Book Review: France, Spain, and the Rif by Walter B. Harris (Ep.20)

Do you enjoy learning about unique and forgotten parts of history? Have you ever heard of the Rif war? If you have, your the minority. Join me for this review of the only book to cover the war from all sides,  and the only review for this book on the internet (that I could find).

Works Cited:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rif_War
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Burton_Harris

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Transcript

Hello everyone, I am your host Josh, welcome to the Revitalized Reading Podcast. For today’s episode, I will be reviewing the non-fiction historical book ‘France, Spain, and the Rif’ by Walter B. Harris. If you’re looking to learn some more about a relatively unknown conflict in history, I think your going to enjoy today’s episode.

This version of the book is a newer edition, but is in almost the exact same configuration it was in upon publication back in 1927. Let me read to you the synopsis found on the back of the book. “A rare English account of an important but often forgotten colonial conflict: the Rif War in Morocco in the 1920’s, in which Spain and France fought a long and bruising rebellion by Berber Rebels under their charismatic leader, Abdel Krim, whose tactics had a great influence over other anti-colonial guerilla leaders.”

Here is a general history of the books author, Walter B. Harris. Walter Burton Harris was born on August 29th 1866, in London England. Harris was born into a wealthy family, and would be surrounded by equally accomplished and successful siblings. Because of his Fathers shipping company connections, Harris had already traveled to every continent in the world except Antarctica by the time he was 18 years old. At age 19, Harris would join a British Diplomat in his travels to Tangier in Morocco. Harris would be so impressed and captivated by the nation, he chose to make it his home for the remainder of his life. 

While living in Morocco, Harris would be a special correspondent for the British newspaper, ‘The Times’, which would make him somewhat of a celebrity when he would return to Great Britain on holiday. To make life easier and fully take in the culture of Morocco, Harris would dress like the native Berber people on many occasions, and learned French, Spanish, and Darija, a localized form of Arabic. Harris’s reporting would at times land him in trouble, especially during the tumultuous times of the 1910’s and 20’s, but he mostly garnered the respect and appreciation of both local and foreign entities. Altogether, Harris would publish 8 books in his lifetime, most of them a collection of stories and observations from Morocco and his other world travels. While sailing across the Mediterranean, Harris would suffer a severe stroke. By the time they reached Malta, he had already passed way at the age of 67. He is buried in his Private garden and residence in Tangier Morocco.  

Now I’m going to summarize the content in the book chapter by chapter, so let’s begin with chapter 1, The Status of France and Spain in Morocco. After many tumultuous years in Morocco, the French Third Republic would sign the treaty of Fes with Sultan Abd-Al-hafid in 1912, making Morocco a French protectorate and no longer an independent nation. Spain, still reeling from its severe losses of its colonies in the Caribbean, and the Philippines a decade earlier, saw the strategic location of Morocco, and its rich iron-mines as a great opportunity to regain its colonial stature. A few months later, the Kingdom of Spain would sign a treaty with France sharing the protectorate together, Spain taking the Northern half with its capital in Tetua, and the French taking the Southern portion. This fateful agreement would set the stage for the conflict. 

Chapter 2, The Rif.  The Rifian people, who have inhabited Morocco for thousands of years, are the other big player in this conflict. The Rifian, or Rif, named after the Rif mountains, are a Berber people, that are mostly Sunni muslim, but unlike many other Islamic nations, the Rif maintained much of their cultural practices and traditions alongside their faith. Through centuries of inter-tribal warfare, and the occasional European intervention, the Rif became skilled, tough, and ruthless warriors, led by the charismatic and extremely capable Abd-el Krim. The Rif, not too pleased about their rulers, began to ramp up rebellious and insurrectionist activities, especially towards the Spanish. This would soon devolve into a complete war, that would come to be known forever after, as the Rif war.  

Chapter 3, Spain in the Rif. Unlike France, Spain stayed out of the First World War, allowing them to focus all of their military might and concentrate it on keeping the peace in the Spanish protectorate of Morocco. However, the Spanish military was bereft of experienced and most importantly, competent Generals, and worse than that, the logistics situation in Morocco was abysmal. Troops had old rifles, worn out uniforms, not enough ammo, and irregular and inconsistent food and water supplies. After the Rif’s Rebellion against the Spanish grew more intense, the Rif sensed the Spanish vulnerability. Son in July of 1921, the Rif soldiers began a series of attacks on numerous Spanish outposts, and immediately cut off their supplies and escape routes. Many Spanish bastions were annihilated, those that managed to retreat were constantly caught off guard by guerilla tactics employed by Krim and his men. This slaughter and tactical blunder became known as the ‘Disaster of Annual’, and it resulted in 13,000 Spanish casualties, while the Rif lost less than 1,000. The Tragedy was worsened when it was discovered that 2,000 Spanish soldiers were massacred at Monte Arruit. What remained of the Spanish Army in Morocco, re-grouped in Melilla. The Rif, led by Abd-El Krim, declared an Independent state, The Republic of the Rif. 

