ABSTRACT
Some of the origins of this vindictive attitude can be traced back to the colonial war in northern Morocco where soldiers aimed to deprive the ‘enemy’ of all resources. Thus ‘pacifi cation’ in Morocco came to mean the torching of houses and the plunder of property.2 This mindset explains why during the early months of the Spanish Civil War the colonial veteran Mola turned down a peace proposal brokered by the socialist leader Indalecio Prieto with the declaration that ‘this war must fi nish with the annihilation of the enemies of Spain’.3
