Rif War

Spain, 13 kilometers across the Straits of Gibraltar from Africa, claimed influence over the Morocco region at the Berlin Conference (1884–1885). By the early 20th century, Morocco was divided into protectorates ruled by France and Spain. The Rif region had been assigned to Spain, but given that the Sultans of Morocco had been unable to exert control over the region, Spanish sovereignty over the Rif was strictly de jure, existing only in the text of the General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa, to which the Riffians, who had de facto control of the land were not a party. For centuries, the Berber tribes of the Rif had fought off any attempt of outsiders to impose control on them. While the Rif mountains were visible to Europeans from ships in the Mediterranean Sea, Europeans had rarely, if ever, ventured into the area. The promise of the Spanish state collecting revenues in the form of taxes and royalties from iron mining here was an incentive for it to bring the Rif under its control. The Crown granted the concession to mine iron in the Rif to Horacio Echevarrieta. By 1920 he had brought out 800,000 tons of valuable high grade iron through relatively inexpensive open-pit mining. Though profitable, iron mining caused much environmental damage and required the displacement of the native people. As they received no share of the profits, the Rifians soon began to oppose the mining in their territory. When Alfonso XIII ascended to the throne in 1886, Spain was considered a world power, with colonies in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. But in the Spanish–American War, Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines in 1898, and sold the Mariana and Caroline Islands to Germany the following year; reducing the once great Spanish Empire to only a few footholds on the Moroccan coast and Spanish Guinea. To compensate for the losses in the Americas and Asia, there emerged a powerful Africanist faction in Spain led by Alfonso, who wanted a new empire in Africa. Finally, many within the politically powerful Catholic Church, preached the need for a new crusade to continue the Reconquista by conquering Morocco, adding their voices to the Africanist choir. For all these reasons, Spain began pushing into the Rif in 1909. ==Forces involved==

Rifian forces The Berber tribesmen had a long tradition of fierce fighting skills, combined with high standards of fieldcraft and marksmanship. They were capably led by Abd el-Krim, who showed both military and political expertise. However, the Rifian regular army was never a very large force. The remaining Rifians were tribal militia selected by their Caids; they were not liable to serve away from their homes and farms for more than 15 consecutive days. General Goded estimated that at their peak, in June 1924, the Rifian forces numbered about 80,000 men, although Abd el-Krim was never able to arm more than 20,000 men at a time. However, this force was largely adequate in the early stages of the war. In the final days of the war, Rifian forces numbered about 12,000 men. , prior to their departure to the war Spanish forces Initially, the Spanish forces in Morocco were largely composed of conscripts and reservists from Spain itself. These "Peninsular" troops were poorly supplied and prepared, few had marksmanship skills and proper battle training, and widespread corruption was reported amongst the officer corps, reducing supplies and morale. Of the Spanish troops in Morocco in 1921, well over half were completely illiterate conscripts from the poorest elements of Spanish society who had been sent to Morocco with minimal training. Despite assurances from General Manuel Fernández Silvestre that his equipment was sufficient to defeat the Rifians, in fact about three-quarters of the rifles at the Melilla arsenal were in shoddy condition due to poor maintenance, and a report from late 1920, which Spanish commanders never bothered to read, warned that many of the rifles held there were either unusable or more of a danger to the soldier firing them than to the enemy. The average Spanish soldier in Morocco in 1921 was paid the equivalent of thirty-four US cents per day, and lived on a simple diet of coffee, bread, beans, rice and the odd piece of meat. in Melilla, 1921 Continuing a practice first begun in Cuba, corruption flourished amongst the venal Spanish officer corps, with goods meant for the troops being sold on the black market and the funds intended to build roads and railroads in Morocco ending up in the pockets of senior officers. The initiative was unpopular in parts of Spain as well. In 1909, during early conflicts with the Rif tribesmen, an attempt by the Spanish government to call up reservists led to a working-class uprising in Barcelona known as Tragic Week. The Catalan trade unions, many led by anarchists, argued that the working class of Barcelona had no quarrel with the people of the Rif. (front row left) with King Alfonso XIII and other high-ranking Spanish officers After the Tragic Week of 1909, the Spanish government starting in 1911 tried to raise as many Regular units as possible to avoid further working class resistance to colonial wars as much of the Spanish working class had no desire to see their sons sent to Morocco, beginning a policy of what the Spanish historian Jose Alvarez called "Moroccanizing" the conquest of the Rif. Following the difficulties and setbacks that it had experienced in 1909–11, the Spanish army began to adopt much in organization and tactics from the French North African forces garrisoning most of Morocco and neighboring Algeria. Particular attention was paid to the French Foreign Legion and a Spanish equivalent, the Tercio de Extranjeros ('Foreigners' brigade'), known in English as the Spanish Legion, was formed in 1920. The regiment's second commander was then-Col. Francisco Franco, having risen rapidly through the ranks. In the Rif war, it was the Regulares and the Spanish Foreign Legion founded in 1919 that provided the elite forces that won Spain the war. Less than 25% of this "Foreign Legion" were, in fact, non-Spanish. Harshly disciplined and driven, they quickly acquired a reputation for ruthlessness. As their number grew, the Spanish Legion and the Regulares increasingly led offensive operations after the disasters that had been suffered by the conscript forces. ==Course of war==

