60,000–100,000 soldiers 160,000 soldiers in northern Morocco 1925
69-540: The Rif War ( Tarifit : ⴰⵎⴻⵏⵖⵉ ⵏ ⴰⵔⵉⴼ , romanized: Amenɣi n Arif , Arabic : حرب الريف , romanized : ḥarb ar-rīf , Spanish : Guerra del Rif ) was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber (Amazigh) tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco . Led by Abd el-Krim , the Riffians at first inflicted several defeats on
138-571: A conflict that would last for several years. In 1921, in an attempt to consolidate control of the region, the Spanish troops suffered the catastrophic Disaster of Annual in addition to a rebellion led by Riffian leader Abd el-Krim. As a result, the Spanish retreated to a few fortified positions while Abd el-Krim ultimately created an entire independent state: the Republic of the Rif . The development of
207-651: A fine home in Tangier, the Villa Harris. Harris began writing for The Times in 1887 and became a permanent correspondent from 1906, at a time when Morocco was becoming a focus for conflict between the European powers. He had a first-hand view of the dynastic conflicts and political weaknesses that culminated in Morocco becoming a protectorate of France and Spain in 1912 and chronicled the events of that period in
276-488: A major war, were to total 8,628. On September 17, 1925, a squadron of American mercenary flyers in the service of France bombarded Chefchaouen . For the final attack commencing on 8 May 1925, the French and Spanish had ranged 123,000 men, supported by 150 aircraft, against 12,000 Rifians. Superior manpower and technology soon resolved the course of the war in favour of France and Spain. The French troops pushed through from
345-505: A military coup d'état on September 13, 1923. General Primo de Rivera was in the words of the American journalist James Perry a "moderate dictator" who was convinced that the divisions between the africanists vs. the abandonistas had pushed Spain to the brink of civil war, and who had seized power to find a way out of the crisis. General Primo de Rivera soon concluded that the war was unwinnable, and considered pulling back his troops to
414-473: A noted banker, Frederick Leverton Harris , a British Member of Parliament, and pianist and composer Clement Harris , who was killed in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. He was educated at Harrow School and (briefly) at Cambridge University and had already managed to travel around the world by the age of 18. In 1887 he accompanied a British diplomatic mission to Morocco and settled in Tangier at
483-604: A party. For centuries, the Berber tribes of the Rif had fought off any attempt of outsiders to impose control on them. While the Rif mountains were visible to Europeans from ships in the Mediterranean Sea, Europeans had rarely, if ever, ventured into the area. Walter Burton Harris , the Morocco correspondent for The Times , who covered the war, wrote that as late as 1912 only "one or two Europeans had been able to visit
552-569: A rail-bridge providing access to iron mines near Melilla were attacked by Riffian tribesmen. This incident led to the summoning of reinforcements from Spain itself. A series of skirmishes over the following weeks cost the Spanish over a thousand casualties. By September, the Spanish Army had 40,000 troops in northern Morocco and had occupied the mountainous tribal regions to the south and southeast of Melilla. The military operations in Jebala , in
621-590: A reputation for ruthlessness. As their number grew, the Spanish Legion and the Regulares increasingly led offensive operations after the disasters that had been suffered by the conscript forces. As an outcome of the Treaty of Fez (1912) Spain gained possession of the lands around Melilla and Ceuta . In 1920, the Spanish commissioner, General Dámaso Berenguer , decided to conquer the eastern territory from
690-703: A series of articles for The Times , as well as writing a number of books on his travels in Morocco. He also travelled further afield, visiting Egypt, the Near East and the Far East. He served as a special correspondent in the Yemen in 1892 and in Athens in 1915, where he caused a dispute between King Constantine I of Greece and Eleftherios Venizelos after writing articles critical of the latter for The Times . He claimed to have worked for Admiralty intelligence during
759-467: A simple diet of coffee, bread, beans, rice and the odd piece of meat. Many soldiers bartered their rifles and ammunition at the local markets in exchange for fresh vegetables. The barracks that the soldiers lived in were unsanitary, and medical care at the few hospitals was very poor. Up in the mountains, Spanish soldiers lived in small outposts known as blocaos , which the American historian Stanley Payne observed: "Many of these lacked any sort of toilet, and
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#1732791672388828-510: A stipend from The Times , and was an ambitious social climber who associated with royalty and high-ranking politicians. Harris was a fluent speaker of French, Spanish and Moroccan Arabic , and his physical features were such that he could pass for a native Moroccan. This enabled him to travel undetected into the interior of Morocco, which was at the time off-limits to outsiders, and thus see and describe places that no European had been to. During his travels he disguised himself as an inhabitant of
