VI. The World Wars and the Interwar Period, 1914–1945 > F. The Middle East and North Africa, 1914–1945 > 3. North Africa > a. Morocco > 1915
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  The Encyclopedia of World History.  2001.
 
 
1915
 
The Spanish recognized Raisuli, the powerful Berber tribal leader, as governor of the Jabala district.  1
 
1919, July 11
 
First attacks by Raisuli's tribesmen on Spanish possessions in Morocco. The Spanish immediately began military operations against him. By the following year, they had sharply reduced his power.  2
 
1921–26
 
THE RIF WAR, a rebellion against French and Spanish rule in Morocco which at one point tied down some 700,000 French and Spanish troops. The war opened with the Battle of Anwal in Spanish Morocco (July 21, 1921). Berber forces under MUHAMMAD ABD AL-KARIM AL-KHATTABI annihilated a large contingent of Spanish troops and declared a rebellion within the Spanish sector of Morocco. The Rif Republic was established in 1922, and Abd al-Karim assumed the title of president.  3
 
1922, Sept. 22
 
Final submission of Raisuli to the Spanish authorities, thereby bringing hostilities in the western part of Spanish Morocco to an end.  4
 
1923, Dec. 18
 
Treaty to establish an international administration, under the supervision of the British, French, and Spanish, for the city of Tangier. Negotiations on details continued until Jan. 1929.  5
 
1924, Dec
 
Spanish withdrawal from the interior of Morocco in order to concentrate their forces on the coast. The retreat followed a series of military setbacks against the Rif army under Abd al-Karim.  6
 
1925, Feb. 7
 
Abd al-Karim captured Raisuli, who had been fighting alongside the Spanish. Raisuli died soon afterward in captivity.  7
 
Feb
 
A fatwa (legal opinion) from the Qarawiyin Council of Learning condemned the Sufi author Muhammad al-Nazafi for a book in which he contended that a prayer in the order's ritual was part of God's eternal speech. The ruling served both religious and political motives. The members of the council were predominantly modernist scholars who wished to purify Islam of doctrines and practices (such as those found in Sufism) that they viewed as corruptions. On the other hand, the Sufi orders had thrown in their lot with the French regime and urged Muslims to obedience. Since many members of the council were part of the growing Moroccan opposition to the existing French administration, they wanted to discredit the Sufi leadership.  8
 
April 13
 
Abd al-Karim opened an offensive against French forces operating along the frontier of the Rif Republic.  9
 
July 26
 
Franco-Spanish military alliance against Abd al-Karim. The colonial offensive, commanded by Marshal Henri Pétain, got under way on Sept. 9, and the Rif army began to fall back.  10
 
Sept. 24
 
Resignation of Louis Lyautey, the French resident in Morocco.  11
 
 
 
The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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