Abd al-Rahman of Morocco

Sultan Moulay Abd al-Rahman of Morocco and his courtiers

Upon ascension, the sultan's finances were in shambles. With the country in disarray, the central government (the Makhzen) was unable to collect much customary taxation. Abd al-Rahman turned to foreign trade, which had been cut off by the prior sultan, as way to reap in customs revenue, and began to negotiate a series of trade treaties with various European powers.

Moulay Abd al-Rahman was an enthusiastic advocate of foreign trade. As governor of Essaouira he had encouraged European merchants, and after he became sultan, consul after consul trekked down to Marrakesh; the Portuguese in 1823, the British in 1824, the French and the Sardinian in 1825. Each signed a trade treaty, although Morocco had little to export because in 1825 the country began another cycle of poor rainfall and famine.[6]

To recoup his expenses Moulay Abd al-Rahman decided to revive the institution of Barbary piracy and reestablish his corsairing fleet. In 1828 it captured some British ships and an Austrian one.[6] This created confrontations with the British as they blockaded Tangier, and the Austrians bombarded Larache, Asilah and Tetouan[1] in 1829. The final bombardment of a Moroccan city in retribution for piracy occurred in 1851 at Salé.[1]

He was an adept leader and administrator and was able to build public works and infrastructure. He did however have to deal with internal conflicts and had to quell revolts many times: 1824–1825, 1828, 1831–1832, 1843, 1849, 1852, 1853, and 1857–1858.[7] He was always successful at placating the nobles and malcontents though.[1]

The navy of the Austrian Empire retaliated with force for the capture of their ship, the Veloce, by the Moroccan corsairing fleet.[6] The Austrians resolved to blockading the Moroccan ports, and then opened hostilities and bombarded Larache, Asilah and Tétouan.[8] In June 1829 they landed at Larache and burned Moroccan ships.[6] The Austrian landing at Larache frightened the Moroccan people on a general attack on the Muslims of North Africa, following when war started between the French and the Ottoman province of Algiers in 1827.[9] However, the landing was a complete failure.[8] In 1830, Austria concluded a treaty in which the principal condition was to offer a splendid gift to the sultan.[10]

The most serious foreign threat to Morocco, however, was France, which had launched its invasion of neighboring Ottoman Algeria in 1830. The French landing at Sidi Feruj near Algiers and subsequent French victory in the battle of Staouéli caused panic in Morocco, while Moroccans expressed solidarity with the Algerians.[11] In the summer of 1830, Abd al-Rahman accepted boatloads of Algerian refugees arriving in the ports of Tangier and Tetuan, ordering his governors to find them housing and settle them into work.[12]

Tlemcen (1875)

After consulting the ulama of Fes, Abd al-Rahman sent Moroccan troops to defend Tlemcen in 1830, consisting of 5,000 cavalry and two pieces of artillery from Fes, under the son of the sultan, Ali. The troops established their headquarters at Tlemcen, in the province of Oran. The Moroccan troops were warmly welcomed, even in the provinces of Tittery and Constantine, however upon discovering that Turkish and Kouloughli remnants were still fighting among themselves, angered by the stalemate, undisciplined Moroccan soldiers rampaged through the streets of Tlemcen in March 1831, leading to the sultan ordering them to withdraw from the city.[13] Another embassy was sent to Fes, Abd al-Rahman complied with their request and sent an agent to Mascara, the agent was eventually withdrawn. Tlemcen was captured by the French in 1836 after the Battle of Mascara in 1835.[14][15]

As a result of the sultan's withdrawal from Tlemcen in March 1831, the Wadaya rebelled in the countryside of Morocco and recognised a relative of the sultan, Mohammed bin al-Tayyib, as sultan. The revolt began in the north and spread throughout Morocco, including the capital Fes, the sultan decided to leave Fes for Meknes which was safer and was protected by the 'Abid al-Bukhari infantry, but on the way to Meknes he was stopped by rebel troops who sent him back to Fes. After the sultan learned about the unpopularity of the chief minister, he dismissed him, took away his wealth, and gave it to the Wadaya as a generous bribe, but this did not stop the rebellion. A few months later, the sultan managed to escape Fes and settle in Meknes, where he slowly built the army there by recruiting more troops. With this army, he marched on Fes and besieged it for 40 days before the Wadaya surrendered in 1834. The sultan ordered the execution of the two most important leaders of the Wadaya revolt, and dispersed them from Fes to Marrakesh, Larache, and Rabat, ending their rebellion.[16]

