Spain’s Denied History: Chemical Weapons Use in Morocco’s Rif War Exposed

Chemical weapons such as phosgene, chloropicrin or the deadly mustard gas were first used by the Germans in Ypres, Belgium during World War I. The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibited the manufacture and use of these chemical weapons. But this did not prevent Spain, a State party to these agreements, from resorting to the use of these weapons in Morocco during the interwar period, as did the United Kingdom in the Middle East or Italy in Libya, reports La Vanguardia.

The case of Spain remained unknown until the beginning of the 21st century. In the 1990s, authors like Rosa María de Madariaga and Sebastian Balfour wrote about it based on unpublished sources. Spain’s use of chemical weapons follows the Battle of Anoual, which took place in late July 1921 where the Spanish army suffered a serious military defeat against the Riffian Berber army, a defeat that fueled the hatred and desire for revenge of the authorities of the peninsula.

"I have always been opposed to the use of asphyxiating gases against these Indians, but after what they have done, I must use them with real pleasure," Dámaso Berenguer, High Commissioner in Morocco, said in a telegram to the Minister of War dated August 12, 1921. According to some sources, Spain procured more from France and Germany from 1921 onwards. General Burguete, Berenguer’s successor as High Commissioner, authorized their use in September 1922 and Luis Silvela, his successor, made an unrealistic request for 50,000 mustard gas bombs.

For his part, Riffian leader Abd-el-Krim tried in vain to obtain this type of weapon to retaliate against the Spanish attacks. In addition, the leader denounced to the United Nations the deliberate use of chemical weapons against the civilian population, these chemical substances having also contaminated the soil and water reservoirs. To this day, Spain has not officially acknowledged its responsibility in the use of chemical weapons.