897-438: A truly beautiful countryside of "[c]rimson mountains flung against a sky of hieratic blue, gorges magnificent and terrifying, peaceful green valleys between protecting precipices", a place that reminded him of his native Colorado. The Rif was also rich in high-grade iron, which could be easily extracted via open-pit mining . The promise of the Spanish state collecting revenues in the form of taxes and royalties from iron mining here
966-456: Is crazy. I'm not going to take seriously the threats of a little Berber caid [judge] whom I had at my mercy a short time ago. His insolence merits a new punishment". Abd el-Krim allowed Fernández Silvestre to advance deep into the Rif, knowing the Spanish logistics were in the words of the Spanish historian Jose Alvarez "tenuous" at best. On 1 July 1921, the Spanish army in north-eastern Morocco under Fernández Silvestre collapsed when defeated by
1035-554: The abandonistas who wanted to abandon Morocco as not worth the blood and treasure. After the "Disaster of the Annual", Spain's war in the Rif went from bad to worse, and as the Spanish were barely hanging on to Morocco, support for the abandonistas grew as many people could see no point to the war. In August 1923, Spanish soldiers embarking for Morocco mutinied at the railway stations, other soldiers in Malaga simply refused to board
1104-578: The Africanist choir. For all these reasons, Spain began pushing into the Rif in 1909. The Berber tribesmen had a long tradition of fierce fighting skills, combined with high standards of fieldcraft and marksmanship. They were capably led by Abd el-Krim , who showed both military and political expertise. However, the Rifian regular army was never a very large force. The elite of the Rifian forces formed regular units which according to Abd el-Krim, quoted by
1173-610: The Geneva Protocol in 1925, which prohibited the use of chemical and biological weapons, such use was not illegal in internal conflicts. Some have cited the Spanish chemical weapons as the main reason for a widespread cancer occurrence in the Rif region, which is still the highest in Morocco; for example, according to the Head of the Association of Toxic Gas Victims (ATGV) research has shown "there are strong indicators that
1242-535: The Rif , looking (as The Times put it) like "the complete fanatical-looking type, with shaven head but for a foot-long lock hanging from the crown, red guncase for turban, short brown jelab , bare reddish-tanned neck and legs, carrying a long native musket, and glancing furtively as he went, just as such men from home do." He soon won the respect of the Moroccans for his exploits and made some unlikely friends, such as
1311-668: The Jibala tribes, but had little success. The second-in-command was General Manuel Fernández Silvestre , who commanded the eastern sector. Fernández Silvestre had spread out his troops out in 144 forts and blocaos from Sidi Dris on the Mediterranean across the Rift mountains to Annual and Tizi Azza and on to Melilla. A typical blocao held about a dozen men, while the larger forts had about 800 men. Fernández Silvestre, known for his boldness and impetuosity, had pushed his men too deep into
1380-460: The Legion and other Spanish units recalled from operations in western Morocco. By the end of August Spanish forces at Melilla numbered 36,000 under General Jose Sanjurjo and the slow process of recovering the lost territory could begin. Thus the Spanish could keep their biggest base in the eastern Rif . Later Abd el-Krim would admit: " I bitterly regret this order. It was my biggest mistake . All
1449-512: The Moroccan west, began in 1911 with the Larache landing . Spain worked to pacify a large part of the most violent areas until 1914, a slow process of consolidation of frontiers that lasted until 1919. The following year, after the signing of the Treaty of Fez , the northern Moroccan area was adjudicated to Spain as a protectorate. The Riffian populations strongly resisted the Spanish, unleashing
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#17327916723881518-459: The Rif mountains hoping to reach Alhucemas Bay without undertaking the necessary work to build a logistical support network capable of supplying his men out in the blocaos up in the Rif mountains. Krim had sent Fernández Silvestre a letter warning him not to cross the Amekran river or else he would die. Fernández Silvestre commented to the Spanish press about the letter that: "This man Abd el-Krim
1587-572: The Rif mountains. In general, studying war was not considered to be a good use of an officer's time, and most officers devoted their time in Melilla in words of the American journalist James Perry to "gambling and whoring, sometimes molesting the native Moorish women". Morale in the Army was extremely poor and most Spanish soldiers just wanted to go home and leave Morocco forever. Because of the prostitutes from Spain, who attached themselves in great number to
