Talk:French conquest of Morocco

French conquest of Smara

Hello M.Bitton,

Regarding this edit—correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing from your commentary here that your removal of information regarding the French attack on Smara relates to implications for the Western Sahara conflict. I'm not interested in making statement on that issue, and it should be mentioned that Smara was then under the legal authority of Spanish Sahara.

The information about the attack on Smara is relevant to this article, though, because of the city's role as a base in the resistance to the French invasion of Morocco. Ma al-'Aynayn, his son Ahmed al-Hiba, and others were active in the struggle against the French in Morocco, and Smara was their base.

It's probably also worth mentioning that the ideology of nation states with cartographically defined borders was not so relevant before European colonialism. The resistance based in Smara was fighting against European claims in the region.

Proposed edit
=== Destruction of Smara === Febrary 28, 1913, French troops coming from Mauritania led by Colonel Mouret attacked Smara, the academic and spiritual capital of the Sahara founded by Ma al-'Aynayn that was then under the authority of Spanish Sahara, and set it ablaze, destroying most of the city including its famous library.

Are there any changes you would suggest to the above text?

إيان (talk) 05:02, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

The Smara incident has nothing whatsoever to do with the conquest/pacification of Morocco which occurred in various stages that are easily sourced and can be seen on the map (shown in the article). Therefore, it simply does not belong in this article.

The revenge based attack on Smara is part of the the conquest of Western Sahara and is mentioned in the Western Sahara and the Spanish Sahara articles, just as it should be. If we really have to link it to another country, it will have to be Mauritania, because it's from there that the French soldiers departed in pursuit of the Sahrawis tribesmen who attacked a French column and killed many soldiers (in Mauritania). M.Bitton (talk) 23:05, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

References