The French protectorate in Morocco

The French protectorate in Morocco,[4] also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco that lasted from 1912 to 1956.[5] The protectorate was officially established 30 March 1912, when Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed the Treaty of Fez, though the French military occupation of Morocco had begun with the invasion of Oujda and the bombardment of Casablanca in 1907.[5] The French protectorate lasted until the dissolution of the Treaty of Fez on 2 March 1956, with the Franco-Moroccan Joint Declaration. Morocco's independence movement, described in Moroccan historiography as the Revolution of the King and the People, restored the exiled Mohammed V but it did not end the French presence in Morocco. France preserved its influence in the country, including a right to station French troops and to have a say in Morocco's foreign policy. French settlers also maintained their rights and property. While the agreements with France had provided for interdependent foreign relations, Franco-Moroccan relations quickly worsened following Mohammed V's outspoken support for Algerian independence including at the United Nations.[8] The number of French settlers declined constantly,[9] especially after their agricultural holdings were nationalized.[10] Relations with France were to improve once the last French troops finally left Morocco in November 1961. The French protectorate existed alongside the Spanish protectorate, which was established and dissolved in the same years; its borders consisted of the area of Morocco between the Corridor of Taza and the Draa River, including sparse tribal lands.[12] The official capital was Rabat.

Prelude

Despite the weakness of its authority, the 'Alawi dynasty distinguished itself in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by maintaining Morocco’s independence while other states in the region succumbed to French or British domination. However, in the second part of the nineteenth century, Morocco’s weakness and instability invited European intervention to protect threatened investments and to demand economic concessions. Following the Hispano-Moroccan War of 1859–1860, Spain obtained the recognition by Morocco of its perpetual sovereignty over Ceuta, Melilla and the Chafarinas Islands as well as of the territory of Ifni. The first years of the twentieth century witnessed a rush of diplomatic maneuvering through which the European powers, France in particular, furthered their interests in North Africa.[13] French activity in Morocco began at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1904, the French government was trying to establish a protectorate over Morocco and had managed to sign two bilateral secret agreements with Britain (8 April 1904, see Entente cordiale) and Spain (7 October 1904), which guaranteed the support of the powers in question in this endeavor. That same year, France sponsored the creation of the Moroccan Debt Administration in Tangier. France and Spain secretly partitioned the territory of the sultanate, with Spain receiving concessions in the far north and south of the country.[14]

First Moroccan Crisis: March 1905 – May 1906

The First Moroccan Crisis or the Tangier Crisis was an international crisis between March 31, 1905, and April 7, 1906, over the status of Morocco.[1] Germany wanted to challenge France's growing control over Morocco, aggravating France and Great Britain. The crisis was resolved by the Algeciras Conference of 1906, a conference of mostly European countries that affirmed French control; this worsened German relations with both France and Britain and helped enhance the new Anglo-French Entente. Kaiser's visit On 31 March 1905 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany arrived at Tangier, Morocco and conferred with representatives of Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco.[2] The Kaiser toured the city on the back of a white horse. In a speech given at the German legation,[3] the Kaiser declared he had come to support the sovereignty of the Sultan—a statement which amounted to a provocative challenge to French influence in Morocco. The Sultan subsequently rejected a set of French-proposed governmental reforms and issued invitations to major world powers to a conference which would advise him on necessary reforms. French reaction Germany sought a multilateral conference where the French could be called to account before other European powers. The French foreign minister, Théophile Delcassé, took a defiant line, holding that there was no need for such a conference. In response, Count Bernhard von Bülow, the German Chancellor, threatened war over the issue, although this was a bluff.[4][5] Kaiser Wilhelm did not want war, stating in Bremen just before he set off: "My study of history hasn't encouraged me to strive for world domination. In the empire of which I dream, the German emperor will be trusted by other countries and must be seen as a honest and peaceful neighbour".[6] The crisis peaked in mid-June. The French cancelled all military leave (15 June) and Germany threatened to sign a defensive alliance with the Sultan (22 June). French Prime Minister Maurice Rouvier refused to risk war with Germany over the issue. Delcassé resigned, as the French government would no longer support his policy. On 1 July France agreed to attend the conference. The crisis continued up to the eve of the conference at Algeciras, with Germany calling up reserve units (30 December) and France moving troops to the German border (3 January). The Algeciras Conference The Algeciras Conference was called to settle the dispute, lasting from 16 January to 7 April 1906. Of the 13 nations present, the German representatives found that their only supporter was Austria-Hungary. A German attempt at compromise was rejected by all but Austria-Hungary.[7] France had firm support from Britain, Russia, Italy, Spain, and the United States. The Germans decided to accept a face-saving compromise agreement that was signed on 31 March 1906. Consequence Although the Algeciras Conference temporarily solved the First Moroccan Crisis, it only worsened the tensions between the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente that ultimately led to the First World War.[8] The First Moroccan Crisis also showed that the Entente Cordiale was strong, as Britain had defended France in the crisis. The crisis can be seen as a reason for the Anglo-Russian Entente and the Anglo-Franco-Spanish Pact of Cartagena being signed the following year. Kaiser Wilhelm II was angry at being humiliated and was determined not to back down again, which led to the German involvement in the Second Moroccan Crisis.

