Spanish Civil War: Why Were The Moroccans Such Bastards?
- Thread starter phildwyer
- Start date
Why?
Random
Ethnic nalgocrat
I don't know, but I reckon you're onto something with that parallel. Warlike peoples have often been co-opted by the empires that conquered them. Gurkhas, Pathans, etc etc. I wonder what happened to the Moroccan soldiers after 1939, when Spain became all about public Catholicism. And after de-colonialisation, were there pro-Spanish Moroccans who came over to Spain?
I can't imagine they'd have been made very welcome by either side, nor even their descendents.
All I can find on the subject is an article by Stephen Schwartz, which despite its title doesn't seem to be about the Moroccans at all.
I've no idea why you think I owe you an apology. I've less idea why you'd imagine this is an appropriate means to seek it.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Interestingly, there could be a story to uncover here.
http://europenews.dk/en/node/15315
I don't think there's too much of a story about why Moroccans fought for Franco in the first place, though. Northern Morocco was Franco's pre-war power base.
http://europenews.dk/en/node/15315
I don't think there's too much of a story about why Moroccans fought for Franco in the first place, though. Northern Morocco was Franco's pre-war power base.
TruXta
tired
You must be a very sensitive and angry person. In any case, there is no place for you here. You will leave immediately.
Exactly. He commanded the Army of Africa. How did he make so many friends there?
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
Yeah, keep arguments in their own thread please. Or, even better, private.
Leave. Now.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
You don't get to say that. Stop saying it, or you'll be the one leaving.
You're a freaky stalker. Stop your stalking.
Anyway, according to this: history.rutgers.edu/computing/downloads/doc.../160-civilizing-allies
Franco often expressed sympathy with Islam, organized a pilgrimage to Mecca, and told the Moors they were fighting enemies of Allah.
Still doesn't explain their fanaticism though. Langston Hughes wrote a crap poem about his encounter with a wounded Moor:
I said, Boy, what you been doin' here
Fightin' against the free?...
Cause if a free Spain wins this war,
The colonies, too, are free—
Then something wonderful'll happen
To them Moors as dark as me.
Franco often expressed sympathy with Islam, organized a pilgrimage to Mecca, and told the Moors they were fighting enemies of Allah.
Still doesn't explain their fanaticism though. Langston Hughes wrote a crap poem about his encounter with a wounded Moor:
I said, Boy, what you been doin' here
Fightin' against the free?...
Cause if a free Spain wins this war,
The colonies, too, are free—
Then something wonderful'll happen
To them Moors as dark as me.
likesfish
You can't park here sir
alight chaps we are going to Spain and you get to kill Spanish commies and foreign godless white people and its legal. (said in upper class Spanish accent)
assorted Moroccans cool
we didn't actually conquer nepal just one of the surviving officers persuaded the Gurkha's that their was a chance to travel and kill interesting foreign people if they didn't cut his head off and they'd get paid
unlike the Scots the welsh and the Irish who we did conquer
assorted Moroccans cool
we didn't actually conquer nepal just one of the surviving officers persuaded the Gurkha's that their was a chance to travel and kill interesting foreign people if they didn't cut his head off and they'd get paid
unlike the Scots the welsh and the Irish who we did conquer
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
Ahh the right rhetoric in the right ears at the right time can bring on fanaticism in the most timid of people, let alone those inclined toward martial culture.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I might do a bit of digging here. It does sound like there is a story. Certainly there must have been promises made that weren't kept, but systematic liquidation at the end of the war is also a possibility.
There is still a lot that is buried about the aftermath of the war. Hundreds of thousands were killed by Franco after the war ended. It would not surprise me if these included Moroccans who had served their purpose.
There is still a lot that is buried about the aftermath of the war. Hundreds of thousands were killed by Franco after the war ended. It would not surprise me if these included Moroccans who had served their purpose.
That's what I thought. I've read a lot on the subject, and watched plenty of documentaries, but have never seen the war presented from the Moroccan perspective.
What about allowing immigration to Spain? Franco might have kept that promise, I don't know. He also constructed a gulag system after the war, so maybe he put his best troops in there, like Stalin.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
If immigration had been allowed, there would be a record of it. Their descendants would be around. There is a certain reluctance on all sides to open old wounds about the war, but even a small number of Moroccans becoming naturalised (1000 or so) would have left its mark.
That there appears to be no record of thousands of Moroccan soldiers suggests to me that they were simply taken out and shot.
That there appears to be no record of thousands of Moroccan soldiers suggests to me that they were simply taken out and shot.
There are loads of Moroccans in Spain.
We'd be talking about hundreds of thousands. I suppose it's possible, but wouldn't there be some records?
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
Expensive & time consuming if there are loads of people.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Yet it was done. Whole villages were taken out and shot.
TBH the question of Franco's Moroccan contingent is something I know next to nothing about. I've read a fair bit on the Spanish Civil War, but never really considered this particular question – and neither have the authors. Paul Preston barely mentions them in his histories.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
Did Franco learn nothing from the Nazis?
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Franco was quite stupendously stupid in many ways. It's quite extraordinary that such an undistinguished man became dictator of Spain.
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