العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
EspañolABD EL-KRIM
(Redirected from Abdel Krim)
'Abd el-Krim' (c.1882, Ajdir –February 6, 1963, Cairo) (Amazigh:
'Mulay Abdelkrim', full name: 'Muhammad Ibn 'Abd El-Karim El-Khattabi' , () was the Berber leader of the Rif, a Berber area of northeastern Morocco. He became the leader of a wide scale armed resistance movement against French and Spanish colonial rule in North Africa. His guerilla tactics are known to have inspired Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara.
Born in Ajdir, Morocco, to Abdelkrim El-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge) of the Ait Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel (or Waryaghar) tribe. Abd el-Krim was educated both in traditional zaouias and in Spanish schools, continuing his education in the ancient university of Qarawiyin in Fez. His brother, M'hammed El-Khattabi, later on his partner in battle, also received a Spanish education studying mine engineering in Madrid. Both spoke fluent Spanish.
He entered the Spanish governmental structure, and was appointed chief qadi for Melilla in 1914, as well as editing the Arabic section of the newspaper ''El Telegrama del Rif''.
In his time there, he came to oppose Spanish domination, and was imprisoned in 1915-1916 for saying that Spain should not expand beyond its current dominions (which in practice excluded most of the effectively ungoverned Rif), and for expressing sympathy for the Germans in World War I. Soon after, he returned to Ajdir in 1919 and, with his brother, began to unite the tribes of the Rif into an independent Republic of the Rif. He made it clear that this Republic was strictly provisional, confirming his allegiance to the Moroccan throne and the royal family.
Main articles: Rif War (1920)
In 1921, as a by-product of their efforts to destroy the power of a local brigand, Raisuli, Spanish troops approached the unoccupied areas of the Rif. Abd-el-Krim sent their General, Manuel Fernández Silvestre, a warning that if they crossed the Amekran River he would consider it an act of war. Silvestre is said to have laughed, and shortly afterwards set up a military post across the river at Abarán. In June 1921 a sizable Riffian force attacked this post killing 150 Spanish troops and forcing the remainder to retreat. Soon afterwards, Abd el-Krim directed his forces to attack the Spanish lines at Annual (Morocco) with great success — in three weeks 8,000 Spanish troops were killed, and the Spanish Army of 13,000 was forced to retreat to the coast by only 3,000 Rifains. During the attack on Annual, General Silvestre either committed suicide or was killed defending the post. This colossal victory established Abdelkrim as a genius of guerilla warfare.
By 1924, the Spanish had been forced to retreat to their possessions along the Moroccan coast. France, which in any case laid claim to territory in the southern Rif, realized that allowing another North African colonial power to be defeated by natives would set a dangerous precedent for their own territories, and after Abd el-Krim invaded French Morocco in April 1925, entered the fray. In 1925, a French force under Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain and a Spanish army, with a combined total of 250,000 soldiers, began operations against the Rif Republic. Intense combat persisted for ten months, but eventually the combined French and Spanish armies — using, among other weapons, mustard gas against the population — defeated the forces of Abd el-Krim.
As a consequence, he was exiled to the island of Réunion (a French territory) from 1926 to 1947, when he was given permission to live in the south of France, but succeeded in gaining asylum in Egypt instead, where he presided over the Liberation Committee for the Arab Maghreb, and where he died in 1963, just after seeing his hopes of a Maghreb independent of colonial powers completed by the independence of Algeria.
The embarrassing defeat of Spanish forces at Annual created a political crisis that subsequently led to General Miguel Primo de Rivera's coup d' etat of September 13, 1923, and the installation of a military Dictatorship (1923-1930) and the eventual collapse of the Spanish Monarchy in April 1931.
