The Rif War is a whole tranche of history I'd never heard of before. This was a fascinating episode! Well presented and pronunciated! You got a new subscriber
It seems it created a great turmoil in Spain, due to the serious defeats of spanish troops. Some people consider Abd-El-Krim as a bandit, and his troops as very savage, and others consider him a freedom guerrilla fighter and a great tactician.
@@MrFeynmanDiagram Spain and france. While Hand to Hand war, they are pussies. Just 2.000 normally moroccan haven defeated about 12.000 spanish profesional soldiers. That is a humilliation you will never can handle or hiden.
Thank you for this excellent and well-documented presentation. My paternal uncle, Moh N' Haddou N' Moh, who took part in the liberation of Abarran, got killed at Sidi Driss and was buried in the village of Ighriben, one week before the battle of Anwal. His younger brother, Saddiq, who replaced him, also died in 1922 at Amezzawuw. And my father, Hammadi, their youngest brother, grew up brotherless and his children never knew their uncles, except through the stories told by their comrades who survived the Rif War. Bon courage!
I am from the rif to but i live in the Netherlands, when i go on vacation o go in the mountains where they fought and you cane still see the bullets on the floor
My great grandfather fought in Melilla in 1890s then was drafted a second time to fight in Cuba. His enlistment lasted 9 years. In 1915 he took his family to Hawaii and then California so that his sons would not have to fight the Riff a second time. Probably saving their lives. Great work.
@@r.ladaria135 Maybe is misery but in Europe are more chances for them and their childeren to make something of their life. In Morocco no chance, not because of the Riffians but because the dictatorship at the moment. Almost no investment in the RIF region.
I think it is a great video making the whole chain of events in Spain following it much clearer as well. Hats off for the Riffs. They had a leader who clearly understood his enemy and the incompetence of the Spanish leadership and a salon general did the rest. No doubt this episode gets a lot more attention in Marocco than many other places and it was great to get a fairly detailed account of it.
Yaquis said riffians fighted extremely well and knew no fear. Given that the yaquis knew no fear themselves, that´s quite the statement. Hail from México
These are the tid bits and pieces that I wish school could cover but I realize, can't. There's only so much time and information you can teach in a few hours.
Reminded of how some people say “they should teach this in schools” every time they learn a new history topic. I’d say this is a lot more worthy of it than the topics that usually get that kind of remark.
After the disaster another general named Picasso (not the painter, but his uncle) made a full investigation on the disaster which culminated with the "Picasso expedient". The main result would be a coup by Miguel Primo de Rivera (whose brother died in the battle) and Picasso being dismissed as a general.
Fascinating. Granted, I've never been into researching the myriad of colonial wars over the centuries, but I had truly never even heard of the Rif War until this episode. Suddenly Spain and Morocco's 20th century interactions make a LOT more sense
It is the typical war of the European empires in the 20th century, such as the British, the French, the Spanish, the Italian, portugues... We had already lost our glory, when we had an empire in Europe for centuries, invading Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Colonia, Amsterdam, Venizia, Brussels. And we all wanted to keep protectorates in Africa. But we all lost that empires before the 21st century.
@Nicholas Crowe Did you notice that the Spanish euphemistically referred to their colony in Morocco as a protectorate? Who were they protecting? Certainly not the locals! Rather, they were trying to protect their own arrogance. I am glad that the Berbers humbled them. The world powers have had a long history of invading other lands, conquering those peoples, and forcibly extracting from them every ounce of their resources and, even worse, their blood. Sadly, even though the Rif War occurred one hundred years ago, the world powers of today have not learned to stop their violent intrusions. Finally, to this very day Spain occupies the enclaves of Sebtah and Melilah in Morocco. Why?
@@raymondjelich185 Spain was not defeated in Morocco. Spain has only lost one war in 200 years, against the United States in 1898, although we had wars in Africa, America and Asia. We handed over the Spanish part of Morocco in 1956 (north and Ifni), peacefully. The UN says that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish, because Morocco did not exist when they were conquered, they were a lot of dispersed kingdoms, without unity. Ceuta was received from Portugal, not Morocco, in 1640. Melilla in 1497. Morocco has illegally invaded Western Sahara. Morocco doing colonialism in Africa. If we talk about blood and exploitation, Spain was invaded by the Arabs for 8 centuries, which caused 10 million deaths. Although Córdoba had two centuries of splendor, when it was the most important and developed city in Europe.
@@Gloriaimperial1 spain lost the war against a couple of countryman! after the big lost spain decided to call for other countries to join them fighting a couple of farmers. The germans and english French and the moroccan traitor gouvernement assisted them by using illegal mosterd gas and killed massively even they're land was dead thats how they eventually controlled the wqr at the end. All of this for a couple thousand countryman,farmers, gouvernementless people. Spain was defeated by some countryman with swords and big cojones!
@@morosultanate692 It's not lies, it's the truth! The true history that was hidden from all moroccans! We even started calling ourselves "arabs" because of the brainwashing, when we all are amazigh, and if you have doubts about it I suggest for you to take a DNA test, you will be shocked. You realize that the arabs who came literally made a genocide against the original people?
Abd El-Krim sounds like the Arminius of Morocco, with the Rif War being like the Battle of Teutoburg Forest; where the defeat, lives lost and damage to prestige for the Romans and the Spanish were almost the same.
I thought the same while I was investigating those events. Im a huge Roman and Spanish history nut and I found some details that are shared in both battles. -As you said, Abd-El-Krim is the Moroccan Arminius. Son of a native aristocrat, risen and educated in the "civilized world". Started helping colonial powers just to later betray them and liberate their people. He was also the only man able to unite all tribes under a single rule. Also, he was defeated not a long time after he was victorious. -Both Spanish and Roman forces had problems entering the territory (mainly logistical and tactical dificulties) since they were driven to an unknown land which was perfect for an ambush. They also reacted trying to escape in a rush during the attack, which made them loose many men (men that in numerous cases were executed without any mercy by the natives). -Both general Silvestre and Quintilius Varus underestimated and underrated their enemy, torturing and assasinating natives first (which ironically helped them unite). Another curious point about this two subjects is that both commited suicide during the battle (at least according to most sources). -Both defeats affected greatly the moral of the soldiers and the view of their leaders for the populus. -Some years later imperial powers came back with better generals, more prepared men and tactics, which sent the tribes back into colonial rule and separation. -Another cool fact is that those elite spanish soldiers were in the "Legión" (yeah, History loves repeating stuff)
@@kamilhernandez2543 spain was helped by France, Morocco and the us. They used more than 500 ton chemical bombs. This was not a fair match. The Riffians defeated the Spanish, they would have defeated the French also if they had the same weapons.
As a moroccan i know the rif people to be the kindest and most honorable people in my country . I camped a lot back in the days and my favourite time was when i went there . But every moroccan knows the riffians as the strongest warriors. They were our frontiersmen for centuries. Fighting the riffians on their home turf was the worst idea spain made. 3000 angry tribesmen can easily defeat any army that shows up.
@@son-of-the-moorish-empire they only used chemical weapons on the terrorists who would hide in a mountain and attack innocent railroad workers and so on.
@@landerviguera9575 Not on the best of terms, the government is suspicious of the Riffians and the Riffians don't like the government. There have been many protests over the years, and the most prominent one which occured in the middle 2010s resulted in the arrest and sentencing of Nasser Zefzafi, the leader of the protests. He was sentenced for 20 years in prison since his movement was regarded as a secessionist movement by the government. I have many Riffian friends who privately favor independence of the Rif.
as a member of the french foreign legion my grandfather had to fight against the Melilla Kabilas due to the spanish-french coalition. He liked his supposed "enemies" and admired Abd El Krim who was a wise man that the spanish never understood. As a colonial employee Abd El Krim advised the spanish many times on how policy towards the rifeños should look like, but they never complied, so then he changed sides and rose to leadership. Tired of french and spanish racism and tyrannical military discipline my grandfather (he was a sergeant) finally refused to continue the indiscriminate killing of Amazigh rebels. This brought him respect from the side of the rifeños but hatred from the spanish and french. While he and other soldiers were put in jail for "lack of discipline" they decided to escape, which they did, only to be pursued by senegalese tiralleurs who killed half of them. My grandfather escaped (thanks to moroccan fishermen) and finally deserted and migrated to South America. I grew up listening to all these stories about the Rif and its people, and about stiff-headed people like Lyautey, Pétain and Franco (I think my grandfather should have written about such experiences, but I guess he suffered depression after WWI and his moroccan ordeal), with time I also begun to admire the irifiyen and imazighen people...
@@riccardorigliano7110 unluckily my grandfather died more than 40 years ago, and I was too young to inquire in any systematic way. When he left Morocco he migrated to Argentina via Madeira and Brazil, so he could not have been carrying much stuff. Afterwards he died in Chile, we moved to the US, then Australia, then Europe, so any physical evidence was absolutely lost (the only thing I do still have is his mate gourd and bombilla... he used to grow mate tea close to the Iguazu falls). I know it would have been a wonderful story. Incidentally my sister visited the place in Morocco where my grandfather planned to live after serving in the army (he even had a marriage offer from one daughter of the Kabila`s elder), but then things developed otherwise. I could perhaps (sometimes it seems I should) write once a fictional version (I have already so much to write), may be, who knows...
My great grandfather and his brothers fought in It. He was an 18 y/o conscript. He never forgot the war or forgave Spain to makes him fight in It, because of it when he returned he emigrated. His brothers stayed, some were executed during the civil war other fought on It and died. My great grandfather was the lucky one
Seems like quite a sad decline for the Spanish military from their glory days. From what I understand they never became a formidable fighting force again, even under Franco.
@@johnbowler395 the Spanish military didn't decline, the Spanish military performed very well in many events throughout the war. This was just a defeat caused by one general. Our soldiers have always been up to the task and they've performed their duty with professionalism. This war saw the first amphibious landing with tanks and aircraft and that was the Alhucemas landing, saw men walking thousands of kilometers through the mountains to reach cities to defend, saw I'll equipped men do their outmost to accomplish the mision. They deserve a lot more respect
Great job, The Great War channel! Jesse, you do a great job trying to accurately pronounce foreign words and names. Many others don't even make the attempt or do so halfheartedly.
If you further explore the disaster of Annual and the war in the morrocan protectorate, you must talk about the "Picasso report" witch depicts the conditions of the troops, being send in combat with almost to no ammunition, no boots, etc due to the massive corruption of the officer class. The Picasso report was the reason spain felt on a dictatorship, and the report was never to be found until general Franco dictatorship ended.
You see when a corrupted stupid state sends it's own people to colonize and steal other people's land, that's the result you get. Shame to the end of the time
My great grandfather fought in the Rif war, never met him personally but I've heard that he never spoke about it, never took part in the Spanish Civil war and always blamed politicians for pointless wars Now we need a Alhucemas landing episode
@@adnanafulay3142 I got a Sephardic friend whose great grandfather fought for franco (he lived in the Protectorate). I assume yours was fighting AND living in the mainland, right?