1656-549: The Rif. The French accordingly intervened on the side of Spain, appointing Marshal Pétain as commander-in-chief of an expeditionary force of up to 160,000 well-trained and -equipped troops from Metropolitan, Algerian, Senegalese and Foreign Legion units, as well as Moroccan regulars ( tirailleurs ) and auxiliaries ( goumiers ). With total Spanish forces at this point numbering about 90,000 the Rifian forces were now seriously outnumbered by their Franco-Spanish opponents. Final French deaths from battle and disease, in what had now become
1725-494: The Spanish Army of Africa were triggered by a 'compulsive spirit of revenge' of this and other massacres, and the desire to exact retribution on the rebel tribes. Beginning in 1924, the Spanish used chemical weapons during the conflict , which marked the first widespread employment of gas warfare in the post-WWI era. The Spanish army indiscriminately used phosgene , diphosgene , chloropicrin and mustard gas also against civilian populations, markets and rivers. While Spain signed
1794-540: The Spanish Legion, was formed in 1920. The regiment's second commander was then- Col . Francisco Franco , having risen rapidly through the ranks. In the Rif war, it was the Regulares and the Spanish Foreign Legion founded in 1919 that provided the elite forces that won Spain the war. Less than 25% of this "Foreign Legion" were, in fact, non-Spanish. Harshly disciplined and driven, they quickly acquired
1863-474: The Spanish bases in Morocco, venereal diseases were rampant in the Spanish Army. Fernández Silvestre was well aware of the poor morale of his soldiers, but he did not regard this as a problem, believing that his enemy was so inferior that the problems afflicting his troops were not an issue. Even with their numerical superiority, the "Peninsular" troops proved no match for the highly skilled and motivated Rifian forces. Accordingly, much reliance came to be placed on
1932-426: The Spanish forces by using guerrilla tactics and with the help of captured European weapons. After France's military intervention against Abd el-Krim's forces and the major landing of Spanish troops at Al Hoceima , considered the first amphibious landing in history to involve the use of tanks and aircraft , Abd el-Krim surrendered to the French and was taken into exile. In July 1909, Spanish workers constructing
2001-463: The Spanish general Manuel Goded , numbered 6,000 to 7,000. Other sources put it much lower, at around 2,000 to 3,000. The remaining Rifians were tribal militia selected by their Caids ; they were not liable to serve away from their homes and farms for more than 15 consecutive days. General Goded estimated that at their peak, in June 1924, the Rifian forces numbered about 80,000 men, although Abd el-Krim
2070-417: The age of 19. He was briefly married to Lady Mary Savile, the daughter of the 4th Earl of Mexborough from 1898 to 1906, but the marriage was annulled on the grounds of non-consummation. He lived an openly homosexual, tending towards paedophilic, lifestyle thereafter, though this was little hindrance in the social milieu of Tangier at the time. He was independently wealthy, living off a personal allowance and
2139-551: The area had been pacified; Abd-el-Krim surrendered to the French that year, and Spain gained effective control of the protectorate's territory at last. The Rif War still causes much disagreement among historians. Some see in it a harbinger of the decolonization process in North Africa . Others consider it one of the last colonial wars, as it was the decision of the Spanish to conquer the Rif – nominally part of their Moroccan protectorate but de facto independent – that catalyzed
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2208-461: The cancer is caused by the gases that were used against the resistance in the north." Writer Juan Pando, however, pointed out that areas of France and Belgium, which were gassed far more heavily during World War I, do not have abnormal cancer rates. Miguel Alonso, Alan Kramer and Javier Rodrigo wrote in the book Fascist Warfare, 1922–1945: Aggression, Occupation, Annihilation : "Although the Rif War
2277-554: The cedar forests that lie south of Fez. A few had traveled in the southern Atlas and pushed on into the Sus ...and that was almost all". As Harris wrote, the Berbers "were often as inhospitable to the Arab as they were to the foreigner", and generally killed any outsiders who ventured into their territory. Vincent Sheean , who covered the war for The New York Times , wrote that the Rif was
2346-410: The coast with the aim of at least temporarily abandoning the Rif. In late July 1924, Primo de Rivera visited a Spanish Foreign Legion post at Ben Taieb in the Rif, and was served a banquet of eggs in different forms. In Spanish culture, eggs are a symbol of the testicles, and the dishes were intended to send a clear message. Primo de Rivera responded calmly that the army would be required to abandon only