Chapter 4, The Spanish and the Jibala. After the disaster ridden year of 1921, the Spanish began to build back up their army in Morocco, and began to formulate a plan to retake all of the ground they had lost. Through months of hard fighting, the Spanish were able to regain nearly all of their former outposts, and strived to not make the same mistakes with logistics and strategy moving forward. As the Spanish began to dig in and prepare for a Rif counter-attack, the Jibala tribe, and the Rif got into a conflict themselves, allowing the Spanish a brief reprieve from combat. 

Chapter 5, the Relief of Sheshuan. In 1922, the Spanish garrison at Sheshuan came under attack. Struggling to hold on against skilled and experienced fighters, the Spanish immediately sent a relief force to save the position. Anticipating this, the Rif made it as costly as possible for the Spanish to relieve their comrades. More Spanish soldiers were killed in the relief force, than soldiers killed in Sheshuan itself, but the relief was successful, now, they just had to get out alive. 

Chapter 6, The evacuation of Sheshuan. Relieving Sheshuan was hard enough, but the successful retreat back to Spanish lines would prove to be the hardest part. The Spanish would endure days of near constant harassment from Rif fighters, sometimes in groups as small as 40-50, and other times groups of 1500-2000. The Hit and run tactics employed against the Spanish were devastating, and the casualties would continue to mount. Despite their best efforts, the Rif were unable to trap and eliminate the Spanish relief force, suffering many casualties of their own. This would be the last major action for years, resulting in a stalemate of sorts for both forces. The Republic of the Rif in the meantime desperately tried to gain recognition from other nations, but was unsuccessful. 

Chapter 7, Disembarkation in the Rif. While the war was stagnant, the Spanish government and people were in a commotion. The majority of the government, and the Spanish people were leaning towards ending the war in Morocco, thinking the loss of life and money wasn’t worth the territories advantages. The military however, wanted nothing to do with quitting and walking away, so they began to draw up a military coup. On September 13th, 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera led the military’s successful and peaceful coup against the Spanish government. In a strange twist, General Miguel would choose to pull the Spanish forces out of the Moroccan frontier, despite their well defended and equipped positions, essentially putting the conflict on pause for almost two years. 

Chapter 8, the French in Morocco. Coming off the First World War, which demoralized and traumatized the French people and government, the French were in no hurry to get involved in the conflict between Spain and the Rif. However, the French prepared as if war was imminent, and began to slowly increase their men and material in the French protectorate. Despite their preparation, the French were making many of the same mistakes that haunted the Spanish in 1921, and soon, the French would learn for themselves how severely they underestimated the Rif, and overestimated themselves. 

Chapter 9, The French Campaign: Spring 1925. In the spring of 1925, the Rif attacked the French outposts with over 6,000 men. Despite outnumbering the Rif, and having superior firepower, the French lost 75% of their positions, and were sent into an unorganized and chaotic retreat. While their casualties were high, they weren’t nearly as high as the Spanish ones at Annual back in 1921. The French military, government, and people, were enraged. Despite their best efforts to remain uninvolved in the conflict, the Rif dragged them in. In a matter of months, the French would bring in tanks, aircraft, heavy artillery, and an additional 200,000 men, on top of their roughly 95,000. The Rif had poked the French with a stick, and they were about to feel the bite.  

Chapter 10, The French campaign: Summer 1925. Soon after France was attacked, Spain saw an opportunity to reignite their campaign in Morocco after nearly two years of waiting. Spain and France would begin to cooperate and plan their next moves, and finally put an end to the war. France got a huge boost when General Philippe Petain, of World War 1 fame, was assigned as the Major General of the French forces in Morocco. The French were planning a large scale offensive to push the Rif North into the Mountains, depriving them of their most useful and defensible territories, the Spanish planned for an ambitious, but potentially genius amphibious, or water borne landing deep in Rif territory at Alhucemas. In September of 1925, these two offensives took place simultaneously, and both achieved not only huge success, but suffered relatively light casualties. In a matter of weeks, the Rif lost most of their best territory, suffered the highest casualties of the war to that point, and were forced into the Mountains on both sides, with no real escape route. After years of successfully fighting not one, but two European powers, the Rif were experiencing the beginning of the end.  

Chapter 11, In Search of Peace. In early 1926, Abd-El Krim and the Rif fighters realized their situation, and began to pursue peace. France was willing to put an end to the expensive campaign, and accept peace, Spain however, wanted no part in it. Spain wished to see Krim, and the rebellious Rif be wiped out from off the face of the Earth if that were an option. In this time of unease, the fighting continued, but at a much smaller and concentrated scale. The Rif were now up against experienced troops who knew how to counter their guerilla tactics to some extent, along with heavy artillery, tanks, and aircraft, all things they had little to no means of sufficiently combating with their ever decreasing resources and manpower. In this time, the Spanish committed many atrocities against the Rif fighters and people, and employed Poison gas (lended to them by the Weimar government in Germany), against the Rif.