@@adnanafulay3142 yours lived in Melilla and returned or are you saying the sephardic guy did? (You're correct btw I'm just not sure which one u are saying returned to Melilla)
The rif war is one of the important subjects which are teached in Spanish high school and is because the disaster of annual is the prime cause for the coup of Primo de Ribera and also the posterior fall of the spanish monarchy.
@@Zakariya3603 250,000? Where do you get your firgures from? Probably an english historian? Lol. Dont forget, Spain lost a few battles but eventually won the war.
@@Carlos.Grande Just like Rome won the Second Punic war, just like the Russians eventually overwhelmed the Gemans despite disastrous losses, just like the English lost the 100 years war despite winning the majority of pitched battles. And Abd-el-Krim surrendered to Petain after he bombed the civlian population the Riffians were still massacring the Spanish troops regardless despite being outnumbered 20 to 1.
I have just found out that a friend of mine’s grandfather took part in, and survived, this campaign. The family still have a farewell letter written to his mother when he thought he wouldn’t survive. His brother in law was in a calvary unit at the same time.
I enjoyed your video very much. I have two dear friends from Morocco. Both Berbers. I visited Morocco with the younger friend. He took us all over the Northern part of Morocco to visit his family who treated us just like family. He was from Rabat, but the family was from a village in the High Atlas Mountains. Such remoteness most Americans have never seen or visualized. He did not take us to Southern Morocco, formally Spanish Morocco. Because he had seldom been there. He taught me many things about his country. Its history and culture. I hope to go back some day. I am going to forward a link to your post. I hope to educate him or have his dispute what you say. He did tell me that "French Morocco" is quite different then "Spanish Morocco." What I have learned through my education and life's experiences is "colonialism" is a joke. That is one strong country exploiting a weaker one.
As a Filipino, our history of conflict with Imperial Spain stopped when they sold us to the US in 1898. The Rif War was the event that I only learned beyond our History classes. I see the Spanish attitude during their conflict with the Riffians were much like during their failed punitive expeditions against the Igorot of the Cordillera in Luzon and the Maranao of Lake Lanao in Mindanao. They always underestimate the natives.
The USA pushed Spain to surrender the Philippines under threat of war. The USA promoted and supported an insurrection of the Filipinos to "liberate" them from the Spanish. Once they threw out Spain, the USA stayed and massacred the Filipinos.
@@davidlopez6703 Yes, we were. Thank you. Nevertheless, there are some patriots who warned our leaders back then about befriending the US for their business interests. They never listened and even assassinated those patriots for getting their way. I recommend watching the film 'Heneral Luna'. 🤙
@@davidlopez6703you could say that we were, but you, Spanish, had a chance to hold on to the Philippines by making the Philippines a part of Spain and giving Filipinos equal rights and representation to peninsular Spaniards (Rizal was not in favor of independence but rather equality) and you didn't, and so the revolution and loss of your empire was the result.
Yes the anoual war reminds me of the movie 300. For the curious, look up the war of bougafer and lahri that opposed amazighs (berbers) against french soldiers where amazighs destroyed them
Will you do a video about the "Informe Picasso", and "Desembarco de Alhucemas"? That'd be cool I think that you should try to use some spanish written sources, the topic haa been greatly studied and should be easy to find said sources online, to roughly underatand the papers a translation tool should be enough.
You do know that Spanish sources are very propoganda(not all of course) but things like illegal warfare used by the spanish like chemical weapons are still being denied by Spain or their warcrimes which they refuse to apologize and this is from the present day let alone back then. I think we just need to look at sources that are proven to be correct even this video is very wrong by it self for calling the Rif an "berber region" which it is not(and btw is an very discriminatory use of words but I dont blame him) But I would love a video on these topics tho
@@morocco_020fc7 I cannot understand why you say the use of chemical weapons is still being denied by Spain. It is common knowledge they were used, as it was common practise at this time. Nobody is denying this although you say so. Apologies are not necessary by the way. After apologies the request is always to ask for a check. War is war. The atrocities, mutilations and tortures of both sides are very well documented in photographs. Your comment seem unnecessary biased.
@@lam2083 Oooh yeah forgot how the Riffians/North Moroccans colonized themselfs and used illegal weapons on themselfs. LOL Its honestly so sad I need to argue abt an common fact
Well it was mostly just by name in the early years and vert little was actually changed. The last stronghold of Tindouf (previously a Moroccan city)only fell in 1934
@@mehdiamraoui8488 I hope you recall that the area was under Ottoman rule for much, much longer. The idea that colonisation and imperial rule are the strict preserve of Western powers is just wrong. :/ Ottoman interference in the region dates back to the 1500s. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that anything pre-1920 in North Africa was a pan-Islamic paradise of peace and pious unicorns.
My great grandpa was there!!! ,it was hard, I have photos of him going really young and coming really worn out of that war. From my grandmother I can say he didn't talk about the war and what he had to do...
My great grandfather was there too, not in Annual, got there two years later in 1923, he also never spoke about it, didn't take part in the Civil War and always blamed politicians for pointless wars
corrected: excellent film and excellent pronunciation. Useful view on the morocco war, almost forgotten in Spain nowadays. I had my granpa doing his military service there inmediately after the war, around 1930. He was in the civil war too on the republican regular army , he might had served more than six years. He never talked much about. Congratulations for this production and a suggestion on Portugal bloody night of 19 october 1921 and the republic. you can use the books of Douglas Wheeler for instance.
Always interested in this period. My dad was a fan, as a small kid, with the Gary Cooper film "Beau Geste", which led to an interest in the French Foreign Legion, which led to an interest in the author of "Beau Geste" Christopher Wren. In Wren's short stories he also wrote of the Spanish Foreign Legion in the Rif War. Dad had some books on this and the interest was passed on to me. While I did pick up some secondary knowledge in college on the Rif War, due to a Spanish Civil War seminar (Franco made hid name in Morocco), I've never had many details on it. Thanks. Never quite realized the Spanish Protectorate was such a small area.
I have read Wren's main book, Beau Gest, but have not seen the movie. The UK is now half as small as Spain. I mean all empires end sometime. I suppose we wanted to emulate too late, and in a small territory, the golden age, when Spain was 480 years in Italy, 200 years in Belgium, 100 years in Holland, 70 years in Athens, 60 years in Portugal, 160 years in parts of France and Germany. We were not in England just because there were 3 storms (1588, 1596 and 1597). Three invincible fleets. But Felipe II of Spain was king of England and Ireland, sparing Elisabeth's life (Maria Tudor wanted to kill Elisabeth). But it is true that in the twentieth century the golden age had already ended. The legacy of the European countries remains. 800 million Catholics thanks to victories and Spanish investment (200 million in Europe and 100 million in Asia), and 600 million speakers of Spanish (the world's second mother tongue, with more native speakers than English and French combined) . The Rif? An adventure.
excellent film and excellent pronunciation. Useful view on the morocco war, almost forgotten in Spain nowadays. I had my granpa doing his military service inmediately after the war, around 1930. He was in the civil war too, he might had served more than six years. Congratulations for this production and a suggestion on Portugal bloody night of 19 octuber 1921 and the republic. you can use the books of Douglas Wheeler for instance.
Estoy feliz porque soy del campo de Alhucemas... y estoy en la misma zona donde vive Abdelkarim Al-Khattabi... las ruinas de su casa todavía están aquí... aún mantenemos el instinto de entusiasmo y ferocidad. Pensamientos inesperados en planes de guerra.. (Hay secretos que mi abuelo me cuenta sobre planes ingeniosos que me guardaré para mí) -La mente es más poderosa que el arma.
@@josrevelie8278Stop saying bs. Why are you bringing up the Moroccan population? My great grandfather who’s an amazigh (chleuh) from khemisset, middle atlas also fought the French. We all want to see an amazigh state emerge in the future inshallah, but stop putting the blame on us Moroccans bc of what the panarabist government has been doing to you. Plus, not only you, all of us imazighen. They don’t like our resistance to colonialism, they want us dead. May all riffian victims Rest In Peace.
The truly saddest part of many wars is the common soldiers have no idea why they are really fighting and dying. They could all switch sides and still not know what they are fighting for or against.
Not in the case of the riffians. They were fighting to keep their land. Your incorrect opinion rings true for many of the wars Europeans and USA have incurred.
@@thefool1086 Lol. Whenever somebody talks about facts and you get butthurt, you start talking about racism or phobism or whatever else to divert the subject. Riffians were defending their lands, yes. And Europeans and Americans were trying to get the land and ressources. mining, sharing hate btw tribes when they have found harmony btw them
Francisco Franco was serving in the Spanish Legion in July 1921 as its second-in-command. Modeled upon the French Foreign Legion, the Spanish Legion had been founded in 1920 by José Millán-Astray y Terreros, an officer given to histrionic outbursts and extreme battlefield behavior. But that's a story for another episode. Meanwhile: over in Turkey on July 10 the Greeks attacked the Turkish Army in the Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir, breaking the Turkish defense line in Western Turkey. But the Greek Army failed to encircle the Turks, and the latter retreated to their final line at the Sakarya River after July 24.
Would be interested to hear more about the history of the Spanish Legion. I am a bit of a military nerd (I guess all here are!) and have watched a few TH-cam videos of their parades, including one where they bear a large crucifix.
franco and astray had many respect for abd el krim al kattabi and many morrocans called regulares fought in spanish civil war for the nationalist,today again in 2021 they are an elite spanish corps
I was told this story by my uncle Blas - There was a mutiny over the poor food in the army in Morroco in 1896 under the command of Francisco Franco. The soldiers were called before Colonel Franco and a soldier pushed his plate out in front of Franco spilling some on his blouse. The cook was called forward and ordered to recook the evening meal. Franco then shot the soldier who spilled food on his shirt.
@@michaelmunoz6728 Franco was 4 years old in 1896 and didn't start his military service until 1907. I think your uncle lied to you unless he is talking about another Franco.
Arminius - served in the roman army, had relatives fully integrated into roman administration Atilla - grew at the court of Constantinople, served in the Roman army el-Krim - studied at Spanish school, worked as newspaper editor... what can possibly go wrong?
@@guerrierinconnu4804 So what is the Roman city of Italica (Seville, Spain), a place that I have right behind my house? An Asterix theme park forgotten in time?
@@lloicasev por eso la parte más rica del imperio romano fue la provincia de africa. Por eso la parte más poblada del imperio era la parte oriental, en egipto y siria y irak y anatolia.
it seems odd to me that, for a country that once controlled a global empire from the America's to the Phillipines, that they were fairly ignorant about northern Morocco, a region they actually border with their African cities.
No Christian could visit places like Chaouen until the final establishment of the protectorate. There's an interesting book by a 19th century Spanish adventurer who got circumcised in order to pretend to be Muslim and travel to Morocco and other Muslim countries (Mecca even if I recall correctly), however he was a madman and half the "information" he sent back (he was paid for that) was totally made up (in this sense he was a bit like Graham Greene's "Our Man in Havana").