2415-526: The conflict and its end coincided with the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera , who took on command of the campaign from 1924 to 1927. In addition, and after the Battle of Uarga in 1925, the French intervened in the conflict and established a joint collaboration with Spain that culminated in the Alhucemas landing , which proved a turning point. The Spanish also used chemical weapons during the conflict . By 1926,
2484-667: The conquest of the Rif. Following the difficulties and setbacks that it had experienced in 1909–11, the Spanish army began to adopt much in organization and tactics from the French North African forces garrisoning most of Morocco and neighboring Algeria. Particular attention was paid to the French Foreign Legion and a Spanish equivalent, the Tercio de Extranjeros ('Foreigners' brigade'), known in English as
2553-684: The country regarded as off-limits to foreigners. He wrote a number of well-regarded books and articles on his travels in Morocco and other countries in the Near and Far East. Harris also played a significant, though not always constructive, role in the European diplomatic intrigues that affected Morocco around the turn of the 20th century. Harris was born in London as the second son of a prosperous shipping and insurance broker, Frederick W. Harris. His siblings included Sir Austin Edward Harris, who became
2622-599: The country should be helped to modernise itself and overcome the endemic disorder that plagued it. He therefore helped initially to support the Germans, who likewise opposed French involvement in Morocco, until he was instructed in 1905 by The Times' foreign editor Valentine Chirol – who was closely linked to the British Foreign Office – that it was necessary to support the French. The Entente Cordiale , signed in 1904, clearly assigned Egypt and Morocco to
2691-656: The entry of France in 1924. The Rif War left a deep memory both in Spain and in Morocco. The Riffian insurgency of the 1920s can be interpreted as a precursor to the Algerian War of Independence , which took place three decades later. Spain, 13 kilometers across the Straits of Gibraltar from Africa, claimed influence over the Morocco region at the Berlin Conference (1884–1885). By the early 20th century, Morocco
2760-437: The following five years, occasional battles were fought between the two. The Rifian forces advanced to the east and captured over 130 Spanish military posts. By late August 1921, Spain lost all the territories it had gained since 1909. Spanish troops were pushed back to Melilla, which was their biggest base in the eastern Rif . Spain still had 14,000 soldiers in Melilla. However, Abd el-Krim ordered his forces not to attack
2829-474: The following tenor of events happened because of this mistake ." By January 1922 the Spanish had retaken their major fort at Monte Arruit (where they found the bodies of 2,600 of the garrison) and had reoccupied the coastal plain as far as Tiztoutine and Batel. The Rifian forces had consolidated their hold of the inland mountains and stalemate was reached. The Spanish military suffered losses even at sea; in March
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2898-465: The forces of Abd el-Krim , in what became known in Spain as the disaster of Annual , some 8,000 soldiers and officers reported killed or disappeared out of some 20,000. The final Spanish death toll, both at Annual and during the subsequent rout that took Rifian forces to the outskirts of Melilla, was reported to the Cortes Generales as totaling 13,192. The Spanish were pushed back and during
2967-472: The latter part of the First World War . He played an active part in the international disputes in Morocco, using his access to high-ranking Moroccan figures to influence the course of events. Britain had long been Morocco's dominant trading partner and Harris initially opposed France's ambitions to play a bigger role in the country. He believed that Morocco's independence should be preserved and that
3036-530: The mainly professional units comprising Spain's Army of Africa . Since 1911, these had included regiments of Moroccan Regulares , who proved to be excellent soldiers. The initiative was unpopular in parts of Spain as well. In 1909, during early conflicts with the Rif tribesmen, an attempt by the Spanish government to call up reservists led to a working-class uprising in Barcelona known as Tragic Week . The Catalan trade unions, many led by anarchists, argued that
3105-905: The minimum of territory and that junior officers should not dictate the measures necessary to resolve the Moroccan problem. However he subsequently modified the plans for withdrawal, pulling the Spanish forces back from Chefchaouen and the Oued Laou region to a prepared fortified boundary named the "Primo Line". In May 1924, the French Army had established a line of out-posts north of the Oureghla River in disputed tribal territory. On 12 April 1925, an estimated 8,000 Rifians attacked this line and in two weeks over 40 of 66 French posts had been stormed or abandoned. French casualties exceeded 1,000 killed, 3,700 wounded and 1,000 missing – representing losses of over 20 percent of their forces deployed in
