ABSTRACT
By 1925 the French conquest of Maroc utile was deemed to have been completed and the Protectorate was expected to gradually transfer from a military regime to a civilian administration. This process was abrupdy disrupted in April with the outbreak of hostilities along the northern border of the French zone due to an attack by the forces of the self- declared Rifian Republic which sought to liberate the Rif from Spanish domination. The Franco-Rifian conflict which followed this event led to the destruction of Rifian independence and the reinstitution of the Spanish regime in northern Morocco. Another outcome of that war was the profound change it brought to French military policy in Morocco. In the first section of this chapter we narrate the course of the Rif War from its onset in 1921 through to its conclusion five years later. We further investigate the ramifications of the war on the relationship between the metropolitan government and the residency in Rabat which culminated in the resignation of Lyautey. The second section follows the post-Lyautey era through to the conclusion of the conquest drive in 1934.
