“A Free State with Full Sovereignty”: Amazigh (Berber) Anticolonialism and the Republic of the Rif in Morocco

Throughout Africa and Asia in the 1920s and 1930s, colonized people regularly challenged European rule. Many of these revolts were brief before Europeans used superior military technology to suppress the uprisings. In the case of the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, local Amazigh (Berbers), led by Abd el-Krim, defeated the Spanish in 1921 and established an independent Republic until 1926. Because of Spain’s inability to suppress the Rif Uprising, the French became involved. Because of France’s superior military technology, they defeated el-Krim’s forces in 1926.

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