Modern chemical weapons were introduced during World War I in an effort to reduce the deadlock of trench warfare. In a bid to break the stalemate, the Spanish military turned to the use of chemical weapons against the Riffians. Egyptian military forces, participating in Yemen’s civil war between royalists and republicans, used chemical weapons, such as nerve and mustard agents, in 1963, 1965, and 1967. Since 1945, millions of casualties were caused by such means. Why are chemical weapons attacks in Syria of so much concern to the international community? I have just been writing about the Rif War and your sense of history is right on the button. Of the estimated 90,000 to 100,000 poison gas fatalities recorded, a full 85 percent were killed by phosgene. The Spanish used mustard gas during the Rif War. Furthermore, other powers had recently used chemical weapons in extra-European contexts: the British during the 1920 Iraqi revolt (actually there were only allegations, and such use was possibly limited to tear gas) and the Spanish (with the full knowledge of France) during the 1921-1927 Rif War. Conventional rather than chemical weapons brought down the Rif Republic. Initially, the Spanish forces in Morocco were largely composed of conscripts and reservists from Spain itself. Sulfur mustard has been used as a chemical weapon since World War I. Nitrogen mustard, a derivative of sulfur mustard, was one of the first chemotherapy agents but never has been used in warfa… During Operation Cut Holes and Sink ‘Em (CHASE) from 1967 to 1970, thousands of tons of unwanted chemical warfare agents and ammunition were disposed of by loading the… Between the two World Wars, the use of CW was reported in many conflicts: Spain used chemical weapons in Morocco during the Rif War between 1923 to 1926 war. Both Spain and France used chemical grenades and other weapons that had been used in World War I. On a tour of his northern front in June 1924, Lyautey was alarmed to see how the defeat of Spanish forces left French positions vulnerable to attack by the Rifis. These agents initially stimulate and then paralyze certain nerve transmissions throughout the body and cause other toxic effects such as seizures. Over 100,000 French troops, tanks and aircraft were deployed alongside 80,000 Spaniards, and the outnumbered Riffian forces were broken. Developed by the French military in 1915, phosgene was by far the deadliest of all chemical weapons used in the First World War. The attack lead to the deaths of 10,000 Rif warriors. The types of weapons employed ranged from disabling chemicals, such as tear gas and the severe mustard gas, to lethal agents like phosgene and chlorine. Three substances were responsible for most chemical-weapons injuries and deaths during World War I: chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas. The 5 nerve agents, tabun (GA), sarin (GB), soman (GD), cyclohexylsarin (GF), and VX, have chemical structures similar to the common organophosphate pesticide Malathion. Even before the use of chemical weapons, the Spanish Army commonly resorted to brutal methods of repression, which in some cases included decapitation, after its initial defeats in the Second Rif War of 1909. In modern warfare, chemical weapons were first used in World War I (1914–18), during which gas warfare inflicted more than one million of the casualties suffered by combatants in that conflict and killed an estimated 90,000. These "Peninsular" troops were poorly supplied and prepared, few had marksmanship skills and proper battle training, and widespread corruption was reported amongst the officer corps, reducing sup… The use of the chemical agents. The Rif War provoked grave concern in France. Manuel Fernández Silvestrewas named General Commander of Melilla. This chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first total war of the 20th century. Over the course of the horrific five and a half years of the Syrian civil war, the government of Bashar al-Assad, his Russian allies, and extremist fighters, have committed numerous war … Robert Johnston last updated 5 December 2017. Led by Abd al-Karim, the Riffians at first inflicted several defeats on the Spanish forces by using guerrilla tactics and captured European weapons. During the Third Rif War in Spanish Morocco between 1921 and 1927, the Spanish Army of Africa dropped chemical warfare agents in an attempt to put down the Riffian Berber rebellion led by guerrilla leader Abd el-Krim.. These chemical warfare agents were stored in bulk containers or as assembled weapons and ammunition at nine sites in the United States. - Iraq, 1980-88: During the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein's forces used mustard gas, cyanide and sarin gas against Iranian soldiers and civilians. The Rif was a poor, mountainous land that