Chapter 12, The Ujda Conference. After much convincing, the French government was finally able to get the Spanish and the Rif on board for peace talks. However, as the talks commenced, it was clear that the objectives and desires of all three parties were vastly different. The Rif wanted to maintain their Republic, but would be willing to surrender the majority of their weapons and material. The French wanted to merely regain control of their protectorate, and wanted to see the end of the fighting. The Spanish wanted the Republic of the Rif to be dissolved, the Rif fighters and Abd El-Krim executed, and the Rif people to pay reparations in the form of high taxes and unlimited access to any and all resources. The peace talks went nowhere naturally, but the French and Spanish noticed the dire straits the Rif were in. The Rif were beginning to lose their will to fight, and were suffering severe shortages of ammo, food, and water. Both nations realized that peace talks might not be necessary. 

Chapter 13, Surrender of Abdel Krim. Finally, realizing the futility of the situation, Abd-El Krim surrendered near the end of 1926, along with most of his army. The Spanish and French were victorious at last. The cost of the war in money, and lives for all involved was immense. The Spanish economy was stagnated as a result of the conflict, and the political situation would continue to deteriorate until 1936, when the country was plunged into Civil War. The Spanish lost approximately 53,000 killed and wounded in the war. France had been in the conflict for only a year, but they lost 20,000 men killed and wounded, along with a significant amount of material. The Rif forces lost their republic, and their leader, along with 30,000 combatants killed and wounded, with potentially 60-90,000 civilians losing their lives in the conflict or being injured. The conflict would be a learning experience for not Just Spain, and Morocco, but other rebellious factions throughout history. The Tactics of the Rif during the Rif war, were studied and utilized by the Algerian nationals in the Algerian war of Independence against France in the 50’s and 60’s. The Viet Cong, under Ho Chi Minh, would also try similar tactics against the French, and then later the United States and South Vietnam in the 60’s and 70’s. Morocco would not receive its independence from Spain and France, until 1956, 30 years after the Rif War ended in defeat. Outside of Spain, and Morocco, the Rif war has been largely forgotten, and overlooked. Today’s episode is a tribute to all those who lost their lives in this conflict. 

I learned a great deal from this book, but I want to share with you three things that I found super interesting. The first fact, is that certain parts of Morocco in the 1920’s had been completely unexplored, or barely explored by Europeans. Despite being only 8 miles away from Mainland Europe, the fact there were parts of Morocco no European had seen until the 20th century, blows my mind. The Author of this book, Walter B. Harris, claims to be only the second European ever, to explore the Rif Mountains and its secluded villages. 

The Second fact I learned, was that the first ever amphibious landing to use tanks, and aircraft, was the joint Spanish and French landing at Alhucemas. This landing would be studied and examined by the Allied forces before the D-Day landings at Normandy during the Second World War, and the landings in Northern Africa by the United States in 1942, at Casablanca. Pretty cool.

The final interesting fact, is that Francisco Franco, the eventual Military dictator who led Nationalist Spain to victory in the nations civil war, got his start, and rose to fame during the Rif War. He showed his ability to lead men effectively, and make sound strategic decisions, and would become the youngest General in Europe in 1926, at the age of 33. Him, and many others who suffered through the Rif war, would prove to be the difference in the countries civil war a decade later. 

So, how does ‘France, Spain, and the Rif’ do when it comes to Comprehension, and Engagement? For comprehension, I give the book an 8/10. At times, the timeline gets murky, which made me use the internet to understand what was going on, and when, so that’s why its an 8 for me. As for engagement, I give the book a 6/10. It’s oddly slow at points for covering such an interesting war as this one, and the author seems to enjoy going into the weeds for weird tangents at equally weird times, so I think 6/10 is fair. As for the G-R rating, I think the book is PG-13. Its not particularly detailed or explicit in its description of combat, and the wars unfortunate atrocities, but I think there was just enough for me to not give it a PG rating. So as always, you know what’s best for you, or your kids. Props to your kids if they want to read this in the first place haha. 

Typically for my reviews, I will include reviews from fellow readers on Goodreads. Well, there’s a small problem, this book has no reviews, none, zero haha. To make things even more awkward, I can’t even find any reviews on the internet for this book. On Goodreads however, out of 7 ratings, the book has a rating of 3.86 

The final score that remains, is the overall score, and I’m going to give ‘France, Spain, and the Rif’ a 7/10. Final thoughts. (Final thoughts-no script). 

Thank you so much everyone for listening to today’s episode, make sure to look out for the poll I’ll be releasing tomorrow about which Non-fiction book you want me to read for Season 3. Join me next time as I will be reviewing the Dystopian novel, ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ by Sinclair Lewis. If you haven’t already, join the podcast social media pages so you can keep up with news and cool updates regarding the show, and participate in the podcasts awesome community. Have a great day, thanks for listening, and as always, keep reading, bye everyone.