The Throne and the General: When Paris Met Rabat Behind the Veil of Revolution

Published on: 2025-05-09 20:36

By: Dzair Tube

The Throne and the General: When Paris Met Rabat Behind the Veil of Revolution

✍️ BY: Smatti Amina

Algiers, Algeria | May 9th, 2025 — At the heart of the Algerian revolution—where the blood of freedom fighters nourished the sacred land and rifles thundered for liberty—a conspiracy was quietly being woven in the shadows: a secret negotiation table between King Mohammed V and General de Gaulle. Far from the spotlight, far from the solidarity publicly proclaimed, this hidden diplomacy betrayed the cause. While the Algerian people fought with their lives, others manipulated their fate on the chessboard of politics, courting the French occupier and seeking to block the revolution’s expansion into Morocco.

King Mohammed V’s paramount interest lay in preserving the stability of his throne in a kingdom he saw as under threat. Rather than being a true ally to the Algerian revolutionaries, he chose to become a leverage tool in the hands of General de Gaulle. While publicly raising the banner of support for the revolution, he worked behind closed doors to contain its reach and prevent its ideological and military spread into Moroccan territory. Algeria’s cause, in this calculus, was reduced to a mere bargaining chip in a sordid political game.

Today, the French diplomatic archives reveal these secret conversations between Morocco’s monarchs and France, providing stark evidence of a political betrayal that unfolded during a murky historical moment. King Mohammed V knew full well that Algeria desperately needed support, yet ultimately chose to be a silent partner in efforts to curb the revolution, in exchange for preserving his own regime’s interests. His alliance with France was one of dual faces: a public stance of support for Algeria, and a covert arrangement to ensure his kingdom remained untouched by the fire of the revolution.

The Throne’s Collusion with Colonialism Against the Algerian Revolution

In the early 1950s, Morocco found itself in a transitional phase after gaining independence from French colonial rule in 1956. However, the kingdom was far from free of its colonial past. Morocco’s relationship with France formed a complex equation—a mix of ongoing cooperation and tension, especially as the monarchy sought to preserve its sovereignty while maintaining ties with its former colonizer. It was in this context that Morocco’s public stance on the Algerian revolution starkly contradicted the decisions made behind closed doors.

While King Mohammed V publicly declared his support for the Algerian revolutionaries, intensive efforts were being made to keep the revolution contained within Algeria’s borders. In official speeches, he praised the Algerians’ struggle against French colonialism. Yet, behind the scenes, he was in talks with Paris about the need to prevent the revolution from spilling over into Morocco. This contradiction was not merely rhetorical—it reflected a strategic dimension of Morocco’s foreign policy, one that was cautiously managed by the monarchy, whose primary concern was internal stability.

As researcher Jean-François Daguzan notes in his book Le Maghreb et la France (2007), Morocco at that time was in an awkward position: outwardly supporting the Algerian rebels, while secretly offering France assurances that the revolution would not be exported to Moroccan soil.

Although King Mohammed V declared on numerous occasions his solidarity with Algerian fighters, citing a shared North African destiny, the reality was far different. Morocco, during this critical moment, faced both internal and external pressures, including fears that the Algerian revolution’s momentum might destabilize its own political order. The king’s overarching interest lay in safeguarding his throne and maintaining domestic peace—a goal that could only be achieved through coordination with the French colonial authorities.

As historian Benyahia Amara explains in his study Le Maroc et la question algérienne, Mohammed V constantly tried to strike a balance between voicing support for the Algerian cause and maintaining privileged ties with France, which regarded Morocco as a strategic regional ally.

Thus, Morocco’s public posture—echoing Mohammed V’s declarations of support for the Algerian revolution—masked a deeper divergence in internal and external policies. While France saw Morocco as a launchpad for Algerian revolutionaries, the kingdom was quietly retreating from revolutionary support. Rather than standing shoulder to shoulder with its Maghreb neighbor, King Mohammed V worked carefully to maintain a political bargain with General de Gaulle.

As Mohamed Kenbib writes in Le Maroc et les révolutions arabes, the king never lost sight of his internal priorities. His covert correspondence with France reveals a deliberate effort to prevent revolutionary tensions from crossing into Moroccan territory, consistently assuring Paris that Morocco would not become fertile ground for Algerian insurgents.

These contradictions between public discourse and private actions reveal a political duplicity that characterized Morocco’s relations not only with France but also with Algeria—even at the height of its supposed support for the revolutionaries. The harsh truth, as evidenced by French archival documents and historical analysis, is that Morocco sought to avoid direct entanglement in the Algerian revolution, positioning itself away from any perceived threats.

As Charles-Robert Ageron pointed out in Histoire de l’Algérie contemporaine (1999), hesitation and contradiction were defining features of Moroccan policy toward Algeria. While the kingdom appeared to support the revolution, it simultaneously acted behind the scenes to prevent its expansion onto Moroccan soil.

