During the
Third Rif WarThe Rif War of 1920, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain and the Moroccan Rif and J'bala tribes.-Early Stages:...
in
Spanish MoroccoSpanish Protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence.-Territorial borders:...
between 1921 and 1927, the
Spanish Army of AfricaThe Spanish Army of Africa was a Spanish field army that garrisoned Spanish Morocco from the early 20th century until Morocco's independence in 1956....
dropped chemical warfare agents in an attempt to put down the
RifThe Rif is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Moulouya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Ouargha in the south.It is part of the Cordillera Bética that also...
fian
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
rebellionRebellion is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from civil disobedience and mass nonviolent resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy an established authority such as the government. Those who participate in rebellions are...
led by guerrilla leader
Abd el-KrimAbd el-Krim Abd el-Krim (1880, Ajdir –February 6, 1963, Cairo) Abd el-Krim (1880, Ajdir –February 6, 1963, Cairo) (Mulay Abdelkrim, full name: Muhammad Ibn 'Abd El-Karim El-Khattabi , was the Berber leader of the Rif, a Berber area of northeastern Morocco. He became the leader of a...
.
These attacks in 1924 marked the first time mustard gas was dropped by airplanes, a year before the
Geneva ProtocolThe Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the first use of chemical and biological weapons...
for "the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare" was signed. The gas used in these attacks was produced by the "Fabrica Nacional de Productos Quimicos" at
La MarañosaLa Marañosa is a locality of Madrid, Spain. Its hills overlook both banks of the Jarama river.The locality is known for being home of The "Fabrica Nacional de Productos Quimicos" which supplied the Spanish Army of Africa with chemical warfare agents during the Rif rebellion between 1923 and...
near
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
; this plant was founded with significant assistance from
Hugo StoltzenbergHugo Gustav Adolf Stoltzenberg was a German chemist associated with the German government's clandestine chemical warfare activities in the early 1920s....
, a chemist associated with the German government's clandestine chemical warfare activities in the early 1920s who later was given Spanish citizenship.
Researches and revelations
The Spanish bombings were covered up but some observers of
military aviationMilitary aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...
, like Pedro Tonda Bueno in his autobiography
La vida y yo (
Life and I), published in 1974, talked about dropping toxic gases from airplanes and the consequent poisoning of the Rif fields. Likewise,
Ignacio Hidalgo de CisnerosIgnacio Hidalgo de Cisneros y López de Montenegro was a Spanish General of the Spanish Air Force....
, in his autobiographical work
Cambio de rumbo (
Course change), reveals how he was with several chemical attacks. Years later, in 1990, two German journalists and investigators,
Rudibert KunzRudibert Kunz is a German investigator, journalist and television editor.Kunz is known for being the first journalist to write about the use Chemical weapons in the Rif War. Since 1979, he has been researching the history of weapons of mass destruction...
and
Rolf-Dieter MüllerRolf-Dieter Müller is a German historian and political scientist.Müller, in cooperation with German journalist Rudibert Kunz , is known for being the first historian to write about the use of Chemical weapons in the Rif War in a 1999 book titled Giftgas Gegen Abd El Krim: Deutschland, Spanien und...
, in their work
Giftgas Gegen Abd El Krim: Deutschland, Spanien und der Gaskrieg in Spanisch-marokko, 1922-1927 (
Poison Gas against Abd El Krim: Germany, Spain and the Gas War in Spanish Morocco, 1922-1927), proved with scientific tests that chemical attacks had indeed occurred. The British historian
Sebastian BalfourSebastian Balfour is an English historian and Professor Emeritus of Contemporary Spanish Studies at the London School of Economics.-References:* - London School of Economics...
, of the
London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science, commonly referred to as the London School of Economics or LSE, is a specialist constituent college of the University of London in London, England....
, in his book
Deadly Embrace, confirmed massive use of chemical arms after having studied numerous Spanish, French and British archives. According to his research, the strategy of the Spanish military was to chose highly populated zones as targets. Additional evidence is found in a telegram from a British official, H. Pughe Lloyd, sent to the British Minister of War.
Background
According to
Sebastian BalfourSebastian Balfour is an English historian and Professor Emeritus of Contemporary Spanish Studies at the London School of Economics.-References:* - London School of Economics...
, the motivation for the chemical attacks was based primarily on revenge for the defeat of the
Spanish Army of AfricaThe Spanish Army of Africa was a Spanish field army that garrisoned Spanish Morocco from the early 20th century until Morocco's independence in 1956....
and their Moroccan recruits the
RegularesRegulares was the name commonly used to designate the volunteer infantry and cavalry units of the Spanish Army recruited in Spanish Morocco. They consisted of Moroccans officered by Spaniards. These Moroccan troops played a major role in the Spanish Civil War...
at the Battle of Annual on July 22, 1921.
The Spanish defeat, the
Disaster of Annual with 13,000 Spanish and colonial soldiers dead according to the official count, led to a major political crisis and a redefinition of Spanish colonial policy toward the
RifThe Rif is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Moulouya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Ouargha in the south.It is part of the Cordillera Bética that also...
region. The political crisis led
Indalecio PrietoIndalecio Prieto Tuero was a Spanish politician, one of the leading figures of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in the years before and during the Second Spanish Republic....
to say in the Congress of Deputies: "We are at the most acute period of Spanish decadence. The campaign in Africa is a total failure, absolute, without extenuation, of the Spanish Army."
The Minister of War ordered the creation of an investigative commission, directed by the respected general
Juan Picasso GonzálezJuan Picasso González was a Spanish military man and general who participated in the Rif Wars with the Spanish Army of Africa in late 19th century and early 20th century...
