Mohammed V of Morocco

Mohammed bin Yusef was born on 10 August 1909 in Fes, and was the youngest of his three brothers. In March 1912, the Treaty of Fes was signed, turning Morocco into a French protectorate after a French invasion from the west and the east, resulting in an eventual capture of the capital, Fes. While Mohammed's father Yusef bin Hassan spent most of his time in the new capital, Rabat, Mohammed spent most of his time in the Royal Palace in Fes, where he received education in the traditional Moroccan way, Arabic religious lessons. However, Mohammed also learned the French language, which he did not master, as it was necessary to communicate with French authorities.[1]

The young sultan sitting with the former French résident général, Hubert Lyautey, in 1930.[2]

Mohammed V was one of the sons of Sultan Yusef, who was enthroned by the French in September 1912 and his wife Yaqut.[3] On 18 November 1927, a "young and timid" 17-year-old Muhammad bin Yusef was enthroned after the death of his father and the departure of Hubert Lyautey.[4]

Sultan Sidi Mohammed V with his son, the future King Hassan II, in a replica Panhard, 1930

He married Hanila bint Mamoun in 1925 and in 1928, he married Abla bint Tahar, the latter gave birth to Hassan II in 1929. Finally he married Bahia bint Antar.

At the time of Mohammed's enthronement, the French colonial authorities were "pushing for a more assertive 'native policy.'"[4] On 16 May 1930, Sultan Muhammad V signed the Berber Dahir, which changed the legal system in parts of Morocco where Berber languages were primarily spoken (Bled es-Siba), while the legal system in the rest of the country (Bled al-Makhzen) remained the way it had been before the French invasion.[4][5] Although the sultan was under no duress, he was only 20 years old.[4] This dhahir "electrified the nation"; it was sharply criticized by Moroccan nationalists and catalyzed the Moroccan Nationalist Movement.[4]

Sultan Muhammad V participated in the Anfa Conference hosted in Casablanca during World War II.[4] On 22 January 1943, he met privately with the US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Prime Minister of the UK Winston Churchill.[4] At this dinner, Roosevelt assured the sultan that "the post-war scene and the pre-war scene would ... sharply differ, especially as they related to the colonial question."[4] The sultan's 14-year-old son and future king of Morocco, Hassan II, also attended and later stated that Roosevelt said, "Ten years from now your country will be independent."[4]

"There are competing accounts of exactly what Mohammed V did or did not do for the Moroccan Jewish community" during the Holocaust.[6] However, "though a subject of debate, most scholars stress the benevolence of Mohammed V toward the Jews" during the Vichy era.[7] Mohammed reportedly refused to sign off on efforts by Vichy officials to impose anti-Jewish legislation upon Morocco and deport the country's 250,000 Jews to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps in Europe.[8] The sultan's stand was "based as much on the insult the Vichy diktats posed to his claim of sovereignty over all his subjects, including the Jews, as on his humanitarian instincts."[8] Partial Nazi race measures were enacted in Morocco over Mohammed's objection,[8] and Mohammed did sign, under the instructions of Vichy officials, two decrees that barred Jews from certain schools and positions.[9]

Nevertheless, Mohammed is highly esteemed by Moroccan Jews who credit him for protecting their community from the Nazi and Vichy French government,[6] and Mohammed V has been honored by Jewish organizations for his role in protecting his Jewish subjects during the Holocaust.[10] Some historians maintain that Mohammed's anti-Nazi role has been exaggerated; historian Michel Abitol writes that while Mohammed V was compelled by Vichy officials to sign the anti-Jewish dahirs, "he was more passive than Moncef Bay (ruler of Tunisia during the Second World War) in that he did not take any side and did not engage in any public act that could be interpreted as a rejection of Vichy's policy."[9]

Prince Hassan stands behind Sultan Mohammed V seated with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during the 1943 Casablanca Conference.

