Rif War

The Rif War was an anti-colonial war fought from 1921 to 1926 between the Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco and Spain, which France joined in 1924. Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians used guerrilla tactics and captured European weapons to inflict a string of defeats on Spanish forces, most notably the disaster of Annual in July 1921. Spain later regained the initiative after the Alhucemas landing, regarded as the first amphibious landing to use tanks and aircraft, and the combined Spanish and French offensive forced Abd el-Krim to surrender in 1926. Spain also used chemical weapons in the conflict. Historians disagree about its meaning: some read it as a forerunner of North African decolonization, others as one of the last colonial wars. It left a deep memory in both Spain and Morocco.