a weak
Makhzen government of Morocco, while the
British hoped for the opposite, a reformed Moroccan state which could stand on its own. Aware of this, Hassan called for an international conference on the issue, and the
Treaty of Madrid was signed on 3 July 1880 to limit the practice, an important event of Hassan's reign. Instead of reducing foreign interference, the Makhzen had to grant concessions such as granting foreigners rights to own land in the countryside, something which Great Britain was pushing for all along. This was followed by French incursions into the region of
Touat in the south, which was considered Moroccan territory. This treaty effectively gave international approval and protection for lands which had been captured by foreign powers. This set the stage for the
French protectorate in Morocco beginning in 1912. Since 1879, the British occupied
Tarfaya and built a fortification there in 1882 known as
Port Victoria. It was not until 1886 that the sultan sent a military expedition there, damaging the fort and forcing
Donald MacKenzie to leave. The sultan's expedition to
Sus in 1886 was followed a year later by the Spanish occupation of
Dakhla on the Saharan coast. Hassan responded by appointing a
khalifa (governor) over the Sahara,
Ma al-'Aynayn. In 1888 Timbuktu requested that Hassan send a governor to help the town against the
French forces advancing into the
Niger basin.
Military reform Hassan I continued to expand the military reforms started by his father
Muhammad IV. The new and reformed
'Askar al-Nizami introduced by sultan
Abd al-Rahman in 1845 after the
Battle of Isly was expanded by Hassan I to the size of 25,000 men and 1,000 artillery. The sultan also enhanced the Moroccan coastal defences with batteries of large caliber cannon, and in 1888 built an arms factory in Fez known as
Dar al-Makina, however production in it was little and costly. To train the reformed Moroccan army, Hassan I sent students to
London, but in 1876, the sultan hired Harry MacLean, a British officer based in
Gibraltar, who designed a military uniform in Arab-style, and learned to speak excellent
Arabic. Every year from spring to fall, Hassan I was on campaign, and lead expeditions to all parts of the kingdom. One of Hassan's campaigns was dealing with the
Darqawa uprising near
Figuig in the fall of 1887, which was quickly suppressed. The
Krupp cannon he gave on this occasion to the
qaid of
Telouet (member of the now famous Glaoua family) is still on display in the center of
Warzazat. In 1881 he founded
Tiznit. Hassan decided to reinstate the old Moroccan administration in the
Gourara-
Touat-
Tidikelt. The first Moroccan envoys reached the Saharan oases in 1889 and in 1890. In 1891 Hassan called on the oases peoples to begin paying taxes, thus formalizing the recognition of his suzerainty. That same year the Touat and the oases which lay along the
Oued Saoura were placed under the authority of the son of the Moroccan
khalifa who resided in the Tafilalt. Then, in 1892, a complete administrative organization was established in all of the Gourara-Touat-Tidikelt. The Moroccan Government even went so far as to extend to the
qaids of the
Touareg of the Ahenet and the
Hoggar a formal recognition that they were dependent subjects of the Sultan. In 1892 and 1893, the Moroccans further solidified their control in the
Guir-
Zouzfana basin and along the oued Saoura by investing with official authority the
qaids from all of the nomadic and sedentary tribes of the region (this included the
Doui Menia and
Oulad Djerir tribes, the most important nomads of the Guir-Zousfana basin; the oasis of
Igli; and the sedentary Beni Goumi people who lived along the banks of the Oued Zouzfana). == Death ==