In 1907, Abdelhafid began rebelling against his brother, who was the sultan of Morocco prior to the rebellion, Abdelaziz. In Marrakech, Abdelhafid was able to turn the Moroccan people against his brother because of Abdelaziz's Western ways. After getting the support of the people of Marrakech, he was able to get his brother removed. As a result, Abdelaziz was forced to flee to Tangier. In 1909, Abdelhafid made an attack on the French army located in Casablanca. After that, he went to Fez and became the new Sultan of Morocco. As the new Sultan of Morocco, he was unable to keep Morocco under control. Under Sultan Abdelhafid, there was a lot of chaos and disorder because the Sultan was a bad ruler. The Berbers were leading rebellions in Morocco, which made the Sultan in need protection. The Sultan was than forced to get help from the French. The Sultan was to agree to make Morocco into European protectorates and sign the Treaty of Fez.
March 30th, 1912 The Treaty of Fez was signed. This agreement officially made Morocco into a French protectorate. A protectorate is any country or territory that maintains its own internal government, but is under the control of an outside power or country. Sultan Abdelhafid signed the treaty. As well as making a French Protectorate in Morocco, arrangements were made that gave Spain part of Morocco. With the northern part of Morocco, a Spanish Protectorate was also formed. Under the treaty, the Sultan still kept control over the entire country but he really had nominal power. This meant that he was supposedly serving as the leader but did not have the real power. The French and Spanish administrations were given the real power and authority. In addition, the agreement made in the treaty said that France promised to guarantee the role of the Sultan and the sultans that succeeded him. After the Treaty of Fez was signed, France and Spain were able to pursue their interests in Morocco (Abd Al-Hafid (sultan of Morocco), Encyclopedia Britannica Online; Morocco, Encyclopedia Britannica Online; Treaty of Fez (30 March 1912), About.com African History; The French and Spanish in Morocco, Fsmitha.com).
Sultan Abdelhafid was born between 1875 and 1880 and died on April 4, 1937. As the Sultan of Morocco, there were rebellions from the Berbers native to Morocco, which put the Sultan in danger. These rebellions was a method of responding to his bad ruling after taking over the country from his brother, Abdelaziz. As Sultan of Morocco Abdelhafid signed the Treaty of Fez, which gave France a protectorate over Morocco (Abd
Al-Hafid (sultan of Morocco), Encyclopedia Britannica Online; Morocco, Encyclopedia Britannica Online; Treaty of Fez (30 March 1912), About.com African History).