@@LuisAldamiz I'm from Chefchaouen* and duhhh this city was closed from the public for years until Spain took it. the reason it was is because of the reconquista the majority of the population was of Andalusian decent and they were afraid for any more Iberian imperialism they have an long history of fighting againts the portugues and if you visit the city you can see these discriptions of who builded alot of the infastructure and most will say that Portugues slaves did it. That is why the city is very well preserved and has an different culture but that doesn't mean other places weren't open to the public.
This wasnt something new.. the Iberians Portugal and Spain and their crsusaders had a similar catastrophic defeat at the battle of Qsar el Kebir also known as battle of the three kings.. when they were the biggesr empires at that time
@@bless00 Voltaire actually pointed that out, the Iberians had the biggest Empires but failed miserably in North Africa. The Algiers expedition involved almost 70,000 men that were defeated by only 6,000 Algerians.
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Annual and Rif war was Spanish Vietnam. Only with Alhucemas landing operation moths after, the first modern operation in History with Bombing Planes support, Spain won the war or pacify lands. Many Riff soldiers fought after for Franco during Spanish Civil war. Franco was the youngest general of Europe for war merits, with only 31 years old. The Riff Fighters respected General Franco because they thought that have some kind of gods protection, a know term as Baraka. The riff sniper was one of the best in the world, and Franco was an officer very brave and exposed to the enemy because the spirit of Spanish Legion which was "to be each soldier boyfriend of death and always prefer death to become cobard" , he always saved his life miraculously in the last moment many times, was imposible to kill him in front of snipers, there was many memories of veterans talking about this strange fact. Also Franco had a Friend, Berber Witch, who explain him that he was protected by Baraka, because have to save the Spirit reserve of western world the next years.
Yes the anoual war reminds me of the movie 300. For the curious, look up the war of bougafer and lahri that opposed amazighs (berbers) against french soldiers where amazighs destroyed them
I'm an grand-Son of a Riffian Veteran... I' REALLY, want to THANK YOU, for the ACCURACY, and the PRONONCIATION, in a Fluent, but accessible ... WEL, a HONEST WORK, & PROFESSIONALISM ,... PS: I (really) WANT TO ...SHAKE YOUR HAND, for all the time SPENT TO "restituate" a PIECE, of my HERITAGE...🤝 TOP, LEVEL .. 👌EVEN, for resblishing TRUTH, of so called "BARBARIAN CAVEMEN, BLOODTHIRSTY, a "CLICHÉ" spread, also today in Morocco, by Men, WITHOUT ENOUGH HONOR, to relate facts, of BEING "FACTUAL“ .... YOU'VE A STRAIGHT PATH TO DUCCES, WATHEVER , FACT THAT ARE RELATED, WITH SUCH ACCURACY .... YOUR AN "AYGHEZ "( It MEANS the "EQUIVALENT" OF "MENSCH", with a "M" PS: THE EMBLEMATIC "FLOWER OF "Rif -REGION" Is like the "POPPY",🌺 like every NOVEMBER 11th, in U.KINGDOM ... BEST REGARDS..🙏
The Leader of the liberation movement " muhammad Abd el karim el khatabi " he is My Grandfather And I am proud of that, the family still keep our surname El khatabi What some did not know the "Rif Land "Known in history as " Emirate of Nekor " was insurmountable not only to the Spanish army , but even to the Romans, the Arabs the Ottomans the Portuguese and the Vikings .. Every empire that prided itself on the greatness of its army was Crushed on our Land . thanks to Channel The Great WAr that's great Job
you must be proud to be descendant of an assassin who didnt respect his own word and killed 3000 soldiers after surrender. When he surrended in 1927 he had to be paid with in the same way. Shame and dishonour is in your blood.
@@haroldtheraccoon.haroldelm247 Let him be proud what's it to you? Besides the Monte Arruit massacre happened because the Spaniards rebelled against the Rifis, so they had to be put down.
The Romans lost 72,800 men at Cannae. The Arabs up to 50,000 men killed and captured at Bagdoura. The Ottomans despite having up to 100,000 men to invade Morocco, were defeated by a force of 18,000 men. The Portuguese despite having 60,000 men at Alcacer-Quibir lost 35,000 men killed or captured and were forced to abdicate and became a vassal of Spain for 60 years thanks to Morocco. The French took 22 years to fully conquer Morocco, losing some 65,000 men killed and up to 180,000 wounded. Morocco stronk!
@@Zakariya3603 spanish soldiers were there against his will my friend, they were FORCED to go fight there. He gave his word that if they surrended he would respect their lifes. He after that killed them. You think he has motives to be proud??? a coward who shortly after that surrended and ask for mercy? once again, his blood is cursed and dishonored
@@haroldtheraccoon.haroldelm247 The Spaniards took 6 years to defeat a man who only had at best 20-30,000 men at his disposal when they had up to 500,000 in the Rif. Chefchaouen, Dar Aquba, M'ter, Bouadel. Annual was not the only Spanish defeat and they got wrecked all over North Morocco to the point where even Tetuan was threatened and nearly fell in 1924. As for the Casualties, if i had to take a guess i'd say the Spaniards lost up to 200,000-250,000 killed against the Riffians with their French allies losing 40,000-50,000 killed and 100,000 wounded; Those same Riffians lost up to 25,000-30,000 killed and wounded according to most estimates. And Abd-el-Krim's tactics inspired Maoist China and Communist Vietnam where the Americans lost up 36,000 men killed against the Chinese and 58,000 men killed against Vietnamese. It even inspired Che Guevara who became one of the U.S's most skilled enemies.
The Annual Campaign was a clear example of "how to lose a battle", the Riffians just had to do the opposite of Silvestre to win. By the way, it is *SILVESTRE*, not _Silvester_ .
The brave maghrebeis (Moroccans) have defendant their lands well .. All. The love and respect to them and for sidi abdoul Karim alkhatabi from masr (egypt) 🌹❤️
Read about the Algerian resistance to the French invasion, over 32 years of war and up to 200,000 French soldiers killed in combat for 40-60,000 Algerian soldiers killed in combat.
@@thebog11 Spain defeated the Moroccans in the Rif because they had chemical weapons and hundreds of planes and tanks. They allied themselves with France and Germany and recruited half a million soldiers. The weak Spaniards were defeated at Anwal, and 19,000 professional soldiers were killed out of 3,000 ordinary citizens. what a shame! The Moroccans ruled Spain for 300 years during the reign of the Almoravids and the Almohads, and they defeated the Spaniards in dozens of battles in Toledo, the Green Island, Valencia and others, and hundreds of thousands of them were killed. Berber genetic strains E-L19, E-V65 and E-P2431 are present in Spain with 7% and a larger percentage in Portugal Spain occupies Ceuta, Melilla, Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands The Spaniards killed millions of innocent Native Americans, Filipinos, and Africans The Spaniards practiced slavery in Africa Spain before the sixteenth century was a weak country occupied by the Romans, the Visigoths and the Phoenicians. It was a country without civilization. Spain only ruled weak peoples such as the Native Americans and the Filipinos Spain exterminated the American Indians through diseases Spain must be held accountable for its killing of Muslims, Amerindians, Berbers and Filipinos
We the riffians give them à hard time Spain and France even that a spanish général silvestri killed himself out of Shame thats he lost against people from mountains with no weapons they know what of real warriors we are ✊🏼💪🏼
Very interesting! I knew close to zero about this history, thank you. One fine point: Spanish pronunciation is extremely simple, and always follows the spelling. So "Silvestre" ain't pronounced like the cartoon cat, but "sealVAYstray".
Im very happy knowing that this war has been gaining attention recently :) Nowadays the Rif has been low on economic developement, and as a Riffi from Nador, ive seen some of the stuff myself. May the Rif climb out of this hole.
History of the Rif war is finally being spread. Probably one of the most based conflicts in human history. It's truly amazing how well the moroccans did against the spanish and french despite technological and numerical inferiority to the spanish.
Don't be do ingnorant!!!!!! We are NOT moroccans nor part of morocco, the Rif Republic is never been part of morocco or the moroccan tyrant sultan regime, we are an different people with different culture, language, traditions and history. So please STOP calling the Rif or the Rif Republic morocco, that's An insult for the RIFFIANS!!!
The British fared better in their empire with the Eskimos, Australian Aborigines, African tribes, and Antarctic penguins. It is when the British say they had the largest empire in the world. And when fighting the Europeans, the British could hide on the famous island, so as not to lose. But they never had an empire in Europe. Napoleon came to Russia defeating the Germans, the Austrians, the Russians, the Spanish, the Italians, the Dutch, the English ... Spain spent 480 years in Italy, 70 years in Greece, 100 in Holand, 200 years in Belgium, 60 years in Portugal , 160 years in parts of France and Germany ... 200 millions of catholics in Central Europe. There the Australian aborigines did not fight precisely.
@Sem Kali انا ريفي مغربي من تاركيست اول مرة اسمع ان ريف ليس مغربي من اين لك هذه المعلومة و نزيدك انوال شاركوا فيها كل القباءل المغربية( جبالة و الاطلس المتوسط و حتى ناس الشرق ) فبدون كلام فارغ بالمناسبة ان كنت ريفي حقيقي اعطيني حدود هده الدولة الوهمية مدنها مساحتها و عدد سكانها و نزيدك عبد الكريم الخطابي درس و تعلم في فاس و ليس الريف
@@مرضيالوالدين-ه3ش Anta lasta Rifi bal DST moukhabarat Doubab Electrony internet troll fa9at, tacticokom ma3rouf wamakchouf moudo zaman. Jarrib had Lmrra b Pegasus L'israeli L'Mossadi ☝️☝️☝️
Mustard gas, not against moroccans so to speak, it was used against riffians rebels. Don´t forget that if Spain won the war at last it was because most of the riffians supported spaniards.
One of the Bigest regret that Abdel karim khattabi had was that he didn’t went to conquer Melilla when most of the soldiers fell outside the walls in the war. Melilia was easy meat. But why he didn’t is not clear.
@@ZWEA88 I would defend myself, but if that person after I gave him a beating begged me for mercy, I would not rip out his testicles while he was still alive and then blow his brains out.
Dude, I have to give you mad props for your pronounciation of Spanish and Arab words/names (and all other languages!). Seiously, this little detail serves to elevate your content to a new level.