French invasion

The French conquest of Morocco[a] began with the French Republic occupying the city of Oujda in 29 March 1907. The French launched campaigns against the Sultanate of Morocco which culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Fes and establishment of the French Protectorate in Morocco on 30 March 1912. France later concluded, on the 27th November, the Treaty of Madrid with the Kingdom of Spain which established the Spanish protectorate in Morocco. The French still conducted a series of military operations to pacify rebellions in Morocco until 1934. Background See also: Franco-Moroccan War and Abd al-Rahman of Morocco The French Empire considerably expanded their activities in the Sultanate of Morocco after the Battle of Isly (1844). French representatives in Tangier were no longer consuls but chargés d'affaires.[2] The Treaty of Lalla Maghnia signed in March 1845 between France and Morocco recognized the boundary existing before 1830 between Algeria and Morocco as being still binding. The oasis of Figuig was recognized in the same treaty as being Moroccan and the oasis of Aïn Séfra as being Algerian. But the French refused to dileneate the frontier to the south of Figuig on the ground that a frontier was superfluous in uninhabited desert land.[3] The Paris Revolution of 1848 temporarily weakened French diplomacy.[2] France's desire to reassert her influence in Morocco led to the Bombardment of Salé in November 1851.[4] In 1859 French troops occupied the oasis of Sidi Yahia, a place seven kilometres from Oujda.[5] In 1860 a French post office was founded in Tangier as a branch of the postal service of Oran. While providing a useful service to European and Moroccan merchants, the existence of the foreign post offices constituted an enlargement of the normal extra-territorial rights and an encroachment upon Moroccan Government functions.[6] From the 1850's, politicians in France and the authorities in Algeria started to advocate the creation of military posts in the southern parts of the region of Oran and beyond it for the purpose of controlling the trans-Saharan trade and eventually uniting the French colonies of Algeria and the Senegal.[3] After the Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–1860), the Kingdom of Spain joined with the United Kingdom to oppose France, who from her position in Algeria seemed then to be the greatest threat to Morocco.[7] Popular support in both France and in Algeria for a Saharan conquest came into being in 1875, after a French engineer, Duponchel, had suggested that the commerce of the Sahara and of central Africa might be opened up to French interests by the construction of a Trans-Saharan Railway. Initially, the idea was to put such a railroad through the Saharan region lying east of the Gourara-Touat-Tidikelt.[8] Other than British and Spanish hostilities, France had to also contend with the Kingdom of Italy's hostility, as the Italians had been angered by the French military intervention in Tunisia in 1881.[7] In 1881 France established a military post in Aïn Séfra. This act solidified French control over all of the ksour of the Saharan Atlas that had been given to Algeria by the Treaty of Lalla Maghnia. The next year, in 1882, the French Government requested from the Moroccans permission to construct the Trans-Saharan Railroad along the route leading from the Oued Zousfana to the Touat. The Moroccans, however, refused. Fearing that the French might nevertheless continue their advance towards the south, in 1883, the Moroccans placed an amel (a governor) at the oasis of Figuig, on the upper reaches of the Oued Zousfana. In 1885 French troops crossed the crest of the Saharan Atlas and began to construct a post at Djéniene Bourzeg, a water hole strategically situated in a mountain corridor that led directly to the valley of the Zousfana to the south of Figuig. Djéniene Bourzeg was in a disputable area; and while an initial Moroccan protest had first induced the French to withdraw, the Moroccans, in November 1886 agreed to recognize the locale as being in Algerian territory.[9] Britain, Spain and Italy in 1887 had sent a note to Moulay Hassan, assuring him that they desired to see maintained both the independence and the territorial integrity of his country.[7] By the 1890s, the predominant French interest was already directed towards the establishment of a French protectorate over Morocco; and it was feared that an overt action against the Saharan territories which Morocco claimed would antagonize not merely the Moroccans, but also the other European powers who had become equally involved in Moroccan affairs.[7]

Hafidiya

The Hafidiya (Arabic: الحفيظية) was a coup d'état in Morocco between 1907 and 1908 in which Abd al-Hafid seized power from his brother Abdelaziz.[1][2] Abd al-Hafid started his movement in Marrakesh in the aftermath of the Algeciras Conference, the French occupation of Oujda and of Casablanca and the gaining the support of Amazigh leaders in the south.[1][3] The Ulama of Fes supported Abdelhafid only with an unprecedented Conditioned Bay'ah, or pledge of allegiance.[1]

The Algeciras Conference of 1906 had the effect of dividing Moroccans into supporters of either the Sultan Abdelaziz or his brother Abd al-Hafid into those calling for reform for jihad, respectively.[3] Part of a series on the History of Morocco Banner of the Moors, 1212. Prehistory Classical to Late Antiquity (8th century BC – 7th century AD) Early Islamic (8th–10th century AD) Territorial fragmentation (10th–11th century AD) Empire (beginning 11th century AD) Decline (beginning 19th century AD) Protectorate (1912–56) Modern (1956–present) Related topics flag Morocco portal History portal vte In May 1907, after France had occupied Oujda,[4] the southern aristocrats, led by the head of the Glaoua tribe, Si Elmadani El Glaoui, invited Abd al-Hafid, an elder brother of Abdelaziz and viceroy at Marrakesh, to become sultan, and on August 16, 1907, after the bombardment and occupation of Casablanca, Abdelhafid was proclaimed sovereign in Marrakesh with all of the usual formalities.[5][6] In September, Abd-el-Aziz arrived at Rabat from Fez and endeavoured to secure the support of the European powers against his brother. From France, he accepted the grand cordon of the Légion d’honneur and was later enabled to negotiate a loan. That was seen as leaning to Christianity and aroused further opposition to his rule.