3174-529: The mountain chieftain Raisuni who repeatedly fought the Moroccan government (and later the Spanish) during the first 25 years of the 20th century. Harris was captured and briefly imprisoned by Raisuni, regaining his freedom via a prisoner exchange, but came to establish a friendship with the chieftain and later wrote admiringly about him. He was also a confidant of at least three Moroccan sultans and built himself
3243-581: The mutilations inflicted on the Spanish troops initially. Notes Further reading Tarifit language Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 974788705 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 11:01:12 GMT Walter Burton Harris Walter Burton Harris (29 August 1866 – 4 April 1933)
3312-608: The once great Spanish Empire to only a few footholds on the Moroccan coast and Spanish Guinea . To compensate for the losses in the Americas and Asia, there emerged a powerful Africanist faction in Spain led by Alfonso, who wanted a new empire in Africa. Finally, many within the politically powerful Catholic Church , preached the need for a new crusade to continue the Reconquista by conquering Morocco, adding their voices to
3381-700: The profits, the Rifians soon began to oppose the mining in their territory. When Alfonso XIII ascended to the throne in 1886, Spain was considered a world power, with colonies in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. But in the Spanish–American War , Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines in 1898, and sold the Mariana and Caroline Islands to Germany the following year; reducing
3450-409: The rifles at the Melilla arsenal were in shoddy condition due to poor maintenance, and a report from late 1920, which Spanish commanders never bothered to read, warned that many of the rifles held there were either unusable or more of a danger to the soldier firing them than to the enemy. The average Spanish soldier in Morocco in 1921 was paid the equivalent of thirty-four US cents per day, and lived on
3519-549: The ships that were to take them to Morocco, while in Barcelona huge crowds of left-wingers had staged anti-war protests at which Spanish flags were burned while the flag of the Rif Republic was waved about. With the africanistas comprising only a minority, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the abandonistas forced the Spanish to give up on the Rif, which was part of the reason for General Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marqués de Estella , seizing power in
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#17327916723883588-544: The soldier who ventured out of the filthy bunker risked exposure to the fire of lurking tribesmen". Continuing a practice first begun in Cuba, corruption flourished amongst the venal Spanish officer corps, with goods meant for the troops being sold on the black market and the funds intended to build roads and railroads in Morocco ending up in the pockets of senior officers. A high number of Spanish officers could not read maps, which explains why Spanish units so frequently got lost in
3657-464: The south while the Spanish fleet and army secured Alhucemas Bay by a landing operation in September (the first amphibious landing in history where tanks and seaborne air support were used) and began attacking from the north. After one year of bitter resistance, Abd el-Krim , the leader of both the tribes, surrendered to French authorities, and in 1926 Spanish Morocco was finally retaken. However,
3726-567: The spheres of influence of Britain and France respectively. In the Hafidiya coup , Harris attacked the Makhzen of Abd al-Hafid in The Times, , whom France also opposed. Harris thereafter toned down his hostility to France, though he continued to press for international efforts to assist Morocco's modernisation. He came to admire the efficiency of the administration of French Morocco and
3795-585: The title of "Commander of the Oiussam Alaouite of Morocco". His travel writing also earned him a fellowship from the Royal Geographical Society . He was far from modest about his achievements; as the editor of a re-edition of his book Morocco That Was puts it, he "loved to tell stories, especially about himself", to the point that "it is hard to distinguish the truth from the legend"; he "loved to make his own part in any yarn he
3864-400: The town. He subsequently told the writer J. Roger-Matthieu that since citizens of other European nations were residing in Melilla, it was feared they would intervene in the war should their citizens come to harm. Other reasons included the dispersal of Rifian fighters from several loosely allied tribes following the victory at Annual; and the arrival in Melilla of substantial reinforcements from
3933-572: The transport ship Juan de Joanes was sunk in Alhucemas Bay by Riffian coastal batteries, and in August 1923 the battleship España ran aground off Cape Tres Forcas and was eventually scrapped in situ . In a bid to break the stalemate, the Spanish military turned to the use of chemical weapons against the Riffians . The Rif War had starkly polarized Spanish society between the africanistas who wanted to conquer an empire in Africa vs.