Great video, very under-discussed subject matter, first learned about this from Wayback history’s Spanish Morocco documentary Spanish General Manuel Fernandez Silvestre was an eccentric and charismatic leader, one of the great characters of 20th century geopolitics, but who led his men to one of the great military disasters of the century. King Alfonso was cut from the same cloth and his favouritism of Silvestre led to a major personal rivalry between Silvestre and fellow general Damaso Berenguer. The Rif War was also a disaster because Spain colonized the area in 1912 without pacifying it, so when the Riffians rose up in 1919 and declared independence they trapped a lot of Spanish troops, and Silvestre kept stubbornly sending in more, who got repeatedly ambushed. Then when Silvestre went to withdraw his forces from forward position, another ambush provided the final nail in the coffin at the “Disaster of Annual” resulting in Silvestre’s death and Spain giving up on the war for the moment. It was only a few years later when the Rif Republic attacked French Morocco that the French helped the Spanish reconquer the Rif, essentially doing the job for them by deposing the Rif Republic in Adjir.
Doing the job for them? The Spanish Army was the one carrying the effort on the fight and the one who made possible the Alhucemas landing. The french only had a supportive role
@@Almirante1741 the French also attacked from the south with colonial troops and Abd el-Khrim ended up surrendering to the French after the landings although handing the territory to the Spanish.
This comment is plenty of sense and truth. Annual is the pivotal point of Spanish History for the next years and decades: the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Second Republic, even the Spanish Civil War have deep roots in this event. And many Spaniards doesn't know much about it.
@@freewal You misunderstood my words. When I said that many Spaniards doesn't know much about it I wanted to express exactly that: many doesn't know much. But of course Annual is taught in the secondary school. I disagree with you; in my opinion, it is especially important to teach to your children about a battle and a war in which your country was humiliated by tribesmen, and understand the causes of that fact, and its consequences. If not, then there's the most enduring tragedy, beyond the carnage itself.
The Spaniards and Moroccans are like the Frenchs and the Germans after many wars, they have understood that peace and friendship between peoples are better. I hope there will be no more war.
Jesse, Up and down with the eyebrows at the beginning and end of this video. I do enjoy your narration, though, and I find that you try to inject the personality of the speaker into the quotes. Kudos.
Alfonso XIII never said "chicken meat is cheap" about his dead soldiers, but (attributed) "How expensive is chicken meat!" referring to the ransom requested by Abd el Krim for the Spanish prisoners. Many of the survivors were commissioned officers, whose lives were spared for this purpose, while their surrendered troops were treacherously murdered.
So he was essentially called the soldiers that had been sent poorly trained and equipped and were suffering of heat strokes chickens? Aka, cowards. If this is the case, definitely one of his lowest moments...
This is the first time I have seen the association with the word " rif " and all out War , very knowledgeable your whole channel and it sharpens my history and geopolitic knowledge 👍😎
FINALLY! Someone covers this topic! You don't know how much I've waited for someone to cover this topic. Thanks for fulfilling my wish. By the way; ¡que viva la República del Rif!
Apart general Franco, another internationally well-known name is linked to the disaster of Annual: Picasso. An uncle of the painter, general Juan Picasso, wrote the official rapport on the battle, which was widely discussed on the Parliament. Picasso, predictably, relieved the surviving military top brass of all responsibility in the defeat.
An excellent exposé on the « Guerre du Rif », one of the most original and brillant attempts at liberation from colonial rule imagined et by the military and political genius Abdel Krim was. His uprising went on to inspire future wars of liberation in the post second WW era ( China, Algeria, Indochina)
@@freedomloverusa3030 they stayed 700 years only in Granada, you're a joke. And although they were in Spain, today we are a Catholic country, with European culture and a romance language. 700 years where the native Spanish people maintained its Roman, European and Christian heritage. The Muslims only left ruins and castles in so many years. The Romans left a culture we prevailed and spreaded all over the world.
Muy interesante. Ni siquiera los españoles ( por obvias razones), desarrollan tan bien el tema de la Guerra del Rift. Excelente video. Muy esclarecedor e ilustrativo.
In some of the old 1950s Foreign Legion movies, the Berbers and Riff were always shown as the bad guys. Those tribesmen were just protecting their land, like any indigenous people would. But, that's Hollywood. I grew up in the 50s and 60s thinking that the American Indians were always the savages. Now, I know better.
@@amsfountain8792 who is savage? the ones who used german chemical weapons for 4 years continueously to eliminate the whole nation and all living things in Rif or the ones who defend their homes and their famillies???????????????! logic!!
im a rifian , proud of our ancestors for fighting real hard for us . aviation was deployed in africa for the first time droping chemical bombs on villages in the rif region . that was the only way the spaniards could force the rifian tribes to surrender .abdelkrim elkhatabi and the rifians were the ones who created gerilla warfare for the first time .chegevara had huge respect for abdelkrim elkhatabi that he visited him in his exile in egypt .
The Rif War is a whole tranche of history I'd never heard of before. This was a fascinating episode! Well presented and pronunciated! You got a new subscriber
It seems it created a great turmoil in Spain, due to the serious defeats of spanish troops. Some people consider Abd-El-Krim as a bandit, and his troops as very savage, and others consider him a freedom guerrilla fighter and a great tactician.
Rif was not war
@@pedrojuan5581 One country invades another and is defeated. Sounds like a war to me.
@Salim Mosbahi Spain, but never France...? LOL
@@MrFeynmanDiagram Spain and france. While Hand to Hand war, they are pussies. Just 2.000 normally moroccan haven defeated about 12.000 spanish profesional soldiers. That is a humilliation you will never can handle or hiden.
Thank you for this excellent and well-documented presentation. My paternal uncle, Moh N' Haddou N' Moh, who took part in the liberation of Abarran, got killed at Sidi Driss and was buried in the village of Ighriben, one week before the battle of Anwal. His younger brother, Saddiq, who replaced him, also died in 1922 at Amezzawuw. And my father, Hammadi, their youngest brother, grew up brotherless and his children never knew their uncles, except through the stories told by their comrades who survived the Rif War. Bon courage!
I am from the rif to but i live in the Netherlands, when i go on vacation o go in the mountains where they fought and you cane still see the bullets on the floor
equal morocco was a colony a long time more!!.
@@gustavolebrech8883 what do you mean?
@@Nicola.M7 ceuta 1415
1415 Ceuta es española ole!.
My great grandfather fought in Melilla in 1890s then was drafted a second time to fight in Cuba. His enlistment lasted 9 years. In 1915 he took his family to Hawaii and then California so that his sons would not have to fight the Riff a second time. Probably saving their lives. Great work.
He knew the power of Riffians my friend,
Wow! You should write a book!
@@erikfrankenstein6340 Finally defeated. And my question is: Why you risk your lives crossing the sea in tiny boats to live in misery here in Spain?
@@r.ladaria135 Situations changed. But why Moroccans nowadays live there has nothing to do with the war so please talk only when its necessary.
@@r.ladaria135 Maybe is misery but in Europe are more chances for them and their childeren to make something of their life. In Morocco no chance, not because of the Riffians but because the dictatorship at the moment. Almost no investment in the RIF region.
As a riffain I want to thank the channel for this video.
Thank you very much!
I also thank, as a Spanish.
Me too, thank you all ❤️
I think it is a great video making the whole chain of events in Spain following it much clearer as well. Hats off for the Riffs. They had a leader who clearly understood his enemy and the incompetence of the Spanish leadership and a salon general did the rest. No doubt this episode gets a lot more attention in Marocco than many other places and it was great to get a fairly detailed account of it.
Yaquis said riffians fighted extremely well and knew no fear. Given that the yaquis knew no fear themselves, that´s quite the statement.
Hail from México
@@podemosurss8316 Spaniard mi amigo:)
These are the tid bits and pieces that I wish school could cover but I realize, can't. There's only so much time and information you can teach in a few hours.
Reminded of how some people say “they should teach this in schools” every time they learn a new history topic. I’d say this is a lot more worthy of it than the topics that usually get that kind of remark.
To much imagined history to teach real history.
Its always been down to yourself to find out about the lesser promoted history.
History is taught terribly in schools. No one would remember this information that way.
school is designed to create compliant citizens, nothing else. I was a teacher for a few years and learned this the hard way.
9:40
>Barges In
>Writes report listing what he sees as Spanish failures in Morocco
>Refuses to elaborate further
>Dies
After the disaster another general named Picasso (not the painter, but his uncle) made a full investigation on the disaster which culminated with the "Picasso expedient". The main result would be a coup by Miguel Primo de Rivera (whose brother died in the battle) and Picasso being dismissed as a general.
Fascinating. Granted, I've never been into researching the myriad of colonial wars over the centuries, but I had truly never even heard of the Rif War until this episode. Suddenly Spain and Morocco's 20th century interactions make a LOT more sense
We've never liked each other much
It is the typical war of the European empires in the 20th century, such as the British, the French, the Spanish, the Italian, portugues... We had already lost our glory, when we had an empire in Europe for centuries, invading Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Colonia, Amsterdam, Venizia, Brussels. And we all wanted to keep protectorates in Africa. But we all lost that empires before the 21st century.
@Nicholas Crowe Did you notice that the Spanish euphemistically referred to their colony in Morocco as a protectorate? Who were they protecting? Certainly not the locals! Rather, they were trying to protect their own arrogance. I am glad that the Berbers humbled them. The world powers have had a long history of invading other lands, conquering those peoples, and forcibly extracting from them every ounce of their resources and, even worse, their blood. Sadly, even though the Rif War occurred one hundred years ago, the world powers of today have not learned to stop their violent intrusions. Finally, to this very day Spain occupies the enclaves of Sebtah and Melilah in Morocco. Why?
@@raymondjelich185 Spain was not defeated in Morocco. Spain has only lost one war in 200 years, against the United States in 1898, although we had wars in Africa, America and Asia. We handed over the Spanish part of Morocco in 1956 (north and Ifni), peacefully. The UN says that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish, because Morocco did not exist when they were conquered, they were a lot of dispersed kingdoms, without unity. Ceuta was received from Portugal, not Morocco, in 1640. Melilla in 1497. Morocco has illegally invaded Western Sahara. Morocco doing colonialism in Africa. If we talk about blood and exploitation, Spain was invaded by the Arabs for 8 centuries, which caused 10 million deaths. Although Córdoba had two centuries of splendor, when it was the most important and developed city in Europe.
@@Gloriaimperial1 spain lost the war against a couple of countryman! after the big lost spain decided to call for other countries to join them fighting a couple of farmers.
The germans and english French and the moroccan traitor gouvernement assisted them by using illegal mosterd gas and killed massively even they're land was dead thats how they eventually controlled the wqr at the end.
All of this for a couple thousand countryman,farmers, gouvernementless people.
Spain was defeated by some countryman with swords and big cojones!
Thanks for taking the time to bring us this knowledge. I've been to Morocco many times and didn't know half of this.
@@aksil4841 this is bullshit . Protectorate system were in almost arabian and north african country ...
@@aksil4841 liar liar pants on fire
@@morosultanate692 It's not lies, it's the truth! The true history that was hidden from all moroccans! We even started calling ourselves "arabs" because of the brainwashing, when we all are amazigh, and if you have doubts about it I suggest for you to take a DNA test, you will be shocked.