Sultan Muhammad V was a central figure in the independence movement in Morocco, or as it is also called: the Revolution of the King and the People (ثورة الملك والشعب). This Moroccan Nationalist Movement grew from protests regarding the Berber Dahir of 16 May 1930. He was critical of early movements for reform in French colonial administration in Morocco before becoming a supporter of independence later on.[11]

His central position in the Proclamation of Independence of Morocco further boosted his image as a national symbol. On 9 and 10 April 1947, he delivered two momentous speeches respectively at the Mendoubia and Grand Mosque of Tangier, together known as the Tangier Speech, appealing for the independence of Morocco without calling out specific colonial powers.[12][13]

Moulay Hassan and his father, Sultan Mohammed V in 1950

In 1947, the rapid progress of the nationalist movement prompted Sidi Mohammed to demand independence for the first time during the Tangier speech, where he also called for the union of the Arabs and Morocco's membership of the Arab League which was founded in 1945, in which he praised, emphasized the close ties between Morocco and the rest of the Arab world. This rapprochement between the monarchy and the nationalist movement, whose projects differ, can be explained, according to historian Bernard Cubertafond, by the fact that "each side needs the other: the national movement sees the growing popularity of the king and his prudent but gradual emancipation from a protector who, in fact, left the treaty of 1912 to come to direct administration; the king cannot, except to discredit himself, cut himself off from a nationalist movement bringing together the living forces of his country and the elite of his youth, and he needs this power of protest to impose changes on France”.[14]

From then on, relations became strained with the French authorities, in particular with the new Resident General, General Alphonse Juin, who applied severe measures and pressured the sultan to disavow the Istiqlal and distance himself from nationalist claims. The break with France was consummated in 1951 and Sidi Mohammed concluded with the nationalists the pact of Tangier to fight for independence. The appointment of a new Resident General, General Augustin Guillaume , accentuated the dissension between Mohammed V and France. Further demonstrations turn into riots in Morocco in 1952, notably in Casablanca, while Sidi Mohammed gives the Moroccan cause an international audience at the UN with the support of the United States.[14]

On 20 August 1953 (the eve of Eid al-Adha), the French colonial authorities forced Mohammed V, an important national symbol in the growing Moroccan independence movement, into exile in Corsica along with his family. His first cousin once removed, Mohammed Ben Aarafa, called the "French sultan," was made a puppet monarch and placed on the throne.[15] In response, Muhammad Zarqtuni bombed Casablanca's Central Market on Christmas Eve of that year.[15]

King Mohammed V of Morocco in 1957

Mohammed V and his family were then transferred to Madagascar in January 1954. Mohammed V returned from exile on 16 November 1955, and was again recognized as Sultan after active opposition to the French protectorate. His triumphant return was for many the sign of the end of the colonial era.[16] The situation became so tense that in 1955, the Moroccan nationalists, who enjoyed support in Libya, Algeria (with the FLN) and Egypt forced the French government to negotiate and recall the sultan. In February 1956 he successfully negotiated with France and Spain for the independence of Morocco.

Mohammed V supported the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) in the struggle for Algerian Independence and offered to facilitate the participation of FLN leaders in a conference with Habib Bourguiba in Tunis.[17] On October 22, 1956, French forces hijacked a Moroccan airplane carrying leaders of the FLN during the ongoing Algerian War.[18][17][19] The plane, which was carrying Ahmed Ben Bella, Hocine Aït Ahmed, and Mohamed Boudiaf, was destined to leave from Palma de Mallorca for Tunis, but French forces redirected the flight to occupied Algiers, where the FLN leaders were arrested.[17]

King Mohammed V receiving President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt on his visit to Morocco, 1961

As Mohammed V returned to the throne, he suppressed many insurgencies, especially in the south and in the Rif. In 1957, he took the title of King of Morocco, to symbolise the unity of the country despite the divisions between Arabs and Berbers. In terms of domestic policy, upon his return he allowed the first congress of the Istiqlal, which formed various governments under his reign. He authorized the creation of trade unions, but the unrest and the strikes lead him to take full power in the last years of his reign.[14] His state visit to the United States later that year "strengthened his position as the kingdom's sole legitimate representative".[20] This way he managed to replace the members of the nationalist movement on the global stage and turned his trip into a great publicity success.[21] He used various techniques to project the royal authority, such as personally thanking the nationalist movement's former supporters in the name of the Moroccan people.[22]

During his reign, the Moroccan Liberation Army waged war against Spain and France, and successfully captured most of Ifni as well as Cape Juby and parts of Spanish Sahara. With the treaty of Angra de Cintra, Morocco annexed Cape Juby and the surroundings of Ifni, while the rest of the remaining colony was ceded by Spain in 1969.[23]

He died at 51 years old 26 February 1961 following complications of a minor operation he had undergone.[24]