Early stages As an outcome of the Treaty of Fez (1912) Spain gained possession of the lands around Melilla and Ceuta. In 1920, the Spanish commissioner, General Dámaso Berenguer, decided to conquer the eastern territory from the Jibala tribes, but had little success. The second-in-command was General Manuel Fernández Silvestre, who commanded the eastern sector. Fernández Silvestre had spread out his troops out in 144 forts and blocaos from Sidi Dris on the Mediterranean across the Rift mountains to an annual and Tizi Azza and on to Melilla. Krim had sent Fernández Silvestre a letter warning him not to cross the Amekran river or else he would die. Fernández Silvestre commented to the Spanish press about the letter that: "This man Abd el-Krim is crazy. I'm not going to take seriously the threats of a little Berber caid [judge] whom I had at my mercy a short time ago. His insolence merits a new punishment". Abd el-Krim allowed Fernández Silvestre to advance deep into the Rif, knowing the Spanish logistics were in the words of the Spanish historian Jose Alvarez "tenuous" at best. The Spanish were pushed back and during the following five years, occasional battles were fought between the two. The Rifian forces advanced to the east and captured over 130 Spanish military posts. By the end of August Spanish forces at Melilla numbered 36,000 under General Jose Sanjurjo and the slow process of recovering the lost territory could begin. Thus the Spanish could keep their biggest base in the eastern Rif. Later Abd el-Krim would admit: "I bitterly regret this order. It was my biggest mistake. All the following tenor of events happened because of this mistake." By January 1922 the Spanish had retaken their major fort at Monte Arruit (where they found the bodies of 2,600 of the garrison) and had reoccupied the coastal plain as far as Tiztoutine and Batel. The Rifian forces had consolidated their hold of the inland mountains and stalemate was reached. The Spanish military suffered losses even at sea; in March the transport ship Juan de Joanes was sunk in Alhucemas Bay by Riffian coastal batteries, and in August 1923 the battleship España ran aground off Cape Tres Forcas and was eventually scrapped in situ. In a bid to break the stalemate, the Spanish military turned to the use of chemical weapons against the Riffians. The Rif War had starkly polarized Spanish society between the africanistas who wanted to conquer an empire in Africa vs. the who wanted to abandon Morocco as not worth the blood and treasure. After the "Disaster of the Annual", Spain's war in the Rif went from bad to worse, and as the Spanish were barely hanging on to Morocco, support for the grew as many people could see no point to the war. In late July 1924, Primo de Rivera visited a Spanish Foreign Legion post at Ben Taieb in the Rif, and was served a banquet of eggs in different forms. In Spanish culture, eggs are a symbol of the testicles, and the dishes were intended to send a clear message. Primo de Rivera responded calmly that the army would be required to abandon only the minimum of territory and that junior officers should not dictate the measures necessary to resolve the Moroccan problem. However he subsequently modified the plans for withdrawal, pulling the Spanish forces back from Chefchaouen and the Oued Laou region to a prepared fortified boundary named the "Primo Line". French intervention In May 1924, the French Army had established a line of out-posts north of the Oureghla River in disputed tribal territory. On 12 April 1925, in an event known as the an estimated force of 8,000 Rifians attacked the line manned by 20,000 French soldiers and in two weeks over 48 of 66 French posts had been stormed or abandoned. French casualties exceeded 1,000 killed, 3,700 wounded and 1,000 missing – representing losses of over 20 percent of their forces deployed in the Rif. The French accordingly intervened on the side of Spain, appointing Marshal Pétain as commander-in-chief of an expeditionary force of up to 160,000 well-trained and -equipped troops from Metropolitan, Algerian, Senegalese and Foreign Legion units, as well as Moroccan regulars (tirailleurs) and auxiliaries (goumiers). With total Spanish forces at this point numbering about 90,000 the Rifian forces were now seriously outnumbered by their Franco-Spanish opponents. Final French deaths from battle and disease, in what had now become a major war, were to total 8,628. On September 17, 1925, a squadron of American mercenary flyers in the service of France bombarded Chefchaouen. ==Outcome==