You realize that the arabs who came literally made a genocide against the original people?
Abd El-Krim sounds like the Arminius of Morocco, with the Rif War being like the Battle of Teutoburg Forest; where the defeat, lives lost and damage to prestige for the Romans and the Spanish were almost the same.
Aye lads, that was a tough one
Well, both Armorinius and Abd el Krhim were finally defeated.
I thought the same while I was investigating those events. Im a huge Roman and Spanish history nut and I found some details that are shared in both battles.
-As you said, Abd-El-Krim is the Moroccan Arminius. Son of a native aristocrat, risen and educated in the "civilized world". Started helping colonial powers just to later betray them and liberate their people. He was also the only man able to unite all tribes under a single rule. Also, he was defeated not a long time after he was victorious.
-Both Spanish and Roman forces had problems entering the territory (mainly logistical and tactical dificulties) since they were driven to an unknown land which was perfect for an ambush. They also reacted trying to escape in a rush during the attack, which made them loose many men (men that in numerous cases were executed without any mercy by the natives).
-Both general Silvestre and Quintilius Varus underestimated and underrated their enemy, torturing and assasinating natives first (which ironically helped them unite). Another curious point about this two subjects is that both commited suicide during the battle (at least according to most sources).
-Both defeats affected greatly the moral of the soldiers and the view of their leaders for the populus.
-Some years later imperial powers came back with better generals, more prepared men and tactics, which sent the tribes back into colonial rule and separation.
-Another cool fact is that those elite spanish soldiers were in the "Legión" (yeah, History loves repeating stuff)
@@kamilhernandez2543 spain was helped by France, Morocco and the us. They used more than 500 ton chemical bombs. This was not a fair match. The Riffians defeated the Spanish, they would have defeated the French also if they had the same weapons.
Except Abd El-Krim actually followed the accepted customs of war and Arminius didn't.
As a moroccan i know the rif people to be the kindest and most honorable people in my country . I camped a lot back in the days and my favourite time was when i went there . But every moroccan knows the riffians as the strongest warriors. They were our frontiersmen for centuries.
Fighting the riffians on their home turf was the worst idea spain made. 3000 angry tribesmen can easily defeat any army that shows up.
Must be why Spain won the war
@@KevinLopez-pu7ll chemical weapons mostly .
@@elmehdibenhadj5770 no because of the alhucemas landing.
@@KevinLopez-pu7ll you used chemical.. lol even ciprus can beat germany if they attached them with nuclear bombs hhh baby
@@son-of-the-moorish-empire they only used chemical weapons on the terrorists who would hide in a mountain and attack innocent railroad workers and so on.
Been waiting for this for ages my family is from the same tribe as abdelkrim and its almost 100 years ago thank you very much for this amazing videi
You're welcome.
And how have the Riffians been with the Alawite monarchy?
@@landerviguera9575 Not on the best of terms, the government is suspicious of the Riffians and the Riffians don't like the government. There have been many protests over the years, and the most prominent one which occured in the middle 2010s resulted in the arrest and sentencing of Nasser Zefzafi, the leader of the protests. He was sentenced for 20 years in prison since his movement was regarded as a secessionist movement by the government. I have many Riffian friends who privately favor independence of the Rif.
Azul mmis n tmurth! Mamec ǧǧan at waryaɣer?
@@landerviguera9575 its just like Ameziane said in 1959, we are on opposite sides
Don't forget to check out our Franco-Prussian War series as well: th-cam.com/video/Od4lVhcvnxw/w-d-xo.html
Yes, it is pretty cool (though I'm biased).
@@jessealexander2695 haha😂
@@jessealexander2695 in future I hope you guys do 7 years war too
How cool! I had no idea you were doing history videos about the Franco-Prussian War. I will definitely check it out.
I love these videos on more niche topics that we otherwise wouldn't hear about
Afrika, ja, my home...
as a member of the french foreign legion my grandfather had to fight against the Melilla Kabilas due to the spanish-french coalition. He liked his supposed "enemies" and admired Abd El Krim who was a wise man that the spanish never understood. As a colonial employee Abd El Krim advised the spanish many times on how policy towards the rifeños should look like, but they never complied, so then he changed sides and rose to leadership. Tired of french and spanish racism and tyrannical military discipline my grandfather (he was a sergeant) finally refused to continue the indiscriminate killing of Amazigh rebels. This brought him respect from the side of the rifeños but hatred from the spanish and french. While he and other soldiers were put in jail for "lack of discipline" they decided to escape, which they did, only to be pursued by senegalese tiralleurs who killed half of them. My grandfather escaped (thanks to moroccan fishermen) and finally deserted and migrated to South America. I grew up listening to all these stories about the Rif and its people, and about stiff-headed people like Lyautey, Pétain and Franco (I think my grandfather should have written about such experiences, but I guess he suffered depression after WWI and his moroccan ordeal), with time I also begun to admire the irifiyen and imazighen people...
Beautiful story brother im a riffian
Wonderful story, do you have photos/letters per chance?
you write the story! =) I'm already compelled to read more!
@@riccardorigliano7110 unluckily my grandfather died more than 40 years ago, and I was too young to inquire in any systematic way. When he left Morocco he migrated to Argentina via Madeira and Brazil, so he could not have been carrying much stuff. Afterwards he died in Chile, we moved to the US, then Australia, then Europe, so any physical evidence was absolutely lost (the only thing I do still have is his mate gourd and bombilla... he used to grow mate tea close to the Iguazu falls). I know it would have been a wonderful story. Incidentally my sister visited the place in Morocco where my grandfather planned to live after serving in the army (he even had a marriage offer from one daughter of the Kabila`s elder), but then things developed otherwise. I could perhaps (sometimes it seems I should) write once a fictional version (I have already so much to write), may be, who knows...
As a Riffian i never thought people in South America would ever hear about the heroic stories of my ancestors. Salute to you and your brave family!
My great grandfather and his brothers fought in It. He was an 18 y/o conscript. He never forgot the war or forgave Spain to makes him fight in It, because of it when he returned he emigrated. His brothers stayed, some were executed during the civil war other fought on It and died. My great grandfather was the lucky one
Seems like quite a sad decline for the Spanish military from their glory days. From what I understand they never became a formidable fighting force again, even under Franco.
@@johnbowler395 In the fifties we had the Ifni crisis, what we won, but we had to give up anyway because colonizing wasn't trendy anymore...
@@johnbowler395 that's just false
@@jorgec.a3123 Care to explain?
@@johnbowler395 the Spanish military didn't decline, the Spanish military performed very well in many events throughout the war. This was just a defeat caused by one general. Our soldiers have always been up to the task and they've performed their duty with professionalism. This war saw the first amphibious landing with tanks and aircraft and that was the Alhucemas landing, saw men walking thousands of kilometers through the mountains to reach cities to defend, saw I'll equipped men do their outmost to accomplish the mision. They deserve a lot more respect
Great job, The Great War channel! Jesse, you do a great job trying to accurately pronounce foreign words and names. Many others don't even make the attempt or do so halfheartedly.
If you further explore the disaster of Annual and the war in the morrocan protectorate, you must talk about the "Picasso report" witch depicts the conditions of the troops, being send in combat with almost to no ammunition, no boots, etc due to the massive corruption of the officer class. The Picasso report was the reason spain felt on a dictatorship, and the report was never to be found until general Franco dictatorship ended.
He did mention the facts, regardless of whether his source of info is that report or some other.
The reason why Spain felt on a dictatorship?
This is their story they give illogical excuses because they can't accept defeat in Anwal
@@alkhatabi1 you should read a bit more, like all Muslims you seem to be illiterate.
You see when a corrupted stupid state sends it's own people to colonize and steal other people's land, that's the result you get. Shame to the end of the time
My great grandfather fought in the Rif war, never met him personally but I've heard that he never spoke about it, never took part in the Spanish Civil war and always blamed politicians for pointless wars
Now we need a Alhucemas landing episode
my great grandfathers too (at least two of them) but on the opposite side.
I have a grandfather that fought with Abdelkrim and one that fought for franco in the 30s.
@@adnanafulay3142 I got a Sephardic friend whose great grandfather fought for franco (he lived in the Protectorate). I assume yours was fighting AND living in the mainland, right?
@@motorola1543 yes but after the war got back to Melilla
@@adnanafulay3142 yours lived in Melilla and returned or are you saying the sephardic guy did? (You're correct btw I'm just not sure which one u are saying returned to Melilla)
The rif war is one of the important subjects which are teached in Spanish high school and is because the disaster of annual is the prime cause for the coup of Primo de Ribera and also the posterior fall of the spanish monarchy.
Yeah, i imagine losing 250,000 men in 6 years must have been a fatal blow to the already fragile Spanish monarchy.
@@Zakariya3603 250,000? Where do you get your firgures from? Probably an english historian? Lol. Dont forget, Spain lost a few battles but eventually won the war.
@@Carlos.Grande And Spain lost he majority of Battles like Sidi Messaoud, Dar Aquba, Chefchaouen...
@@Zakariya3603 yet still managed to win the war.
@@Carlos.Grande Just like Rome won the Second Punic war, just like the Russians eventually overwhelmed the Gemans despite disastrous losses, just like the English lost the 100 years war despite winning the majority of pitched battles.
And Abd-el-Krim surrendered to Petain after he bombed the civlian population the Riffians were still massacring the Spanish troops regardless despite being outnumbered 20 to 1.
I have just found out that a friend of mine’s grandfather took part in, and survived, this campaign. The family still have a farewell letter written to his mother when he thought he wouldn’t survive. His brother in law was in a calvary unit at the same time.
I enjoyed your video very much. I have two dear friends from Morocco. Both Berbers. I visited Morocco with the younger friend. He took us all over the Northern part of Morocco to visit his family who treated us just like family. He was from Rabat, but the family was from a village in the High Atlas Mountains. Such remoteness most Americans have never seen or visualized. He did not take us to Southern Morocco, formally Spanish Morocco. Because he had seldom been there. He taught me many things about his country. Its history and culture. I hope to go back some day. I am going to forward a link to your post. I hope to educate him or have his dispute what you say. He did tell me that "French Morocco" is quite different then "Spanish Morocco." What I have learned through my education and life's experiences is "colonialism" is a joke. That is one strong country exploiting a weaker one.
As a Filipino, our history of conflict with Imperial Spain stopped when they sold us to the US in 1898. The Rif War was the event that I only learned beyond our History classes. I see the Spanish attitude during their conflict with the Riffians were much like during their failed punitive expeditions against the Igorot of the Cordillera in Luzon and the Maranao of Lake Lanao in Mindanao. They always underestimate the natives.
The USA pushed Spain to surrender the Philippines under threat of war. The USA promoted and supported an insurrection of the Filipinos to "liberate" them from the Spanish. Once they threw out Spain, the USA stayed and massacred the Filipinos.
Yup Spain leave the Philippines after the US paid $20 Million.
@@bhumisvararanes8632 With all respect: you were fooled by the US.
