home | 1901-WW2 Index

AFRICA and IMPERIALISM (3 of 7)

In French-controlled Morocco, a Muslim Sultan held nominal power, but the real power lay with the French resident-general, an aristocrat and former army colonel, Louis Lyautey. Lyautey was bright and sophisticated. His policies closely fit the French colonial ideal, and he was a favorite among French conservatives. Lyautey had served in Madagascar while a colonel, and he had convinced tribes there that the French army was on their side, the army giving them machine-made tools and teaching them scientific methods in farming. In Madagascar his troops had built roads and had established telegraphic installations, and Lyautey had left Madagascar materially better off and more tranquil than it had been in its entire history.

In that part of Morocco controlled by the French, French farmers had incomes that averaged eight times higher than the average of Moroccan farmers, and the French farmers looked upon their Muslim neighbors as an inferior race. Lyautey had been in Morocco since 1912, and he had become popular with the local French and the Moroccans. Lyautey dealt with the Moroccan people through the authority of their own chiefs. He endeavored to avoid offending any local customs and religious practices. Under Lyautey the French taught Moroccans how to grow more and better crops. More market places were developed for the Moroccans, and the French built hospitals, schools and roads. In that part of Morocco that the French controlled the economy improved, benefiting local people and French investors. And Lyautey created two new coastal cities: Kenitra (to be renamed Port Lyautey) and Casablanca.

In 1920, while France was having success in its portion of Morocco, rebellion erupted among mountain tribes in that part of Morocco nominally controlled by Spain (a stretch of two hundred miles between the two Mediterranean port cities of Ceuta and Melilla, ports that Spain had held for over 300 years). The rebellion was led by Mohammed ben Abel Krim. In 1922 Krim announced the creation of an Islamic republic. He was receiving aide from abroad, while describing his struggle as nationalist rather than pan-Islamic.

During the rebellion, atrocities were committed by both Krim's forces and the Spanish. The Spanish bombed the Moroccans but hit mainly rocks and cactus plants. By mid-1924 many Spaniards were sick of the fighting. So too was Spain's dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera. Spain had spent a lot of money and was gaining nothing in wealth from Morocco, and Primo de Rivera complained about the tens of thousands of men killed in the war. He wanted to end Spain's pursuit of the rebel forces, but  he complained that Britain would not let him withdraw. The British were concerned about the French expanding in Morocco near the Strait of Gibraltar. Also, Spain's military officers in Morocco -- among them colonel Francisco Franco -- were adamant about continuing the fighting. They were concerned about their careers, and they saw Spain's imperial enterprise in Morocco as an effort at wiping out the shame of defeat by the United States in 1898 and reclaiming for Spain the glory of empire.

In 1925, Krim's advances spilled over into tribal areas governed by France. Resident-general Lyautey did not want a war against Krim. But Krim allowed incursions against French-controlled Morocco to continue. Krim recognized that Lyautey had given Moroccans order, security and economic prosperity, but he claimed that he would bring all Moroccans the same benefits but with the advantage that he was a Muslim, a leader of their own faith rather than an infidel. Krim expanded to within twenty-five kilometers of Fez, where the Sultan and Lyautey were headquartered. But the Moroccans in French-controlled areas largely supported French rule and viewed Krim as a menace. Krim was facing too much of an enemy. For Lyautey, a policy that appealed to hearts and minds had proved successful.

A joint French and Spanish force applied overwhelming force against Krim. This included artillery barrages, aerial bombardment and the use of gasoline bombs from a volunteer airforce commanded by an American soldier of fortune, Charles Sweeney. Krim and a party of twenty-seven surrendered to the French in May 1926. The French received Krim and his party courteously and exiled them to French islands in the Indian Ocean. Krim and his family went to the island of Réunion, where the climate was similar to Morocco, and they lived on his annual stipend on a large estate not far from the island's capital, St. Denis. The French wanted Krim not as a martyr but to be forgotten. Spain wanted revenge against Krim and viewed France's treatment of Krim as a disgrace.