Zaian War
The Zaian (or Zayan) War was fought between France and the Zaian Confederation of Berber tribes in Morocco between 1914 and 1921 during the French conquest of Morocco. Morocco had become a French protectorate in 1912, and Resident-General Louis-Hubert Lyautey sought to extend French influence eastwards through the Middle Atlas mountains towards French Algeria. This was opposed by the Zaians, led by Mouha ou Hammou Zayani. The war began well for the French, who quickly took the key towns of Taza and Khénifra. Despite the loss of their base at Khénifra, the Zaians inflicted heavy losses on the French, who responded by establishing groupes mobiles, combined arms formations that mixed regular and irregular infantry, cavalry and artillery into a single force.
The outbreak of the First World War proved significant, with the withdrawal of troops for service in France compounded by the loss of more than 600 French killed at the Battle of El Herri. Lyautey reorganised his available forces into a "living barricade", consisting of outposts manned by his best troops protecting the perimeter of French territory with lower quality troops manning the rear-guard positions. Over the next four years the French retained most of their territory despite intelligence and financial support provided by the Central Powers to the Zaian Confederation and continual raids and skirmishes reducing scarce French manpower.
After the signing of the Armistice with Germany in November 1918, significant forces of tribesmen remained opposed to French rule. The French resumed their offensive in the Khénifra area in 1920, establishing a series of blockhouses to limit the Zaians' freedom of movement. They opened negotiations with Hammou's sons, persuading three of them, along with many of their followers, to submit to French rule. A split in the Zaian Confederation between those who supported submission and those still opposed led to infighting and the death of Hammou in Spring 1921. The French responded with a strong, three-pronged attack into the Middle Atlas that pacified the area. Some tribesmen, led by Moha ou Said, fled to the High Atlas and continued a guerrilla war against the French well into the 1930s.
A contemporary depiction of Thami El Glaoui, Pasha of Marrakesh
A French Foreign Legion unit on the march in Morocco, 1920
Hammou's son, Hassan, surrendering to General Poeymirau
The heavy French losses at the Battle of Gaouz encouraged an increase in tribal activity across the south-east of Morocco, threatening the French presence at Boudenib.[1][70] Poeymirau was forced to withdraw garrisons from outlying posts in the Tafilalt, including that at Tighmart, to concentrate his force and reduce the risk of further disasters.[70] Lyautey authorised only a series of limited offensives, such as the razing of villages and gardens, the primary aim of which was to emphasise French military superiority.[91] The French struggled to move troops through the mountain passes from the Moulouya Valley due to heavy snows and attacks on their columns, and Lyautey, to his embarrassment, was forced to request reinforcements from Algeria.[70] By October the situation had stabilised to the extent that Poeymirau was able to withdraw his troops to Meknes, but a large-scale uprising in January 1919 forced his return.[91] Poeymirau defeated n'Ifrutant in battle at Meski on 15 January, but was seriously wounded in the chest by the accidental explosion of an artillery shell and was forced to hand command to Colonel Antoine Huré.[70] Lyautey then received assistance from Thami El Glaoui, a tribal leader who Lyautey had made Pasha of Marrakesh after the uprising of 1912.[92] El Glaoui owed his increasing wealth (when he died in 1956 he was one of the richest men in the world) to corruption and fraud, which the French tolerated in return for his support.[93][94] Thus committed to Lyautey's cause, El Glaoui led an army of 10,000 men, the largest Moroccan tribal force ever seen, across the Atlas to defeat anti-French tribesmen in the Dadès Gorges and to reinforce the garrison at Boudenib on 29 January.[1][70] The uprising was over by 31 January 1919.[91]
The conflict in the Tafilalt distracted the French from their main war aims, draining French reinforcements in return for little economic gain and drawing comparisons to the recent Battle of Verdun.[91] Indeed, the Zaians were encouraged by French losses in the area to renew their attacks on guardposts along the trans-Atlas road.[91] The French continued to hope for a negotiated end to the conflict and had been in discussions with Hammou's close relatives since 1917.[91] Indeed, his nephew, Ou El Aidi, had offered his submission in exchange for weapons and money but had been refused by the French who suspected he wanted to fight with his cousin, Hammou's son, Hassan.[91] With no progress in these negotiations Poeymirau moved against the tribes to the north and south of Khénifra in 1920, the front in this area having remained static for six years.[95] Troops were brought in from Tadla and Meknes to establish blockhouses and mobile reserves along the Rbia to prevent the Zaians crossing to use the pastures.[95] The French were opposed vigorously but eventually established three blockhouses and forced some of the local tribes to submit.[95] French successes in the Khénifra region persuaded Hassan and his two brothers to submit to the French on 2 June 1920, having returned some of the equipment captured at El Herri.[96][97] Hassan was soon appointed Pasha of Khénifra and his 3,000 tents were brought under French protection in an expanded zone of occupation around the Rbia.[96]
Following the submission of his sons, Hammou retained command of only 2,500 tents and in Spring 1921 was killed in a skirmish with other Zaian tribes that opposed continued resistance.[96] The French seized the opportunity to launch an assault on the last bastion of Zaian resistance, located near El Bekrit.[96] In September a three-pronged attack was made: General Jean Théveney moved west from the El Bekrit settlement, Colonel Henry Freydenberg moved east from Taka Ichian and a third group of submitted tribesmen under Hassan and his brothers also took part.[96][98] Théveney encountered resistance from the Zaians in his area but Freydenberg was almost unopposed and within days all resistance was put down.[98] After seven years of fighting the Zaian War was ended, though Lyautey continued his expansion in the area, promising to have all of "useful Morocco" under French control by 1923.[68][98][99] Lyautey had been granted the dignity of a Marshal of France in 1921 in recognition of his work in Morocco.[100]
In Spring 1922, Poeymirau and Freydenberg launched attacks into the headwaters of the Moulouya in the western Middle Atlas and managed to defeat Said, the last surviving member of the Berber triumvirate, at El Ksiba in April 1922.[98][101] Said was forced to flee, with much of the Aït Ichkern tribe, to the highest mountains of the Middle Atlas and then into the High Atlas.[102] Lyautey then secured the submission of several more tribes, constructed new military posts and improved his supply roads; by June 1922, he had brought the entire Moulouya Valley under control and pacified much of the Middle Atlas.[98] Limited in numbers by rapid post-war demobilisation and commitments to garrisons in Germany, he determined not to march through the difficult terrain of the High Atlas but to wait for the tribes to tire of the guerrilla war and submit.[102][103] Said never did so, dying in action against a groupe mobile in March 1924, though his followers continued to cause problems for the French into the next decade.[102][104] Pacification of the remaining tribal areas in French Morocco was completed in 1934, though small armed gangs of bandits continued to attack French troops in the mountains until 1936.[105][106] Moroccan opposition to French rule continued, a plan for reform and return to indirect rule was published by the nationalist Comité d'Action Marocaine (CAM) in 1934, with significant riots and demonstrations occurring in 1934, 1937, 1944 and 1951.[107][108] France, having failed to quell the nationalists by deposing the popular Sultan Mohammed V and already fighting a bloody war of independence in Algeria, recognised Moroccan independence in 1956.[109]
