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Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War
Combining military, political, cultural, social, and oral history, Sebastian Balfour narrates for the first time the development of a brutalized, interventionist army that played a crucial role in the victory of the Francoists in the Spanish Civil War. Spain's new colonial venture in Morocco in the early twentieth-century turned into a bloody war against the tribes resisting the Spanish invasion of their lands. After suffering a succession of heavy military disasters against some of the most accomplished guerrillas in the world, the Spanish army turned to chemical warfare and dropped massive quantities of mustard gas on civilians. Dr Balfour exposes this previously closely guarded secret using evidence from Spanish military archives and from survivors in Morocco. He also narrates the daily life of soldiers in the war as well as the self-images and tensions among the colonial officers. After looking at the motives that drove Moroccans to resist or cooperate with Spain, the author describes the contradictory pictures among Spaniards of Moroccan collaborators and foes. Finally, he examines the Spanish colonial army's response to the Second Republic of 1931-1936 and its brutal march through Spain in the Civil War.
380 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 19, 2017
Sebastian Balfour is a published author of extensive works on Spain, an English historian, and a Professor of Spanish Studies. Among his primary topics is the historiography and an interest in the Catalan region and Barcelona, about which he has written extensive works, and his credentials definitely show in his work. His book Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War was originally published in 2002, meaning that it is a look back at the events from the “el desastre” of 1898, to the events of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, from the perspective of an observer seeing events second-hand and in hindsight. Balfour is examining the topic as an expert in the field of Spanish studies, through mostly primary sources consisting of many different interviews, mandates, reports, and military commissions of the Spanish military in North Africa.
The book is a large but not fully comprehensive look at the conflict taking place under the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, set in the historical context of the larger, and primarily European, global world stage. Balfour splits his book up into three primary sections, the first addressing the invasion of Morocco and the formation of a standing army to combat Moroccan resistance, the second discussing conflicts, politics, and the tactics involved in fighting the Moroccans, and the third concerning the Civil War and the recruitment of Moroccans by the Nationalists and subsequent Reconquista of Spain from the Second Republic. All three sections are roughly split by decade, and are broken up into smaller subcategories which made engaging the book considerably easier, as it is far simpler to handle the large chunks of information in smaller pieces.
Everything in the book is centered on Morocco, and the Spanish Army of Africa. European affairs, wars, and even mainland Spain are largely addressed only in their relation to the conflict from the Spanish perspective in Morocco. Balfour begins with some historical context, addressing the fact that after the “el desastre” of 1898, Spain began to lose any of the authority and strength that it needed to maintain its colonies overseas, and a settlement was reached with the French over the territory of Morocco. The land was split into the protectorates of French and Spanish territory. The land that the Spanish were allotted was a rough, mountainous terrain referred to as the Rif (Riff) that was inhospitable and provided the perfect medium for Berber guerilla fighters who resisted Spanish incursions and occupation. The importance of the Rif cannot be emphasized enough, and Balfour does an excellent job of emphasizing its significance as a geographic landscape which allowed mass resistance to the Spanish in a manner that may not have been possible without it.
Military resistance to the Spanish was largely organized as a reaction to their occupation rather than a cohesive strategy in the broader context of any kind of nationalistic Moroccan identity. Tribes of Berbers and Arabs, the distinction between which is largely linguistic, organized around powerful individuals such as Abd-el Krim, who organized them against the Spanish. The early efforts of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera in combating the Moroccans was largely unsuccessful, leading to some dissent among the officers and soldiers in the Spanish Army of Africa. Efforts eventually yielded fruit in the campaign with the help of better organized troops, chemical weapons provided by European powers (namely Germany), and a campaign to drive young men to the front with promises of commendation and currency. Balfour also addresses the principle of the Moroccan “other,” an orientalist doctrine that echoes other propaganda campaigns that are orientalist in nature, such as the British conflict in the First and Second Anglo-Afghan Wars.
But the heart of Balfour’s book is the Spanish “Army of Africa,” as it is dubbed. According to Balfour, the army’s experience and numbers, reinforced by local Moroccan troops, made it invaluable to the Nationalist effort once the Civil War broke out. He even went as far as to say that “the Nationalists would have been unquestionably defeated had they not risen with the participation of the Army of Africa” (Page 312).
The author’s perspective, and the evidence that he uses are both very poignant. Rather than relying on secondary sources he utilizes reports, in-time periodicals, correspondence and interviews to back the evidence which he proposes. It is not a work that is a fully comprehensive study of colonialism in the region, such as Martin Bayly’s Taming the Imperial Imagination, but it is not trying to be – and for what it is, Balfour makes his arguments very effectively.
Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War is a well written, and well-paced book which emphasizes the information that the author deems important in a manner that is easy to engage with. It is an especially important work because it addresses the importance of the Army of Africa in winning the Spanish Civil War for the nationalists, which is a subject that is on occasion overlooked in looking at the larger context of the conflict, such as Franco’s rise to power or the Falange. The book itself is very text-heavy and I probably would not recommend it to the casual reader; however, anyone interested in colonialism, guerilla warfare, Middle Eastern history or Spanish history will most likely find this book a stimulating, thought provoking, and appealing read.
The book is a large but not fully comprehensive look at the conflict taking place under the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, set in the historical context of the larger, and primarily European, global world stage. Balfour splits his book up into three primary sections, the first addressing the invasion of Morocco and the formation of a standing army to combat Moroccan resistance, the second discussing conflicts, politics, and the tactics involved in fighting the Moroccans, and the third concerning the Civil War and the recruitment of Moroccans by the Nationalists and subsequent Reconquista of Spain from the Second Republic. All three sections are roughly split by decade, and are broken up into smaller subcategories which made engaging the book considerably easier, as it is far simpler to handle the large chunks of information in smaller pieces.
Everything in the book is centered on Morocco, and the Spanish Army of Africa. European affairs, wars, and even mainland Spain are largely addressed only in their relation to the conflict from the Spanish perspective in Morocco. Balfour begins with some historical context, addressing the fact that after the “el desastre” of 1898, Spain began to lose any of the authority and strength that it needed to maintain its colonies overseas, and a settlement was reached with the French over the territory of Morocco. The land was split into the protectorates of French and Spanish territory. The land that the Spanish were allotted was a rough, mountainous terrain referred to as the Rif (Riff) that was inhospitable and provided the perfect medium for Berber guerilla fighters who resisted Spanish incursions and occupation. The importance of the Rif cannot be emphasized enough, and Balfour does an excellent job of emphasizing its significance as a geographic landscape which allowed mass resistance to the Spanish in a manner that may not have been possible without it.
Military resistance to the Spanish was largely organized as a reaction to their occupation rather than a cohesive strategy in the broader context of any kind of nationalistic Moroccan identity. Tribes of Berbers and Arabs, the distinction between which is largely linguistic, organized around powerful individuals such as Abd-el Krim, who organized them against the Spanish. The early efforts of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera in combating the Moroccans was largely unsuccessful, leading to some dissent among the officers and soldiers in the Spanish Army of Africa. Efforts eventually yielded fruit in the campaign with the help of better organized troops, chemical weapons provided by European powers (namely Germany), and a campaign to drive young men to the front with promises of commendation and currency. Balfour also addresses the principle of the Moroccan “other,” an orientalist doctrine that echoes other propaganda campaigns that are orientalist in nature, such as the British conflict in the First and Second Anglo-Afghan Wars.
But the heart of Balfour’s book is the Spanish “Army of Africa,” as it is dubbed. According to Balfour, the army’s experience and numbers, reinforced by local Moroccan troops, made it invaluable to the Nationalist effort once the Civil War broke out. He even went as far as to say that “the Nationalists would have been unquestionably defeated had they not risen with the participation of the Army of Africa” (Page 312).
The author’s perspective, and the evidence that he uses are both very poignant. Rather than relying on secondary sources he utilizes reports, in-time periodicals, correspondence and interviews to back the evidence which he proposes. It is not a work that is a fully comprehensive study of colonialism in the region, such as Martin Bayly’s Taming the Imperial Imagination, but it is not trying to be – and for what it is, Balfour makes his arguments very effectively.
Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War is a well written, and well-paced book which emphasizes the information that the author deems important in a manner that is easy to engage with. It is an especially important work because it addresses the importance of the Army of Africa in winning the Spanish Civil War for the nationalists, which is a subject that is on occasion overlooked in looking at the larger context of the conflict, such as Franco’s rise to power or the Falange. The book itself is very text-heavy and I probably would not recommend it to the casual reader; however, anyone interested in colonialism, guerilla warfare, Middle Eastern history or Spanish history will most likely find this book a stimulating, thought provoking, and appealing read.
