Spain’s Colonial History in Morocco: 1894-1923

The Morocco Question

The policy that Spain undertook with regard to Africa was framed on three aspects: the weight of 1898, the historical tradition in North Africa, and Anglo-French colonial rivalry. The overseas disaster gave rise to two postures: an anti-colonialist and anti-militarist current, and fans of regenerationism. Another also sought to enter Spain into the circle of the imperialist European powers and prevent the country from being used by them.

Spanish African Politics

In the 19th century, Spain participated in combat operations in Africa, around Ceuta and Melilla, which ended with the Hispano-Moroccan treaty signed in Seville in 1894. The presence of France in Morocco and the threat of participation by Germany, along with the need to enlarge the domain of Ceuta and Melilla to keep them safe and avoid the vulnerability of the peninsula, led Spain to participate in the Moroccan campaigns of the 20th century. Although the early decades of this would entail costs and risks, and public opinion was against it, Spain needed to clean up its image of a moribund nation. This was joined by the economic interests of the wealthy towards mining and the construction of railway lines.

Although the invasion had been “peaceful”, thanks to agreements with the tribes, in 1909, the so-called war broke out in Morocco and Melilla. What was pretended to defend the economic interests of the government from the tribes went back and forth and produced the Tragic Week of Barcelona.

The Disaster of Annual

With the advent of war in 1921 came the Disaster of Annual, the result of efforts to establish a protectorate that had damaged society and the economy. After the First World War ended, France intensified its action, threatening the Spanish zones, to which was joined the coordinated action between the general managers, Damaso Berenguer and Fernandez Silvestre. The latter had to leave the Annual area before the Moroccan offensive, but the move resulted in the deaths of 14,000 Spaniards.

Consequences of the Disaster of Annual

The consequences of the disaster were profound: the politics of the labor offensive of socialism centered on criticizing any military force operating in Africa and even the King. The King instructed General Picasso to open a file, a government decision to investigate the responsibility of senior officers in the defeat of Annual. On the other side, the military juntas were discredited because, although they enjoyed popular support, they had ended up being branded as selfish at the sacrifice of the soldiers and the degradation of the spirit of the combatant officers.

Consequences

In the spring of 1923, a plot to overthrow the government was brewing. The first, in Barcelona, wanted to remove the political role of the oligarchy to give it to the middle classes, and the second, in Madrid, aimed to establish a strong government while maintaining the constitution and the monarchy. General Miguel Primo de Rivera, from Catalonia, became the link between the two groups and staged a coup in Barcelona on September 13, 1923. The government failed to react, and Alfonso XIII openly supported the general’s revolt, to whom he entrusted the task of forming a government, thus ending the entire system of the Restoration.