@@davidlopez6703 Yes, we were. Thank you. Nevertheless, there are some patriots who warned our leaders back then about befriending the US for their business interests. They never listened and even assassinated those patriots for getting their way. I recommend watching the film 'Heneral Luna'. 🤙
@@davidlopez6703you could say that we were, but you, Spanish, had a chance to hold on to the Philippines by making the Philippines a part of Spain and giving Filipinos equal rights and representation to peninsular Spaniards (Rizal was not in favor of independence but rather equality) and you didn't, and so the revolution and loss of your empire was the result.
Yes the anoual war reminds me of the movie 300. For the curious, look up the war of bougafer and lahri that opposed amazighs (berbers) against french soldiers where amazighs destroyed them
wooooooooooooooooooow you make me proud being amazigh
1,200 Moroccan tribesmen against 83,000 French soldiers with the losses being 10,000 killed and wounded for the French for 600 losses.
Long life my Riffian people. ♓️
Every year we must remember Annual
Remember Annual... Annually!
Your channel looks lit. Gonna check your videos.
@@BoqPrecision ba dumm tss
21 jully 192a
And Alhucemas
Will you do a video about the "Informe Picasso", and "Desembarco de Alhucemas"? That'd be cool
I think that you should try to use some spanish written sources, the topic haa been greatly studied and should be easy to find said sources online, to roughly underatand the papers a translation tool should be enough.
You do know that Spanish sources are very propoganda(not all of course) but things like illegal warfare used by the spanish like chemical weapons are still being denied by Spain or their warcrimes which they refuse to apologize and this is from the present day let alone back then. I think we just need to look at sources that are proven to be correct even this video is very wrong by it self for calling the Rif an "berber region" which it is not(and btw is an very discriminatory use of words but I dont blame him)
But I would love a video on these topics tho
@@morocco_020fc7 I cannot understand why you say the use of chemical weapons is still being denied by Spain. It is common knowledge they were used, as it was common practise at this time. Nobody is denying this although you say so. Apologies are not necessary by the way. After apologies the request is always to ask for a check. War is war. The atrocities, mutilations and tortures of both sides are very well documented in photographs. Your comment seem unnecessary biased.
@@morocco_020fc7 it's funny because the majority of war crimes were commited by native people. You're a joke.
@@lam2083 Oooh yeah forgot how the Riffians/North Moroccans colonized themselfs and used illegal weapons on themselfs. LOL Its honestly so sad I need to argue abt an common fact
@@morocco_020fc7 it's not arguably, native people commited war crimes, that's a fact
The French and Spanish protectorates where established in 1912 after the second Moroccan crisis not in 1921
not protectorates ... colonisation those tricks u can use in 1921 not now .. :D we didnt forget :D
@@mehdiamraoui8488 Don't you just love the names and loaded meanings.
@STM I think he is referring to the Crisis of Agadir in 1911, or Second Moroccan crisis. The first one was the Tanger crisis in 1905
Well it was mostly just by name in the early years and vert little was actually changed. The last stronghold of Tindouf (previously a Moroccan city)only fell in 1934
@@mehdiamraoui8488 I hope you recall that the area was under Ottoman rule for much, much longer. The idea that colonisation and imperial rule are the strict preserve of Western powers is just wrong. :/ Ottoman interference in the region dates back to the 1500s. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that anything pre-1920 in North Africa was a pan-Islamic paradise of peace and pious unicorns.
Algorithm comment. Outstanding episode.
My great grandpa was there!!! ,it was hard, I have photos of him going really young and coming really worn out of that war.
From my grandmother I can say he didn't talk about the war and what he had to do...
Which side ?
My great grandfather was there too, not in Annual, got there two years later in 1923, he also never spoke about it, didn't take part in the Civil War and always blamed politicians for pointless wars
Same for me my great grandfather never speak of this war and serve in french cavalry
@@sonofwar6206 vraiment ? Il ne vous a jamais parlé ? Ça a du vraiment le marquer.
@@derrengui My great grandfather fought in the Rif War (Riffian side of course), I'm proud of my people and my ancestors
corrected: excellent film and excellent pronunciation.
Useful view on the morocco war, almost forgotten in Spain nowadays. I had my granpa doing his military service there inmediately after the war, around 1930. He was in the civil war too on the republican regular army , he might had served more than six years. He never talked much about.
Congratulations for this production and a suggestion on Portugal bloody night of 19 october 1921 and the republic. you can use the books of Douglas Wheeler for instance.
Always interested in this period. My dad was a fan, as a small kid, with the Gary Cooper film "Beau Geste", which led to an interest in the French Foreign Legion, which led to an interest in the author of "Beau Geste" Christopher Wren. In Wren's short stories he also wrote of the Spanish Foreign Legion in the Rif War. Dad had some books on this and the interest was passed on to me. While I did pick up some secondary knowledge in college on the Rif War, due to a Spanish Civil War seminar (Franco made hid name in Morocco), I've never had many details on it. Thanks. Never quite realized the Spanish Protectorate was such a small area.
I have read Wren's main book, Beau Gest, but have not seen the movie. The UK is now half as small as Spain. I mean all empires end sometime.
I suppose we wanted to emulate too late, and in a small territory, the golden age, when Spain was 480 years in Italy, 200 years in Belgium, 100 years in Holland, 70 years in Athens, 60 years in Portugal, 160 years in parts of France and Germany. We were not in England just because there were 3 storms (1588, 1596 and 1597). Three invincible fleets. But Felipe II of Spain was king of England and Ireland, sparing Elisabeth's life (Maria Tudor wanted to kill Elisabeth). But it is true that in the twentieth century the golden age had already ended. The legacy of the European countries remains. 800 million Catholics thanks to victories and Spanish investment (200 million in Europe and 100 million in Asia), and 600 million speakers of Spanish (the world's second mother tongue, with more native speakers than English and French combined) . The Rif? An adventure.
Let's take a moment to appreciate the amazing work this gentleman did. Did not miss any details
My great grandpa was sent to France in 1917 to fight Germans but he joined Abdelkrim when the insurrection began
excellent film and excellent pronunciation.
Useful view on the morocco war, almost forgotten in Spain nowadays. I had my granpa doing his military service inmediately after the war, around 1930. He was in the civil war too, he might had served more than six years.
Congratulations for this production and a suggestion on Portugal bloody night of 19 octuber 1921 and the republic. you can use the books of Douglas Wheeler for instance.
Fascist?
I first heard of this war when watching Morocco: Love in the Time of War on Netflix. Thanks for giving some more background.
That show is very biased and disgusting
That's a Spanish show, if it's the show I'm thinking of
@@oussamamarroqino2579 hahahahahaha
Be careful. This show is propaganda and a pure fiction.
Estoy feliz porque soy del campo de Alhucemas... y estoy en la misma zona donde vive Abdelkarim Al-Khattabi... las ruinas de su casa todavía están aquí... aún mantenemos el instinto de entusiasmo y ferocidad. Pensamientos inesperados en planes de guerra.. (Hay secretos que mi abuelo me cuenta sobre planes ingeniosos que me guardaré para mí) -La mente es más poderosa que el arma.
As a black American man I applaud and congratulate Morocco on this great victory!❤🇲🇦
The whites in your nation are working to keep your people divided also.
It would be best if you congratulated the Rif Republic and not Morocco. Morocco fought on the side of Spain and France against the Rif Republic.
What does that have to do with being black American
@@josrevelie8278Stop saying bs. Why are you bringing up the Moroccan population? My great grandfather who’s an amazigh (chleuh) from khemisset, middle atlas also fought the French. We all want to see an amazigh state emerge in the future inshallah, but stop putting the blame on us Moroccans bc of what the panarabist government has been doing to you. Plus, not only you, all of us imazighen. They don’t like our resistance to colonialism, they want us dead. May all riffian victims Rest In Peace.
@@josrevelie8278nope morroco never sided with Spain a terrorist invader country.Morroco always fight against Spain and won .
Early viewer returning after a long break from you channel. Do you have any plans to do a Spanish Civil War series?
Would be awesome, we have our hands full with The Great War and Glory & Defeat for the moment.
The truly saddest part of many wars is the common soldiers have no idea why they are really fighting and dying. They could all switch sides and still not know what they are fighting for or against.
Not in the case of the riffians. They were fighting to keep their land. Your incorrect opinion rings true for many of the wars Europeans and USA have incurred.
@@ael9065 Racist much?
@@thefool1086 Lol. Whenever somebody talks about facts and you get butthurt, you start talking about racism or phobism or whatever else to divert the subject. Riffians were defending their lands, yes. And Europeans and Americans were trying to get the land and ressources. mining, sharing hate btw tribes when they have found harmony btw them
Francisco Franco was serving in the Spanish Legion in July 1921 as its second-in-command. Modeled upon the French Foreign Legion, the Spanish Legion had been founded in 1920 by José Millán-Astray y Terreros, an officer given to histrionic outbursts and extreme battlefield behavior. But that's a story for another episode.
Meanwhile: over in Turkey on July 10 the Greeks attacked the Turkish Army in the Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir, breaking the Turkish defense line in Western Turkey. But the Greek Army failed to encircle the Turks, and the latter retreated to their final line at the Sakarya River after July 24.
Would be interested to hear more about the history of the Spanish Legion. I am a bit of a military nerd (I guess all here are!) and have watched a few TH-cam videos of their parades, including one where they bear a large crucifix.
franco and astray had many respect for abd el krim al kattabi and many morrocans called regulares fought in spanish civil war for the nationalist,today again in 2021 they are an elite spanish corps
"Viva La Muerte"
I was told this story by my uncle Blas - There was a mutiny over the poor food in the army in Morroco in 1896 under the command of Francisco Franco. The soldiers were called before Colonel Franco and a soldier pushed his plate out in front of Franco spilling some on his blouse. The cook was called forward and ordered to recook the evening meal. Franco then shot the soldier who spilled food on his shirt.
@@michaelmunoz6728 Franco was 4 years old in 1896 and didn't start his military service until 1907. I think your uncle lied to you unless he is talking about another Franco.
Arminius - served in the roman army, had relatives fully integrated into roman administration
Atilla - grew at the court of Constantinople, served in the Roman army
el-Krim - studied at Spanish school, worked as newspaper editor... what can possibly go wrong?
spain is not the heiress of the romans
@@guerrierinconnu4804 So what is the Roman city of Italica (Seville, Spain), a place that I have right behind my house? An Asterix theme park forgotten in time?
@@lloicasev people believe that europeans are the only heirs of romans
@@guerrierinconnu4804 claro que sí, campeón!!
@@lloicasev por eso la parte más rica del imperio romano fue la provincia de africa. Por eso la parte más poblada del imperio era la parte oriental, en egipto y siria y irak y anatolia.
Amazing video, thanks jesse!
Thank you.