June 6, 2012
Simplement història de l'Exèrcit d'Àfrica, de la seva formació, de la seva raó de ser i de la seva decisiva participació a la guerra civil espanyola. A destacar les pàgines dedicades a l'ús d'armes químiques a la guerra colonial; el dia a dia al Protectorat; les relacions entre militars i civils marroquins i visions dels uns als altres; la participació dels marroquins a la guerra civil: motius per allistar-se, la seva condició de tropa de xoc (cosa que comportà un gran nombre de baixes, un de cada vuit morí i la resta foren ferits greus),... I la constant: una forta crítica a la visió dels militars africanistes, la seva major preocupació en tenir unes tropes valentes i decidides (o sigui, suïcides) que en planificar bé una estratègia de combat.
November 16, 2022
Después de leer tres libros de historia sobre la Guerra de Marruecos, y de vislumbrar la clara relación entre los militares africanistas -con Sanjurjo como cabeza visible- y su posterior victoria en la Guerra Civil Española, buscaba un libro que tratara su ese tema. Pues bien, ese libro existe y es este.
Lo curioso es que a pesar de que esos militares africanistas fueron los culpables del desastre - Silvestre y el propio Berenguer- como grupo no solo salieron indemnes de Annual, sino que fueron fortalecidos primero por el rey Alfonso XIII y luego por el dictador Primo de Rivera, con el carpetazo definitivo al informe Picasso. Sin embargo, a veces nos detenemos en la simple brutalidad de los hechos ocurridos y no vemos más allá de las causas y los efectos. Por ejemplo, aunque en los diversos libros sobre Annual pasan muy de puntillas sobre la práctica que llevó el dictador Primo de Rivera, este libro pone el dedo en la llaga con el pormenorizado relato sobre utilización a gran escala de armas químicas contra los rifeños por parte de España.
La última parte del libro está dedicada al ejército de África (los Regulares y la Legión), y a su importancia capital para que los Nacionales ganaran la Guerra Civil. Se da la paradoja de que en ese ejército formaran parte rifeños que habían matado a soldados españoles en Marruecos y luego continuaran matando soldados afectos a la República en España.
Supongo que habrá gente que encontrará incómodo este libro, pero para mí, es absolutamente esclarecedor.
Lo curioso es que a pesar de que esos militares africanistas fueron los culpables del desastre - Silvestre y el propio Berenguer- como grupo no solo salieron indemnes de Annual, sino que fueron fortalecidos primero por el rey Alfonso XIII y luego por el dictador Primo de Rivera, con el carpetazo definitivo al informe Picasso. Sin embargo, a veces nos detenemos en la simple brutalidad de los hechos ocurridos y no vemos más allá de las causas y los efectos. Por ejemplo, aunque en los diversos libros sobre Annual pasan muy de puntillas sobre la práctica que llevó el dictador Primo de Rivera, este libro pone el dedo en la llaga con el pormenorizado relato sobre utilización a gran escala de armas químicas contra los rifeños por parte de España.
La última parte del libro está dedicada al ejército de África (los Regulares y la Legión), y a su importancia capital para que los Nacionales ganaran la Guerra Civil. Se da la paradoja de que en ese ejército formaran parte rifeños que habían matado a soldados españoles en Marruecos y luego continuaran matando soldados afectos a la República en España.
Supongo que habrá gente que encontrará incómodo este libro, pero para mí, es absolutamente esclarecedor.
July 9, 2023
Balfour fue de los primeros en plantear la experiencia del ejército español en el norte de África como preludio del golpe de estado de 1936, de explicar la guerra de España de 1936-1939 como una guerra colonial librada por una serie de militares golpistas aislados de la evolución política y social de la Península que reproducían su forma de actuar en el Protectorado marroquí. Legionarios, regulares y toda suerte de militares que se consideraban ninguneados por los gobiernos españoles y se creyeron los garantes de las esencias patrias. A partir de un trabajo ingente de archivo y de entrevistas a veteranos de guerra españoles y marroquíes, Balfour muestra la brutalidad de las guerras coloniales y el uso de gases en una guerra química contra la población civil del Rif.
October 24, 2022
Gran libro cuyo hilo conductor es la influencia de la guerra en Marruecos en el ejército y como está fue decisiva a la hora de la sublevación y posteriores tácticas al inicio de la Guerra Civil. Tiene una parte muy interesante y bastante desconocida (al menos para mí) del uso de armas químicas en Marruecos y sus consecuencias, así como los escarceos de ambos bandos para obtener y/o producir éstas durante la Guerra Civil.
January 17, 2022
Tema: Spaniens kolonialkrig i Marocko från 1909 och skapandet av den spanska armen i Afrika som sedan skulle bli en avgörande faktor under det spanska inbördeskriget.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews