Introduction

This chapter discusses the major milestones in Morocco's progress toward colonial submission. The weave of history during these critical decades is much tighter and more intricate than a chronology of diplomatic and political events can reveal. Historians preoccupied with the diplomatic issues have generally treated Morocco as one of the important 'factors' over which European ministers of state brooded, but not as one of the nations with a critical stake in the outcome of the struggle. In the later nineteenth century the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt passed the point of no-return on the road to colonialism by contracting large debts with European financial interests. The rulers of Morocco, as well as of Tunisia and Egypt, were ill-prepared to manage the internal economic and fiscal effects of this trade and to resist European pressures for special commercial and political privileges. The chapter also presents an overview of this book.