I had not heard of this conflict before.
it seems odd to me that, for a country that once controlled a global empire from the America's to the Phillipines, that they were fairly ignorant about northern Morocco, a region they actually border with their African cities.
No Christian could visit places like Chaouen until the final establishment of the protectorate. There's an interesting book by a 19th century Spanish adventurer who got circumcised in order to pretend to be Muslim and travel to Morocco and other Muslim countries (Mecca even if I recall correctly), however he was a madman and half the "information" he sent back (he was paid for that) was totally made up (in this sense he was a bit like Graham Greene's "Our Man in Havana").
@@LuisAldamiz I'm from Chefchaouen* and duhhh this city was closed from the public for years until Spain took it. the reason it was is because of the reconquista the majority of the population was of Andalusian decent and they were afraid for any more Iberian imperialism they have an long history of fighting againts the portugues and if you visit the city you can see these discriptions of who builded alot of the infastructure and most will say that Portugues slaves did it. That is why the city is very well preserved and has an different culture but that doesn't mean other places weren't open to the public.
This wasnt something new.. the Iberians Portugal and Spain and their crsusaders had a similar catastrophic defeat at the battle of Qsar el Kebir also known as battle of the three kings.. when they were the biggesr empires at that time
@@bless00 Voltaire actually pointed that out, the Iberians had the biggest Empires but failed miserably in North Africa.
The Algiers expedition involved almost 70,000 men that were defeated by only 6,000 Algerians.
Love the new intro!
Thanks!
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Hey guys, are you going to do a video on Miguel Primo de Rivera? I wrote my BA thesis on him and would like your take.
C'mon people... when o when are you going accept other payment methods!
Annual and Rif war was Spanish Vietnam. Only with Alhucemas landing operation moths after, the first modern operation in History with Bombing Planes support, Spain won the war or pacify lands. Many Riff soldiers fought after for Franco during Spanish Civil war. Franco was the youngest general of Europe for war merits, with only 31 years old. The Riff Fighters respected General Franco because they thought that have some kind of gods protection, a know term as Baraka. The riff sniper was one of the best in the world, and Franco was an officer very brave and exposed to the enemy because the spirit of Spanish Legion which was "to be each soldier boyfriend of death and always prefer death to become cobard" , he always saved his life miraculously in the last moment many times, was imposible to kill him in front of snipers, there was many memories of veterans talking about this strange fact. Also Franco had a Friend, Berber Witch, who explain him that he was protected by Baraka, because have to save the Spirit reserve of western world the next years.
The Spanish won this war because Alhucemas landing and Spanish Legion new Elit army.
Yes the anoual war reminds me of the movie 300. For the curious, look up the war of bougafer and lahri that opposed amazighs (berbers) against french soldiers where amazighs destroyed them
15:40 The city of Cologne: Am I a drink to you?
I'm an grand-Son of a Riffian Veteran... I' REALLY, want to THANK YOU, for the ACCURACY, and the PRONONCIATION, in a Fluent, but accessible ... WEL, a HONEST WORK, & PROFESSIONALISM ,...
PS: I (really) WANT TO ...SHAKE YOUR HAND, for all the time SPENT TO "restituate" a PIECE, of my HERITAGE...🤝 TOP, LEVEL .. 👌EVEN, for resblishing TRUTH, of so called "BARBARIAN CAVEMEN, BLOODTHIRSTY, a "CLICHÉ" spread, also today in Morocco, by Men, WITHOUT ENOUGH HONOR, to relate facts, of BEING "FACTUAL“ .... YOU'VE A STRAIGHT PATH TO DUCCES, WATHEVER , FACT THAT ARE RELATED, WITH SUCH ACCURACY ....
YOUR AN "AYGHEZ "( It MEANS the "EQUIVALENT" OF "MENSCH", with a "M"
PS: THE EMBLEMATIC "FLOWER OF "Rif -REGION" Is like the "POPPY",🌺 like every NOVEMBER 11th, in U.KINGDOM ...
BEST REGARDS..🙏
The Leader of the liberation movement
" muhammad Abd el karim el khatabi "
he is My Grandfather
And I am proud of that, the family still keep our surname El khatabi
What some did not know the "Rif Land "Known in history as " Emirate of Nekor " was insurmountable not only to
the Spanish army
, but even to the Romans, the Arabs the Ottomans the Portuguese and the Vikings .. Every empire that prided itself on the greatness of its army was Crushed on our Land .
thanks to Channel The Great WAr that's great Job
you must be proud to be descendant of an assassin who didnt respect his own word and killed 3000 soldiers after surrender. When he surrended in 1927 he had to be paid with in the same way. Shame and dishonour is in your blood.
@@haroldtheraccoon.haroldelm247 Let him be proud what's it to you?
Besides the Monte Arruit massacre happened because the Spaniards rebelled against the Rifis, so they had to be put down.
The Romans lost 72,800 men at Cannae.
The Arabs up to 50,000 men killed and captured at Bagdoura.
The Ottomans despite having up to 100,000 men to invade Morocco, were defeated by a force of 18,000 men.
The Portuguese despite having 60,000 men at Alcacer-Quibir lost 35,000 men killed or captured and were forced to abdicate and became a vassal of Spain for 60 years thanks to Morocco.
The French took 22 years to fully conquer Morocco, losing some 65,000 men killed and up to 180,000 wounded.
Morocco stronk!
@@Zakariya3603 spanish soldiers were there against his will my friend, they were FORCED to go fight there. He gave his word that if they surrended he would respect their lifes. He after that killed them. You think he has motives to be proud??? a coward who shortly after that surrended and ask for mercy? once again, his blood is cursed and dishonored
@@haroldtheraccoon.haroldelm247 The Spaniards took 6 years to defeat a man who only had at best 20-30,000 men at his disposal when they had up to 500,000 in the Rif.
Chefchaouen, Dar Aquba, M'ter, Bouadel. Annual was not the only Spanish defeat and they got wrecked all over North Morocco to the point where even Tetuan was threatened and nearly fell in 1924.
As for the Casualties, if i had to take a guess i'd say the Spaniards lost up to 200,000-250,000 killed against the Riffians with their French allies losing 40,000-50,000 killed and 100,000 wounded;
Those same Riffians lost up to 25,000-30,000 killed and wounded according to most estimates.
And Abd-el-Krim's tactics inspired Maoist China and Communist Vietnam where the Americans lost up 36,000 men killed against the Chinese and 58,000 men killed against Vietnamese.
It even inspired Che Guevara who became one of the U.S's most skilled enemies.
The Annual Campaign was a clear example of "how to lose a battle", the Riffians just had to do the opposite of Silvestre to win.
By the way, it is *SILVESTRE*, not _Silvester_ .
The brave maghrebeis (Moroccans) have defendant their lands well .. All. The love and respect to them and for sidi abdoul Karim alkhatabi from masr (egypt)
🌹❤️
Read about the Algerian resistance to the French invasion, over 32 years of war and up to 200,000 French soldiers killed in combat for 40-60,000 Algerian soldiers killed in combat.
Great video ❤👊
"Run! Run! The Bogeyman is coming!" Damn, John Wick must have got himself a time machine!
Abooga.. booga... booga...
Lol, The Spanish were never known for their amries.
@@Marinealver The Spanish army of the 16th century was arguably the best in the world.
¡Corran, soldaditos, corran que viene el Coco...! (Silvestre's desperation when his men began the stampede out of the position)
@@thebog11
Spain defeated the Moroccans in the Rif because they had chemical weapons and hundreds of planes and tanks. They allied themselves with France and Germany and recruited half a million soldiers.
The weak Spaniards were defeated at Anwal, and 19,000 professional soldiers were killed out of 3,000 ordinary citizens. what a shame!
The Moroccans ruled Spain for 300 years during the reign of the Almoravids and the Almohads, and they defeated the Spaniards in dozens of battles in Toledo, the Green Island, Valencia and others, and hundreds of thousands of them were killed.
Berber genetic strains E-L19, E-V65 and E-P2431 are present in Spain with 7% and a larger percentage in Portugal
Spain occupies Ceuta, Melilla, Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands
The Spaniards killed millions of innocent Native Americans, Filipinos, and Africans
The Spaniards practiced slavery in Africa
Spain before the sixteenth century was a weak country occupied by the Romans, the Visigoths and the Phoenicians. It was a country without civilization.
Spain only ruled weak peoples such as the Native Americans and the Filipinos Spain exterminated the American Indians through diseases
Spain must be held accountable for its killing of Muslims, Amerindians, Berbers and Filipinos
We the riffians give them à hard time Spain and France even that a spanish général silvestri killed himself out of Shame thats he lost against people from mountains with no weapons they know what of real warriors we are ✊🏼💪🏼
Very interesting! I knew close to zero about this history, thank you. One fine point: Spanish pronunciation is extremely simple, and always follows the spelling. So "Silvestre" ain't pronounced like the cartoon cat, but "sealVAYstray".
Im very happy knowing that this war has been gaining attention recently :)
Nowadays the Rif has been low on economic developement, and as a Riffi from Nador, ive seen some of the stuff myself. May the Rif climb out of this hole.
As a MOROCCAN Rifi i wich all the best for my country, from Tangiers to Lagouira !!!
Now Rif is developing fast.
I’m from Nador too.
@@freewal Nador is getting arabized very fast, is that the "development" ?
@@souladvice You're getting englishized. Is that what you call ''development''?
@@goxalineArif will never be moroccan. Just like it never became spanish. Greetings to your aunties in Bousbir 😘
Thanks for the effort, the battle of anwal was 👍
Best war history channel on TH-cam.
been waiting for this one for a while!
13:46 These small outposts were called "blocaos" (blockhouses)
loves your pronunciations so expertly done
Very interesting Video. I can read spanish but havnt had the time to research this war yet
History of the Rif war is finally being spread. Probably one of the most based conflicts in human history. It's truly amazing how well the moroccans did against the spanish and french despite technological and numerical inferiority to the spanish.
Don't be do ingnorant!!!!!! We are NOT moroccans nor part of morocco, the Rif Republic is never been part of morocco or the moroccan tyrant sultan regime, we are an different people with different culture, language, traditions and history.
So please STOP calling the Rif or the Rif Republic morocco, that's An insult for the RIFFIANS!!!
The British fared better in their empire with the Eskimos, Australian Aborigines, African tribes, and Antarctic penguins. It is when the British say they had the largest empire in the world. And when fighting the Europeans, the British could hide on the famous island, so as not to lose. But they never had an empire in Europe. Napoleon came to Russia defeating the Germans, the Austrians, the Russians, the Spanish, the Italians, the Dutch, the English ... Spain spent 480 years in Italy, 70 years in Greece, 100 in Holand, 200 years in Belgium, 60 years in Portugal , 160 years in parts of France and Germany ... 200 millions of catholics in Central Europe. There the Australian aborigines did not fight precisely.