, which eventually developed the "Expediente Picasso" report. Despite calling out numerous military mistakes, it did not, owing to obstructions raised by various ministers and judges, go so far as to lay political responsibility for the defeat. Popular opinion widely blamed King Alfonso XIII who, according to several sources, encouraged General
Manuel Fernández SilvestreManuel Fernández Silvestre y Patinga and Pantiga was a Spanish military general.He was the son of the lieutenant colonel of artillery Victor Fernandez and of Doña Eleuteria Silvestre...
's irresponsible penetration of positions far from
MelillaMelilla is an autonomous Spanish city located on the Mediterranean, on the north coast of North Africa. It was regarded as a part of Málaga province prior to 14 March 1995, when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed.Melilla was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2008 it...
without having adequate defenses in his rear.
Even before the use of chemical weapons, the Spanish Army commonly resorted to brutal methods of repression, which in some cases included decapitation, after its initial defeats in the
Second Rif War of 1909The second Rif War was a conflict in 1909 in Morocco around Melilla. The fighting involved local Rifains and the Spanish Army.- Prelude :...
.
The use of the chemical agents
Spain was one of the first powers to use chemical weapons against civilian populaces in their use against the Rif rebellion. Between 1921 and 1927, the Spanish army indescriminately used
phosgenePhosgene is the chemical compound with the formula COCl2. This colorless gas gained infamy as a chemical weapon during World War I, and is also a valued industrial reagent and building block in organic synthesis. In low concentrations, its odor resembles freshly cut hay or grass. Some...
,
diphosgeneDiphosgene is a chemical compound with the formula ClCO2CCl3. This colorless liquid is a valuable reagent in the synthesis of organic compounds...
,
chloropicrinChloropicrin, also known as "PS", is a chemical compound with the structural formula Cl3CNO2. This colourless highly toxic liquid was once used in chemical warfare and is currently used as a fumigant and nematocide.-History:...
and mustard gas (known as
Iperita). Common targets were civilian populations, markets, and rivers. In a telegram sent by the then-
High CommissionerHigh Commissioner is the title of various high-ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment.The English term is also used to render various equivalent titles in other languages.-Bilateral diplomacy:...
of
Spanish MoroccoSpanish Protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence.-Territorial borders:...
Dámaso BerenguerDámaso Berenguer y Fusté, Count of Xauen was a Spanish soldier and politician.Berenguer was born in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba, while that island nation was still a Spanish province....
in August 12, 1921 to the Spanish minister of War, Berenguer stated:
In August 20, 1921, Spain asked Germany to deliver mustard gas via
Hugo StoltzenbergHugo Gustav Adolf Stoltzenberg was a German chemist associated with the German government's clandestine chemical warfare activities in the early 1920s....
, although Germany was prohibited from manufacturing such weapons as per the
Treaty of VersaillesThe Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
of 1919. The first delivery occurred in 1923. The use of chemical weapons against the Rif was first described in an article of a (now defunct) Francophone daily newspaper published in
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
called
La Dépêche marocaineLa Dépêche marocaine was a daily francophone Moroccan newspaper published in Tangier. It is considered the oldest published newspaper in Morocco after being founded by Rober-Raynaud in 1905....
dated on November 27, 1921. Historian
Juan PandoJuan Pando Despierto is a Spanish historian.Juan Pando was born within a family of military background. He is the son of the photographer Juan Pando Barrero. He received a triple formation, not only historical and military but a professional photographer...
has been the only Spanish historian to have confirmed the usage of mustard gas starting in 1923. Spanish newspaper
La Correspondencia de España published an article called
Cartas de un soldado (
Letters of a soldier) on August 16, 1923 which backed the usage of mustard gas.
According to military aviation general Hidalgo de Cisneros in his autobiographical book
Cambio de rumbo, he was the first warfighter to drop a 100-kilogram mustard gas bomb from his Farman F60 Goliath aircraft in the summer of 1924. About 127 fighters and bombers flew in the campaign, dropping around 1,680 bombs each day. Thirteen of these planes were stationed in the military air base of Seville. The mustard gas bombs were brought from the stockpiles of Germany and delivered to
MelillaMelilla is an autonomous Spanish city located on the Mediterranean, on the north coast of North Africa. It was regarded as a part of Málaga province prior to 14 March 1995, when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed.Melilla was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2008 it...
before being carried on Farman F60 Goliath airplanes.
Alleged toxic effects
The "Association for the Defence of Victims of the Rif War" considers that the toxic effects are still being felt in the
RifThe Rif is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Moulouya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Ouargha in the south.It is part of the Cordillera Bética that also...
region. However, no scientific study has proven to date the relationship between the usage of chemical weapons and the high rate of
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
in the area.
Bill of acknowledgment
In February 14, 2007, the Catalonian party of the Republican Left (
Esquerra Republicana de CatalunyaThe Republican Left of Catalonia is a left-wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain campaigning for the independence of Catalonia from this country...
) passed a bill to the Spanish Congress of Deputies requesting Spain to acknowledge the "systematic" use of chemical weapons against the population of the Rif mountains. The bill was rejected by 33 votes from the governing
Socialist Labor PartyThe Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , is the ruling party in Spain and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in 1833. It identifies itself as a centre-left, social-democratic, democratic socialist and progressivist party....
and the opposition right-wing
Popular PartyThe People's Party is the main Right-wing political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation of the Popular Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship and a politician known to have relatively...
who form the majority in the Spanish parliament.