Himayet Isbaniya fi al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah/Protectorado Español del Reino de Gran Marruecos | |
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Population |
10,000,000 |
Capital |
Tetuan |
Head of State |
Mohammed ben Yusef el Alaoui, Sultan Mohammed V of Morocco (1927-1941), Mohammed ben Aarafa el Alaoui, King Mohammed VI of Morocco (1941-1976), King Ahmed ben Mohammed of Morocco (from 1976) |
Head of Government |
Caliph/Virrey Sidi Muley Hassan ben Mehedi |
History[]
In 1941, Spain occupied the whole of Morocco, ostensibly to forestall a British invasion after the annexation of Gibraltar.
The Spanish authorities exiled France's puppet Sultan, Mohammed V, to Spanish Guinea, replacing him with a relative. The removal of Mohammed was due mainly to his opposition to the new racial laws imported into Morocco by the Spaniards: specifically, the deportation of Moroccan Jews to German-controlled territory, as well as ethnic Balkanisation of the kingdom’s inhabitants (Moriscos, Arabs, Berbers, etc). Mohammed VI was made King, rather than Sultan, of 'Greater Morocco', which encompassed the former Spanish and French Protectorates, Spanish Sahara and parts of French Algeria and French West Africa, with still greater claims on the latter territories.
The pliable Mohammed VI rules as king, though he is far from the most influential figure in the Portectorate. Powerful native figures include the Caliph, Muley Hassan ben Mehedi, formerly the sultan's viceroy in Spanish Morocco; the High Commissioner General Mohammed ben Mizzian, a close ally of Francisco Franco; Juan Pedro Cherid, successor to ben Mizzian; and Ahmed Belbachir Haskouri and Mohammed Daoud, influential members of the royal court.
The Protectorate structure allows Morocco more independence than most similar possessions of the European powers, due in large part to the role Moroccans played in the Spanish Civil War.
Spain encouraged the Moroccan authorities to aid anti-French groups in neighbouring French Algeria and French West Africa, especially of an Arab-supremacist type. To stabilise the situation and release much-needed resources, the regime of Coloniel de la Rocque agreed in principle to hand French Mauritania to the Kingdom of Morocco. This took place in 1965, though did not fully end Morocco's irredentist demands on French Algeria and French Sudan.