was heavily reliant on food imports from the fertile valleys of the French zone. Mimoun Charqi, author of the book Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Rif (Armes chimiques de destruction massive sur le Rif), 70% of adults and 50 % of children who received cancer treatment in the hospital in Rabat in 2015 were originally from the north of the country, and in particular from the towns of Al Hoceima and Nador. In this war, they too extensively used sulfur mustard against insurgent-supporting civilian populations. During the Soviet intervention into the Afghan War (1978–92), chemical arms, such as mustard and incapacitating agents, were used against the mujahideen rebels. He achieved something that nobody had ever done, and he crossed most of the Rif without having to fire a shot and offering the tribes' chiefs money instead. But they are subject to topography and weather patterns. The low point of the war came in 1924, during fighting at Dar Aquba, when the Spanish military used chemical weapons. The Spanish fought the Rif War against a rebellious confederation of Arab tribes in the mountains of Morocco from 1920 to 1926. Chemical weapons in the Rif War. Likewise, the Japanese resorted to the use of mustard gas against ethnic uprisings in Taiwan, and the Italians found gas warfare useful when deployed against the Abyssinians just prior to World War II. Spain made intensive use of German chemical weapons during the Rif independence War in the 1920s to combat the Riffian resistance. The amount of stockpiled chemical warfare agents in the United States is thought to have reached nearly 40,000 tons by 1968. A 1994 congressional inquiry found that US companies shipped anthrax and dozens of other biological agents that could be used to make chemical weapons to Iraq during the war. Italy, in turn, deployed chemical weapons to Libya in 1930 and again to Ethiopia in 1935, all resulting in heavy casualties. The most belligerent Rif forces were barricaded in Al Hoceima, in the heart of the Rif Mountains. To date, the Moroccan government has refused to give any openness about its effects on health and the environment in Rif. Spain's use of chemical weapons in the Rif in 20's. In 1921 begins to move his troops towards the mountain city planning put a stop to the resistance. The battle was a major defeat for the Spanish military and part of the Rif people’s resistance which was suppressed with genocidal weapons ferocity by the Spanish and French imperialists, including the use of chemical weapons of mass destruction by the Spanish. The following table summarizes known historical instances of the use of chemical or biological weapons, in reverse chronological order. The use of chemical weapons in the Rif : Madrid responds to an Amazigh NGO's request. Worrying signs that Spain’s war in the Rif might destabilise French Morocco drew France into the conflict in 1925. Iraq's Kurdish minority was also targeted with chemical weapons, in particular when the inhabitants of Halabja in northern Iraq were bombed with a variety of chemical agents in March 1988. 100% (1/1) against civilians chemical bombs against the population chemical weapons. (A rebellion of Berber tribes in Morocco). compiled by Wm. It was previously used in 1915, during the Battle of St. Julien, part of the Second Battle of Ypres. The Rif War, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought in the early 1920s between the colonial power Spain (later joined by France) and the Berbers of the Rif mountainous region. This w… Part of the reason for the use of chemical weapons was because the Spanish were pissed that 13,000 of their Moroccan soldiers … It is the second recorded use of mustard gas in warfare. Chemical weapons would be used in anger only sporadically during the post war period, largely by smaller powers in the developing world. This … Case in point, royalist forces in the North Yemen Civil War from 1962 to 1970 suffered repeated gas attacks in the final years of the war. Interwar use of chemical weapons Brett Holman • 13 October 2006 • 27 Comments Between the wars, it was a commonplace that poison gas would be used in the next war, would be used in large quantities, and would probably be used against civilians. The Rif War was an armed conflict between Spain, still a colonial power at the time, and the Berber tribes of Morocco’s Rif Mountain region. [elmagharibi.blogspot.com] While the use of chemical weapons, namely mustard gas, by the Spanish army against civilians in the Rif region is not in dis. Summary of historical attacks using chemical or biological weapons. Updated March 14, 2019. The Spanish were first class dick heads and war criminals during the Rif war, but I don’t think anyone describes it as an ethnic cleansing campaign. 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