4002-537: The unpopularity of the war in Spain and the earlier defeats of the Spanish military contributed to the instability of the Spanish government and the military coup of 1923 . On August 9, 1921, the Massacre of Monte Arruit occurred, in which 2,000 soldiers of the Spanish Army were killed after surrendering the Monte Arruit garrison near Al Aaroui following a 12-day siege. The atrocities subsequently committed by
4071-487: The working class of Barcelona had no quarrel with the people of the Rif. After the Tragic Week of 1909, the Spanish government starting in 1911 tried to raise as many Regular units as possible to avoid further working class resistance to colonial wars as much of the Spanish working class had no desire to see their sons sent to Morocco, beginning a policy of what the Spanish historian Jose Alvarez called "Moroccanizing"
4140-486: Was a journalist, writer, traveller and socialite who achieved fame for his writings on Morocco , where he worked for many years as special correspondent for The Times . He settled in the country at the age of 19, eventually building himself a fine villa in Tangier where he lived for much of his life. His linguistic skills and physical appearance enabled him to pose successfully as a native Moroccan, travelling to parts of
4209-426: Was an incentive for it to bring the Rif under its control. The Crown granted the concession to mine iron in the Rif to the millionaire Don Horacio Echevarrieta . By 1920 he had brought out 800,000 tons of valuable high grade iron through relatively inexpensive open-pit mining. Though profitable, iron mining caused much environmental damage and required the displacement of the native people. As they received no share of
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#17327916723884278-590: Was divided into protectorates ruled by France and Spain. The Rif region had been assigned to Spain, but given that the Sultans of Morocco had been unable to exert control over the region, Spanish sovereignty over the Rif was strictly de jure , existing only in the text of the General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa , to which the Riffians, who had de facto control of the land were not
4347-436: Was eventually renovated and opened on 16 March 2021 as a museum, with exhibits donated by Moroccan art collector El Khalil Belguench that include works by Jules Jacques Veyrassat , Jacques Majorelle , Edy Legrand [ fr ] , Claudio Bravo , Muhammad Ben Ali Ribati , Mohamed Ben Allal [ fr ] , Ahmed Yacoubi , and Mohamed Hamri . A diary belonging to Harris describing his travels in Europe during
4416-554: Was never able to arm more than 20,000 men at a time. However, this force was largely adequate in the early stages of the war. In the final days of the war, Rifian forces numbered about 12,000 men. In addition, Rifian forces were not well armed, with weapons badly maintained and in poor condition. Initially, the Spanish forces in Morocco were largely composed of conscripts and reservists from Spain itself. These "Peninsular" troops were poorly supplied and prepared, few had marksmanship skills and proper battle training, and widespread corruption
4485-509: Was no 'fascist' war, several methods used to 'pacify' the population were applied in the post-colonial reconquista of godless Republican Spain … Apart from deciding not to use chemical weapons, Franco 's campaign to 'cleanse Spain' resembled that in Morocco: intelligence-gathering through torture, summary executions, forced labour , rape , and the sadistic killing of military prisoners." Spanish mutilations of captured Moroccans were also reported, including severing heads as retribution to
4554-411: Was reported amongst the officer corps, reducing supplies and morale. Of the Spanish troops in Morocco in 1921, well over half were completely illiterate conscripts from the poorest elements of Spanish society who had been sent to Morocco with minimal training. Despite assurances from General Manuel Fernández Silvestre that his equipment was sufficient to defeat the Rifians, in fact about three-quarters of
4623-409: Was scathing of the maladministration of Spanish Morocco . His role was not always helpful to the British government as he periodically undermined the efforts of British diplomats in Morocco; some regarded him as a useful ally and go-between, thanks to his extensive contacts, while others reviled him. France was duly grateful for Harris's efforts on its behalf and awarded him the Légion d'honneur and
4692-414: Was taken back to Tangier and he was buried there at the Church of St Andrew . In the 1890s Harris erected an expansive villa in the hills east of Tangier, which he used until his death. The structure was later operated as a casino , then acquired in the 1960s by Club Med which used it until 1992. It subsequently fell into disrepair despite designation in 2007 as a building of national historic value. It
4761-428: Was telling into a hymn about his own cleverness, cunning, bravery, popularity, and importance. All his geese had to be swans and his over-vivid imagination made sure that his listeners were never allowed to forget this." Harris was journeying east across the Mediterranean when he had a stroke. The ship he was traveling on put in at Malta and he was taken to the King George V hospital where he died on 4 April 1933. His body
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