These historical facts remain clear: Morocco, during that period, stood in a gray zone—publicly backing Algeria, while privately worrying about how the revolution might affect its own monarchy. These contradictions underscore the role King Mohammed V played during a critical juncture in modern Arab history: a role marked not by open alliance with the Algerian cause, but by calculated decisions that may have failed Algeria at a time when true allies were most needed.

Morocco Manipulates Algeria’s Fate in Favor of France

Amid the rising sounds of gunfire and the roar of Algerian revolutionaries, there was a frantic pursuit behind the scenes, not to support the Algerian cause, but to manage personal interests. While General de Gaulle, the leader who continued to relish the blood of Algeria as he watched the daily massacres, Morocco grew increasingly concerned about the spread of the revolution to its own land. It was a pivotal moment, as Morocco found itself caught between a rock and a hard place: unable to openly oppose France, yet unable to show full sympathy for the Algerian revolutionaries.

Behind all this were secret negotiations, conducted between Moroccan envoys and French officials, where King Mohammed V, who publicly raised the slogan of “supporting the revolution,” privately worked to prevent the revolution from spilling over into Morocco. The documents that were once concealed in the Archives diplomatiques françaises reveal a completely different picture from the one painted by Mohammed V in his official speeches. The king, who was celebrated in some Arab circles as a national hero, was working in secret to ease French fears that the Algerian revolution might destabilize his kingdom. His actions were more than just political concerns; they were attempts to arrange new balances that would maintain colonial dominance while presenting himself as a defender of Morocco’s interests in public.

“As stated in the documents reviewed by Jean-François Daguzan in his book Le Maghreb et la France (2007), Morocco was engaged in a dual battle at that moment: verbal support for the Algerian revolutionaries on the international stage, while secretly exerting all efforts to convince the French not to allow the revolution to spill into Marrakesh.”

As for General de Gaulle, he didn’t need flowery diplomatic expressions to convince the King of Morocco that this delicate balance between public and private support would preserve his crown. His clear goal was to halt the Algerian revolution at Morocco’s borders, and King Mohammed V was willing to make every effort to achieve this, no matter the cost to the Algerian people.

“As Daniel Rivet explains in his work Le Maroc de Lyautey à Mohammed V, King Mohammed V kept a close watch on his country’s interests, but without daring to threaten his relations with colonial France. There was no room for idealism in the political battle he fought; rather, his calculations were filled with covert political balances.”

The meetings between King Mohammed V and the French were not just attempts to support the kingdom’s stability, but went beyond that into direct complicity to maintain the status quo. Publicly, Morocco supported the Algerian revolution, but secretly, the king worked hard to calm France’s fears that the Kingdom of Morocco could be the next ally of the revolutionaries. These meetings were devious intersections of political fate, where Morocco’s personal interest in maintaining the monarchy and limiting revolutionary influence took precedence.

“In his book Le Maroc et les révolutions arabes, Mohamed Kenbib notes that King Mohammed V always chose to navigate between the red lines in his relations with France, exploiting the political vacuum in the region to ensure that the Algerian revolution did not spread to his kingdom, making his position ambiguous, despite his speeches supporting the revolutionaries.”

These secret meetings between Mohammed V and de Gaulle embodied a complex political game, where each side was betting on preserving its own interests in North Africa, even at the expense of the Algerian revolution. The public support that appeared to be offered was merely part of a well-planned strategy to protect Morocco’s royal interests at a time when the world was watching and expecting more revolutionary movements in the region.

Exploiting Algerian Revolutionaries

While Algeria was struggling to regain its sovereignty and freedom, King Mohammed V was pursuing his own interests, disregarding the revolutionary support principles he publicly claimed to uphold. While he delivered speeches in mosques and praised the revolutionaries on official occasions, behind closed doors, he conspired with the French—not to support the Algerian cause, but to secure the stability of his kingdom at the expense of the blood and sacrifices of the Algerian people.

“As Jean-François Daguzan points out in his book Le Maghreb et la France (1996), Morocco was one of the key players in France’s strategy aimed at limiting the scope of the Algerian revolution.” This text reveals the ugly truth that Mohammed V tried to hide: he was at the heart of the French conspiracy, secretly negotiating to halt the Algerian revolution at the Moroccan border, in order to preserve his throne and appease the French at the same time.

In reality, Mohammed V was toying with Algeria’s fate while hiding his hands behind false slogans. Every time the Algerian people called for independence, he secretly bet on collaborating with the French to ensure that the specter of revolution would not cross into his country. While he presented himself publicly as a supporter of the revolutionaries, behind the scenes, he was working to extinguish the revolutionary fire before it reached his palace doorstep. For what? For a fragile royal stability he dared not sacrifice.