★ ''Rebels in the Rif: Abd el Krim and the Rif Rebellion (1968) - by David S. Woolman''
★ ''A Country with a Government and a Flag: The Rif War in Morocco, 1921-1926 (1986) - Charles Richard Pennell
★ The Rif Republic
★ Biographie of Abd el-Krim in tha mazight (Rif)
★ Next publication of Abd el-Krim's biography in base of official spanish documents
'Abd el-Krim' (c.1882, Ajdir –February 6, 1963, Cairo) (Amazigh:
Mulay_abdelkrim_akhttab.JPG
| Contents |
| Early life |
| The journey in Spain |
| Guerrilla leadership |
| Exile |
| Further reading |
| External links |
Early life
Born in Ajdir, Morocco, to Abdelkrim El-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge) of the Ait Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel (or Waryaghar) tribe. Abd el-Krim was educated both in traditional zaouias and in Spanish schools, continuing his education in the ancient university of Qarawiyin in Fez. His brother, M'hammed El-Khattabi, later on his partner in battle, also received a Spanish education studying mine engineering in Madrid. Both spoke fluent Spanish.
The journey in Spain
He entered the Spanish governmental structure, and was appointed chief qadi for Melilla in 1914, as well as editing the Arabic section of the newspaper ''El Telegrama del Rif''.
In his time there, he came to oppose Spanish domination, and was imprisoned in 1915-1916 for saying that Spain should not expand beyond its current dominions (which in practice excluded most of the effectively ungoverned Rif), and for expressing sympathy for the Germans in World War I. Soon after, he returned to Ajdir in 1919 and, with his brother, began to unite the tribes of the Rif into an independent Republic of the Rif. He made it clear that this Republic was strictly provisional, confirming his allegiance to the Moroccan throne and the royal family.
Guerrilla leadership
Main articles: Rif War (1920)
In 1921, as a by-product of their efforts to destroy the power of a local brigand, Raisuli, Spanish troops approached the unoccupied areas of the Rif. Abd-el-Krim sent their General, Manuel Fernández Silvestre, a warning that if they crossed the Amekran River he would consider it an act of war. Silvestre is said to have laughed, and shortly afterwards set up a military post across the river at Abarán. In June 1921 a sizable Riffian force attacked this post killing 150 Spanish troops and forcing the remainder to retreat. Soon afterwards, Abd el-Krim directed his forces to attack the Spanish lines at Annual (Morocco) with great success — in three weeks 8,000 Spanish troops were killed, and the Spanish Army of 13,000 was forced to retreat to the coast by only 3,000 Rifains. During the attack on Annual, General Silvestre either committed suicide or was killed defending the post. This colossal victory established Abdelkrim as a genius of guerilla warfare.
By 1924, the Spanish had been forced to retreat to their possessions along the Moroccan coast. France, which in any case laid claim to territory in the southern Rif, realized that allowing another North African colonial power to be defeated by natives would set a dangerous precedent for their own territories, and after Abd el-Krim invaded French Morocco in April 1925, entered the fray. In 1925, a French force under Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain and a Spanish army, with a combined total of 250,000 soldiers, began operations against the Rif Republic. Intense combat persisted for ten months, but eventually the combined French and Spanish armies — using, among other weapons, mustard gas against the population — defeated the forces of Abd el-Krim.
Exile
As a consequence, he was exiled to the island of Réunion (a French territory) from 1926 to 1947, when he was given permission to live in the south of France, but succeeded in gaining asylum in Egypt instead, where he presided over the Liberation Committee for the Arab Maghreb, and where he died in 1963, just after seeing his hopes of a Maghreb independent of colonial powers completed by the independence of Algeria.
The embarrassing defeat of Spanish forces at Annual created a political crisis that subsequently led to General Miguel Primo de Rivera's coup d' etat of September 13, 1923, and the installation of a military Dictatorship (1923-1930) and the eventual collapse of the Spanish Monarchy in April 1931.
Further reading
★ ''Rebels in the Rif: Abd el Krim and the Rif Rebellion (1968) - by David S. Woolman''
★ ''A Country with a Government and a Flag: The Rif War in Morocco, 1921-1926 (1986) - Charles Richard Pennell
External links
★ The Rif Republic
★ Biographie of Abd el-Krim in tha mazight (Rif)
★ Next publication of Abd el-Krim's biography in base of official spanish documents
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
