A country with a government and a flag: the Rif War in Morocco, 1921-1926

Abstract

The Rif War, which took place in Northern Morocco between 1921 and 1926 and which almost shattered Spain's protectorate there, as well as threatening France's hold over the rest of Morocco, is, perhaps the most important anti-colonial struggle of the pre-World War II era. Not only did it lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of Spanish soldiers - 10,000 of them in one battle alone in 1921 - but it also led indirectly to the Spanish Civil War and spurred on the nascent nationalist cause in Morocco itself. Yet the events of the war and the personalities of its leading protagonists, at least on the Moroccan side, are curiously little known. nor is the innovative nature of their convictions fully understood.