“In the Archives diplomatiques françaises, irrefutable documents show secret conversations between Moroccan officials and the French, where Mohammed V bargained at the expense of the Algerian people’s blood. The king sought to present himself as a supporter of the revolutionaries while offering the French guarantees that the revolution would not spread to his land.”

Mohammed V, at that moment, was one of the greatest traitors in the region. He was offering no real support to the Algerian revolutionaries; instead, he was working tirelessly to protect his throne, disregarding all human values and revolutionary principles. His problem was that the Algerian revolution threatened his throne’s stability more than it threatened French colonialism, and he had to balance his public outcry against colonialism with his secret maneuvers to preserve the monarchy.

“As Daniel Rivet explains in Le Maroc de Lyautey à Mohammed V, Mohammed V relied on lies and political duplicity. He presented himself as a supporter of the revolutionaries while pursuing his own interests, and had no qualms about collaborating with French colonialism if that was the only way to protect his crown.”

This harsh truth portrays Mohammed V as the most duplicitous figure in modern Moroccan history, who combined a discourse of liberation with the betrayal of the revolution. While Algeria was bleeding for its freedom, he was negotiating with the French to preserve the colonial system, trying to present himself as the neutral party, when in reality, he was no different from the colonizer in his dealings with Algeria.

His stances were as clear as spider webs, trying to appear as the savior of Morocco while secretly contributing to the suppression of the Algerian revolution, hoping to please the colonial power he saw as the strongest ally to his kingdom.

Although the secret meetings between King Mohammed V and De Gaulle were conducted in the shadows, their effects were far-reaching. While Algeria was fighting to free its lands from French colonial grip, Morocco was seeking to protect its internal stability at the cost of the Algerian people’s suffering, using these meetings to steer regional policy in its favor.

“In an article published by Guy Pervillé in Les relations franco-marocaines pendant la guerre d’Algérie, analysis shows an implicit conspiracy between King Mohammed V and De Gaulle, especially in facing the threat of the Algerian revolution expanding across the borders.” This conspiracy, in the form of secret meetings, had deep impacts on post-colonial relations between Morocco and France, and on the broader North African landscape. While Algeria was writing its epic struggle, King Mohammed V was maneuvering behind the curtain in a political game aimed at quashing the revolution in Algeria without making it public.

These secret meetings, though not public, were part of a complex web of relationships that helped shape the region’s future, positioning Morocco as a key player in securing the stability of its monarchy through cooperation with French colonialism. While Algeria continued its revolutionary march against colonialism, Morocco was working to limit its impact on its borders, avoiding the eruption of revolution within its own territory.

What must be understood is that these conversations were not merely tools for avoiding tensions. They were a strategic step by Morocco to ensure the continuation of its system in the future by exchanging interests with France, without regard for the Algerian revolutionary stance that fought for liberation. In reality, these meetings indicated that King Mohammed V had chosen to stay in the shadows, away from supporting the Algerian revolution, preferring an unannounced alliance with France at the expense of Maghreb brotherhood.

What happened behind those closed doors was not just diplomatic balance but a strategic choice aimed at preserving royal stability in Morocco. While these moves remained in the shadows, their consequences were clear: “These secret meetings laid the foundations for post-colonial relations between Morocco and France, relationships that were hidden at the time but later reflected in how the political system in Morocco was shaped after independence.”

While Morocco succeeded in enhancing the stability of its monarchy, the price paid by the Algerian revolution was high, as these shadowy discussions left their mark on the course of the revolution, reflecting Morocco’s ability to balance its public commitment to liberation movements and its secret collaborations with French colonialism.

The History That Is Not Told

In the end, the most important question remains unresolved: Was Algeria the price that Morocco paid to appease France? Were the secret meetings between Mohammed V and de Gaulle a reflection of political bargains at the expense of the Algerian revolution, or perhaps a result of narrow calculations aimed at protecting the stability of the kingdom at the cost of its neighbor’s liberation aspirations?

As Charles-Robert Ageron pointed out in Histoire de l’Algérie contemporaine, there is always a wide gap between the publicly stated slogans and the actual practice of politics, and the gap between Morocco’s public stance and its actual role behind the scenes was undoubtedly vast. This was not merely a difference in statements, but an undeclared alliance that safeguarded the kingdom’s interests and steered clear of supporting Algeria’s struggle until the very last moment, much like how this cooperation contributed to solidifying a more ambiguous relationship between Morocco and France.

This is the other side of Maghreb politics in that era: those policies that were never written in textbooks nor mentioned in the general historical narrative. Hidden policies between secret meetings and sealed documents that reveal how the Algerian revolution was a heavy burden on its neighbors, just as it was on the colonizer. These dark chapters of our shared history show us the mysterious face of the regional politics managed by colonial powers and their followers, urging us to reconsider the truth of what transpired behind the curtain during that pivotal period.

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