The Rif War The Rest is History Podcast... 282. Morocco: The Rif War Tom and Dominic discuss the Rif War, predecessor to the Spanish Civil War, set in 1920s Morocco, featuring Franco, Petain, Islamic tribesmen, American airmen and much more... --- x --- Rif War - Wikipedia "The Rif War (Spanish: Guerra del Rif) was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco."
For us it is an obscure war, even if fought across the Straits of Gibraltar. My memory is that there is at least one film about the war. Franco served there with the Spanish Foreign Legion too. Quite a few hits on YouTube and the film is: "Legionnaire" (1998) Staring Jean-Claude Van Damme; possibly one to miss?
There's a section on the wiki... on films etc. "In popular culture The Rif War directly inspired Sigmund Romberg's 1926 operetta The Desert Song, which was later adapted several times into motion pictures. The 1929 romance novel La riffaine, which was set during the Rif War, was written by the Jewish-Algerian writer Elissa Rhaïs. The action of the 1931 novel La Bandera by Pierre Mac Orlan is set during the Riff War. The novel was also turned into a movie in 1935. The 1951 Hollywood film Ten Tall Men is set in the context of the Rif War. The 1999 film Legionnaire, starring Jean Claude van Damme, is set in the war in 1925, with Kamel Krifa playing Abd-El Krim. The 2017 miniseries Morocco: Love in Times of War, follows Spanish nurses during the war."
