#french protectorate

When Morocco gained independence in 1956, the illiteracy rate was 90%, male life expectancy was 47 years, and 70 percent of the population were landless peasants, working for rich landowners who had benefited from the French Protectorate.

During the Rif War, the French called the Amazigh troops led by Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi "the most powerful and best armed enemy that we have ever met with in our colonial campaigns."

Teachers in special schools for Berber-speaking students during the French protectorate in Morocco were trained in specific regional dialects. In this way they could fulfil the dual roles of teaching and intelligence gathering.

In 1913, protectorate troops were attempting to spread French influence through the whole of Morocco. When they moved into the Middle Atlas, they were faced with such determined resistance by the Amazigh population, led by Moha ou Hammou (whose forces killed over 600 Frenchmen in the battle of el-Herri in November 1914), that they had to utilize arial reconnaissance, artillery, scorched earth campaigns and economic blockades to break the backs of the Middle Atlas tribes. The Amazigh held out until the summer of 1918.