@Sem Kali انا ريفي مغربي من تاركيست اول مرة اسمع ان ريف ليس مغربي من اين لك هذه المعلومة و نزيدك انوال شاركوا فيها كل القباءل المغربية( جبالة و الاطلس المتوسط و حتى ناس الشرق ) فبدون كلام فارغ بالمناسبة ان كنت ريفي حقيقي اعطيني حدود هده الدولة الوهمية مدنها مساحتها و عدد سكانها و نزيدك عبد الكريم الخطابي درس و تعلم في فاس و ليس الريف
@@مرضيالوالدين-ه3ش Anta lasta Rifi bal DST moukhabarat Doubab Electrony internet troll fa9at, tacticokom ma3rouf wamakchouf moudo zaman. Jarrib had Lmrra b Pegasus L'israeli L'Mossadi ☝️☝️☝️
@@semkali9028
Bro its so sad to be Algerian isnt it?
Great job ! I'm curious to know more about the chemical weapon used later against Moroccans.
War crimes. Spain never has been judged for this.
Il seems mustard gas produced in Germany was first used by the Spaniards against Berber villages in 1924
Jacques Tual jajajajajaja
@@freewal And it won´t be. We´ll have to judge Marocc too.
Mustard gas, not against moroccans so to speak, it was used against riffians rebels. Don´t forget that if Spain won the war at last it was because most of the riffians supported spaniards.
Abdelkrim was a really admirable man, with a bit more luck he'd have been the Arminius of Arif. Long live the free peoples!
Yes ,long live the free peoples including the catalans
@@atilathehun4972 - And the Basques, the Kurds, the Palestinians, the Sahrawis, the Corsicans, the Irish, etc.
@@LuisAldamiz Also Rohingyas, Uighurs and Papuans.
@@renzeusoya5828 Ditto. Although there are many other nations fighting for freedom from Burma.
Abdelkrim was a dar criminal Who tortured thousands of prisioners. A ver si enteras bien
Great work sir, Most informative. Thanks
Rif war I meant to say. Again great video well done 👍🏻...
your prononciation skills are top notch.
Thanks!
And in so many different languages, too!
Except for spanish...
Ikr
One of the Bigest regret that Abdel karim khattabi had was that he didn’t went to conquer Melilla when most of the soldiers fell outside the walls in the war. Melilia was easy meat. But why he didn’t is not clear.
Abd el-Krim was truly a brilliant leader.
He was just a murderer
@@acusticamenteconvusional9936 even murderers can be great leaders.
@@ZWEA88 I would defend myself, but if that person after I gave him a beating begged me for mercy, I would not rip out his testicles while he was still alive and then blow his brains out.
@@ZWEA88 I guess that yes???
One, a thousand Anuals! Long live the free peoples!
First class production and presentation.
Dude, I have to give you mad props for your pronounciation of Spanish and Arab words/names (and all other languages!). Seiously, this little detail serves to elevate your content to a new level.
Great video, very under-discussed subject matter, first learned about this from Wayback history’s Spanish Morocco documentary
Spanish General Manuel Fernandez Silvestre was an eccentric and charismatic leader, one of the great characters of 20th century geopolitics, but who led his men to one of the great military disasters of the century.
King Alfonso was cut from the same cloth and his favouritism of Silvestre led to a major personal rivalry between Silvestre and fellow general Damaso Berenguer.
The Rif War was also a disaster because Spain colonized the area in 1912 without pacifying it, so when the Riffians rose up in 1919 and declared independence they trapped a lot of Spanish troops, and Silvestre kept stubbornly sending in more, who got repeatedly ambushed. Then when Silvestre went to withdraw his forces from forward position, another ambush provided the final nail in the coffin at the “Disaster of Annual” resulting in Silvestre’s death and Spain giving up on the war for the moment. It was only a few years later when the Rif Republic attacked French Morocco that the French helped the Spanish reconquer the Rif, essentially doing the job for them by deposing the Rif Republic in Adjir.
Doing the job for them? The Spanish Army was the one carrying the effort on the fight and the one who made possible the Alhucemas landing. The french only had a supportive role
@@Almirante1741 the French also attacked from the south with colonial troops and Abd el-Khrim ended up surrendering to the French after the landings although handing the territory to the Spanish.
Well, abd el krim had to choose between being executed by the spanish or being sent to die in exile by the french, he had a clear choice
France had the same destiny that the Spanish, riff troops almost came to occupy Casablanca.
That's a faulty oversimplification
Spanish modern history makes no sense without the annual disaster. Very interesting topic.
This comment is plenty of sense and truth. Annual is the pivotal point of Spanish History for the next years and decades: the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Second Republic, even the Spanish Civil War have deep roots in this event. And many Spaniards doesn't know much about it.
@@ftr1453 Exactly, even in the school we learn about it.....;
Spanish modern history makes no sense. Full stop.
@@ftr1453 well when you are humiliated by tribesmen of course you don’t teach that to your children
@@freewal You misunderstood my words. When I said that many Spaniards doesn't know much about it I wanted to express exactly that: many doesn't know much. But of course Annual is taught in the secondary school. I disagree with you; in my opinion, it is especially important to teach to your children about a battle and a war in which your country was humiliated by tribesmen, and understand the causes of that fact, and its consequences. If not, then there's the most enduring tragedy, beyond the carnage itself.
The Spaniards and Moroccans are like the Frenchs and the Germans after many wars, they have understood that peace and friendship between peoples are better. I hope there will be no more war.
not for Moroccans, they are extremely beligerant and ungrateful
@@EEST-Militia it's the opposite actually.
@@EEST-Militia
The genes of the Spaniards are Moroccan as a result of the sexual relations of Moroccans with Spanish women
Excellent early 20th Century history programs!! Thanks Patreon
Jesse, Up and down with the eyebrows at the beginning and end of this video. I do enjoy your narration, though, and I find that you try to inject the personality of the speaker into the quotes. Kudos.
8:18 If you want to know how much 5000 pesetas were worth at the time, my great-great-grandfather bought a house for the price of 25 pesetas.
Thanks again for another chunk of history I hadn't heard much of outside of background for Franco
Alfonso XIII never said "chicken meat is cheap" about his dead soldiers, but (attributed) "How expensive is chicken meat!" referring to the ransom requested by Abd el Krim for the Spanish prisoners. Many of the survivors were commissioned officers, whose lives were spared for this purpose, while their surrendered troops were treacherously murdered.
and you still have got the courage to open your mouth after all you colonialists did
@@artitude6402 the one that sould close the mouth is you, Spain didnt do colonialism, was a conquest, like the roman empire
@A Velsen colonialists are a race ! ??? which school taught you that ?
So he was essentially called the soldiers that had been sent poorly trained and equipped and were suffering of heat strokes chickens? Aka, cowards. If this is the case, definitely one of his lowest moments...
@@albertogarciaprieto4637 romans didn't gas people
This is the first time I have seen the association with the word " rif " and all out War , very knowledgeable your whole channel and it sharpens my history and geopolitic knowledge 👍😎
The great war does such a great job, I almost feel guilty I don’t listen as much as I used to
They are called Imazighen people not "berber" people.
Stop being ignorant
baby yoda
FINALLY! Someone covers this topic! You don't know how much I've waited for someone to cover this topic. Thanks for fulfilling my wish. By the way; ¡que viva la República del Rif!
Que duro 4 años contados
Viva what? They colonized and oppressed people. Nothing viva about the evil colonizer.
@@skyhappy no sabes ni lo que pone jajaja
Ad tdder tayduda n Arrif!!
Y que viva la republica catalana
Apart general Franco, another internationally well-known name is linked to the disaster of Annual: Picasso. An uncle of the painter, general Juan Picasso, wrote the official rapport on the battle, which was widely discussed on the Parliament. Picasso, predictably, relieved the surviving military top brass of all responsibility in the defeat.
Actually it's the opposite way: on the full report he blames Silvestre and the King, so they censored the report and ended his career.
Yet another excellent documentary
Wow learned something new today. Very we'll done.
Proud to be Amazigh as our brothers in rif of Morocco resisted also my ancestors in kabylia resisted france
An excellent exposé on the « Guerre du Rif », one of the most original and brillant attempts at liberation from colonial rule imagined et by the military and political genius Abdel Krim was. His uprising went on to inspire future wars of liberation in the post second WW era ( China, Algeria, Indochina)
They were the invaders of Spain for 800 years. And of the rest of North Africa.
So they wanted to keep the Germans out but they still LOVED their Mauser m93 ,
Communists riots isn't liberation , just another yoke
@@freedomloverusa3030 they stayed 700 years only in Granada, you're a joke. And although they were in Spain, today we are a Catholic country, with European culture and a romance language. 700 years where the native Spanish people maintained its Roman, European and Christian heritage. The Muslims only left ruins and castles in so many years. The Romans left a culture we prevailed and spreaded all over the world.
@@lam2083 Romance language with thousands of words of Arabic origin
Muy interesante. Ni siquiera los españoles ( por obvias razones), desarrollan tan bien el tema de la Guerra del Rift. Excelente video. Muy esclarecedor e ilustrativo.
No serás tú que no lees aunque te maten a palos?.
In some of the old 1950s Foreign Legion movies, the Berbers and Riff were always shown as the bad guys. Those tribesmen were just protecting their land, like any indigenous people would. But, that's Hollywood. I grew up in the 50s and 60s thinking that the American Indians were always the savages. Now, I know better.
But they were savages.
@@amsfountain8792 who is savage? the ones who used german chemical weapons for 4 years continueously to eliminate the whole nation and all living things in Rif or the ones who defend their homes and their famillies???????????????! logic!!
@@anirbellahcen5551 Defending your home doesn make you less a savage. Using weapons is part of war.
@@amsfountain8792 By that logic the Germans were also savages compared to the Romans.
Fantastic episode!
im a rifian , proud of our ancestors for fighting real hard for us . aviation was deployed in africa for the first time droping chemical bombs on villages in the rif region . that was the only way the spaniards could force the rifian tribes to surrender .abdelkrim elkhatabi and the rifians were the ones who created gerilla warfare for the first time .chegevara had huge respect for abdelkrim elkhatabi that he visited him in his exile in egypt .
The Rif nort Morocco, prins abdel karim el khatabi, Berber Berber Rif hollanda Utrecht ❤❤
0:57 In a blink of the eye "Reenforcements pour into the heart of the Riff territory." XD
one of the huge figures of anti-colonial resistance
@Sebres Ludolf really? Even after he acted like a dog for non muslims and killed muslims for them?
@@morewi That's even better. That way he saw colonizers for what they truly are rather than blindly believing in agitprop.
@@renzeusoya5828 > That way he saw colonizers for what they truly are
Yeah, land grabbers.
Excellent program well done
Great video
Proud to be a part of the rifland my mother land
Can you do a report on the spanish foreign legion? Thank you.
¡Viva El Muerte!
They come later.
@@oltyret they alredy in service in that time
@@Martin-ut2kt But not deployed to the Rif.
@@oltyret he was created in north África,Who was not deployed yet