Abd al-Rahman supported the continued guerrilla resistance in Algeria led by Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri who was in theory, a vassal of the Moroccan sultan (the author seem not really certain of what she is saying "in theory"),[17] albeit only tentatively, not wishing to incur French retaliation. But the border tribes of Morocco continued supporting Abd al-Qadir more actively, prompting the French launch their own strikes over the border and establishing forward outposts in Moroccan territory, which only inflamed the reaction in Morocco and increased the irregular border war. The Moroccan army attacked a French military group which France considered a declaration of war.[18] After learning that the Sultan had sent huge forces to the eastern front, Peugeot gave Morocco a deadline of eight days to withdraw its armies from the east, but the Sultan was not convinced.[1][18]

Battle of Isly (1844)

The French then demanded that Morocco cease its support of Abd al-Qadir and cede its eastern frontier lands to French control and, in 1844, launched the First Franco-Moroccan War.[1][19] The war did not go well for the sultan. The French navy bombarded Mogador (Essaouira) and Tangier, while the Moroccan army, under Abd al-Rahman's son Moulay Muhammad, was defeated by the French at the Battle of Isly in August 1844. Abd al-Rahman consented to the Treaty of Tangier in October 1844, withdrawing support for al-Qadir, and reducing border garrisons.[1]

The treaties aggravated the internal situation in Morocco. Abd al-Rahman in fact rejected the Treaty of Lalla Maghnia at first, blaming it on his negotiators, but was eventually forced to ratify it. Army units and rural tribes across the north and east, already basically ungovernable, started raising rebellions which were only crushed with difficulty. The aftermath saw the break between Abd al-Rahman and Abd al-Qadir.

The crushing defeat at Isly and the bombardment of the Moroccan ports by the squadron commanded by the Prince de Joinville had grave consequences both for the sultan's internal authority and for his relations with Europe. The defeat of Isly sparked off tribal rebellions in many parts of Morocco. The Dukkala tribesmen in the region between Safi and El Jadida massacred government officials and looted El Jadida. Essaouira was pillaged by the tribes when its inhabitants deserted it. Rebellious tribes threatened Marrakesh, and in September 1845 Rabat rebelled and its leaders chose a local notable to replace the governor appointed by the sultan. The sultan's international standing was also weakened as a result of this defeat. The Scandinavian countries immediately ceased to make him the customary annual gift to retain commercial relations with Morocco. And the sultan, aware that much harm to the country could be avoided through speedy communications wit the European conculs, appointed in 1845 a na'ib (deputy) to conduct relations with them on behalf of the sultan. Though the na'ib resided in, and often held the post of governor of, Tangier, he became in fact if not in title a minister of foreign affairs.[20]

Bombardment of Salé (1851)

On 25 November 1851, French ships anchored off Rabat and Salé. Moroccan soldiers in those cities prepared to repel the French attack and armed themselves with artillery. At 10:00 a.m, the French fleet opened fire on the forts of Salé, while the Moroccans retaliated instantly with forty batteries of artillery weapons.[21] An hour later, the batteries in Salé were destroyed, while the artillery in Rabat were damaged to the point where they became almost useless, however Moroccan reinforcements arrived.[22] The damaged batteries were removed from the cities by Moroccan forces who continued to resist.[23] By the end of the bombardment, the Moroccans had 18 to 22 men killed and 47 of them wounded, with many fortifications damaged. On the other hand, the French had losses of 4 killed and 18 wounded, as well as two of their battleships damaged. Both sides claimed victory, as the bombardment ended in a French military victory but also in a Moroccan political victory.[24]

In 1856, Britain persuaded the sultan to sign a treaty in Tangier on 9 December 1856, after long negotiations between John Hay Drummond Hay, a representative of Queen Victoria, and Muhammad al-Khatib, a representative of the sultan Abd al-Rahman. Moroccan trade was freed from almost all its monopolies, custom duties were reduced to ten percent of value, Morocco's door was opened to a larger volume of overseas trade, and British subjects could own property in Morocco.[25][26]