greenbage
February 6th, 2007, 09:22 PM
Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi the Moroccan Legend
Early life
Born in Ajdir, Morocco, to Abdelkrim El-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge) of the Ait Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel (or Waryaghar) tribe. Abd el-Krim was educated both in traditional zaouias and in Spanish schools, continuing his education in the ancient university of Qarawiyin in Fez, and then spending three years in Spain studying mining and military engineering. His brother, M'hammed El-Khattabi, later on his partner in battle, also received a Spanish education. Both spoke fluent Spanish.
The journey in Spain
He entered the Spanish governmental structure, and was appointed chief qadi for Melilla in 1915, as well as editing the Arabic section of the newspaper El Telegrama del Rif.
In his time there, he came to oppose Spanish domination, and was imprisoned in 1917 for saying that Spain should not expand beyond its current dominions (which in practice excluded most of the effectively ungoverned Rif), and for expressing sympathy for the Germans in World War I. Soon after escaping, he returned to Ajdir in 1919 and, with his brother, began to unite the tribes of the Rif into an independent Republic of the Rif. In this cause, he tried to end existing inter-tribal feuds.
Guerrilla leadership
In 1921, as a by-product of their efforts to destroy the power of a local brigand, Raisuli, Spanish troops approached the unoccupied areas of the Rif. Abd-el-Krim sent their General, Manuel Fernández Silvestre, a warning that if they crossed the Amekran River he would consider it an act of war. Silvestre is said to have laughed, and shortly afterwards set up a military post across the river at Abarán. By mid-afternoon of the same day a thousand Rifains had surrounded it; 179 Spanish troops were killed, and the remainder were forced to retreat. Soon afterwards, Abd el-Krim directed his forces to attack the Spanish lines, with great success — in three weeks 8,000 Spanish troops were killed, and at Annual an army of 13,000 was forced to retreat by only 3,000 Rifains. Shortly after the battle, General Silvestre committed suicide. This colossal victory established Abdelkrim as a genius of Guerilla warfare.
By 1924, the Spanish had been forced to retreat to their possessions along the Moroccan coast. France, which in any case laid claim to territory in the southern Rif, realized that allowing another North African colonial power to be defeated by natives would set a dangerous precedent for their own territories, and entered the fray. In 1925, a French force under Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain and a Spanish army, with a combined total of 250,000 soldiers, began operations against the Rif Republic. Intense combat persisted for a year, but eventually the combined French and Spanish armies — using, among other weapons, mustard gas — defeated the forces of Abd el-Krim. El-Krim was exiled to the island of Réunion (a French territory) from 1926 to 1947, when he was given permission to live in the south of France, but succeeded in gaining asylum in Egypt instead, where he presided over the Liberation Committee for the Arab Maghreb, and where he died in 1963, just after seeing his hopes of a Maghreb independent of colonial powers completed by the independence of Algeria. The embarrassing defeat of Spanish forces at Annual caused uproar in Spain, where crowds of people expressed their disillusionment with the Monarchy. Franco, future dictator of Spain and commander of the Spanish forces following the disaster at Annual, took full advantage of this outcry against the Spanish Government.
God bless Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi the Legend.
Early life
Born in Ajdir, Morocco, to Abdelkrim El-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge) of the Ait Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel (or Waryaghar) tribe. Abd el-Krim was educated both in traditional zaouias and in Spanish schools, continuing his education in the ancient university of Qarawiyin in Fez, and then spending three years in Spain studying mining and military engineering. His brother, M'hammed El-Khattabi, later on his partner in battle, also received a Spanish education. Both spoke fluent Spanish.
The journey in Spain
He entered the Spanish governmental structure, and was appointed chief qadi for Melilla in 1915, as well as editing the Arabic section of the newspaper El Telegrama del Rif.
In his time there, he came to oppose Spanish domination, and was imprisoned in 1917 for saying that Spain should not expand beyond its current dominions (which in practice excluded most of the effectively ungoverned Rif), and for expressing sympathy for the Germans in World War I. Soon after escaping, he returned to Ajdir in 1919 and, with his brother, began to unite the tribes of the Rif into an independent Republic of the Rif. In this cause, he tried to end existing inter-tribal feuds.
Guerrilla leadership
In 1921, as a by-product of their efforts to destroy the power of a local brigand, Raisuli, Spanish troops approached the unoccupied areas of the Rif. Abd-el-Krim sent their General, Manuel Fernández Silvestre, a warning that if they crossed the Amekran River he would consider it an act of war. Silvestre is said to have laughed, and shortly afterwards set up a military post across the river at Abarán. By mid-afternoon of the same day a thousand Rifains had surrounded it; 179 Spanish troops were killed, and the remainder were forced to retreat. Soon afterwards, Abd el-Krim directed his forces to attack the Spanish lines, with great success — in three weeks 8,000 Spanish troops were killed, and at Annual an army of 13,000 was forced to retreat by only 3,000 Rifains. Shortly after the battle, General Silvestre committed suicide. This colossal victory established Abdelkrim as a genius of Guerilla warfare.
By 1924, the Spanish had been forced to retreat to their possessions along the Moroccan coast. France, which in any case laid claim to territory in the southern Rif, realized that allowing another North African colonial power to be defeated by natives would set a dangerous precedent for their own territories, and entered the fray. In 1925, a French force under Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain and a Spanish army, with a combined total of 250,000 soldiers, began operations against the Rif Republic. Intense combat persisted for a year, but eventually the combined French and Spanish armies — using, among other weapons, mustard gas — defeated the forces of Abd el-Krim. El-Krim was exiled to the island of Réunion (a French territory) from 1926 to 1947, when he was given permission to live in the south of France, but succeeded in gaining asylum in Egypt instead, where he presided over the Liberation Committee for the Arab Maghreb, and where he died in 1963, just after seeing his hopes of a Maghreb independent of colonial powers completed by the independence of Algeria. The embarrassing defeat of Spanish forces at Annual caused uproar in Spain, where crowds of people expressed their disillusionment with the Monarchy. Franco, future dictator of Spain and commander of the Spanish forces following the disaster at Annual, took full advantage of this outcry against the Spanish Government.
God bless Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi the Legend.