, by Spanish painter José Moreno Carbonero For the final attack commencing on 8 May 1925, the French and Spanish had ranged 123,000 men, supported by 150 aircraft, against 12,000 Rifians. Superior manpower and technology soon resolved the course of the war in favour of France and Spain. The French troops pushed through from the south while the Spanish fleet and army secured Alhucemas Bay by a landing operation in September (the first amphibious landing in history where tanks and seaborne air support were used) and began attacking from the north. After one year of bitter resistance, Abd el-Krim, the leader of both the tribes, surrendered to French authorities, and in 1926 Spanish Morocco was finally retaken. However, the unpopularity of the war in Spain and the earlier defeats of the Spanish military contributed to the instability of the Spanish government and the military coup of 1923. == Atrocities ==

Massacre of Monte Arruit On August 9, 1921, the Massacre of Monte Arruit occurred, in which 2,000 soldiers of the Spanish Army were killed after surrendering the Monte Arruit garrison near Al Aaroui following a 12-day siege. The atrocities subsequently committed by the Spanish Army of Africa were triggered by a 'compulsive spirit of revenge' of this and other massacres, and the desire to exact retribution on the rebel tribes. Spanish atrocities and use of chemical weapons Beginning in 1924, the Spanish used chemical weapons during the conflict, which marked the first widespread employment of gas warfare in the post-WWI era. The Spanish army indiscriminately used phosgene, diphosgene, chloropicrin and mustard gas also against civilian populations, markets and rivers. While Spain signed the Geneva Protocol in 1925, which prohibited the use of chemical and biological weapons, such use was not illegal in internal conflicts. for example, according to the Head of the Association of Toxic Gas Victims (ATGV) research has shown "there are strong indicators that the cancer is caused by the gases that were used against the resistance in the north." Writer Juan Pando, however, pointed out that areas of France and Belgium, which were gassed far more heavily during World War I, do not have abnormal cancer rates. Miguel Alonso, Alan Kramer and Javier Rodrigo wrote in the book Fascist Warfare, 1922–1945: Aggression, Occupation, Annihilation: "Although the Rif War was no 'fascist' war, several methods used to 'pacify' the population were applied in the post-colonial of godless Republican Spain ... Apart from deciding not to use chemical weapons, Franco's campaign to 'cleanse Spain' resembled that in Morocco: intelligence-gathering through torture, summary executions, forced labour, rape, and the sadistic killing of military prisoners." Both Spanish and Moroccan mutilations of hostages were also reported, including severing heads as retribution to the mutilations inflicted on the Spanish troops initially. == In popular culture ==

• The Rif War directly inspired Sigmund Romberg's 1926 operetta The Desert Song, which was later adapted several times into motion pictures. • The 1929 romance novel La riffaine, by Jewish-Algerian writer Elissa Rhaïs, was set during the Rif War. • The 1927 novel Amy Jolly and the 1930 film Morocco adapted from it are set against the background of the Rif War. • The action of the 1931 novel La Bandera by Pierre Mac Orlan is set during the Rif War. The novel was also turned into a 1935 movie. • The 1951 film Ten Tall Men is set in the context of the Rif War. • The 1977 Dick Richards film March or Die shows Foreign Legionnaires fighting Arab rebels led by "el-Krim" in the Rif in 1925. • The 1999 film Legionnaire, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, is set in the war in 1925, with Kamel Krifa playing Abd el-Krim. • The 2017 television miniseries Morocco: Love in Times of War follows Spanish nurses during the Rif War. == See also ==