Intelligence Successes and Failures of the Rif Rebellion

During 1925-1926, the French found themselves locked into a fight to maintain their colonial power in French Morocco. This paper evaluates the use of French intelligence both prior to and during the confrontation and seeks to answer several questions relevant to current counter-insurgencies. It appraises the intelligence preparation of the battlefield in regards to geospatial information and weather as well as cultural awareness. In concert with the latter, it appraises the French use of human intelligence (HUMINT) from the stand point of both their ability to thoroughly understand the enemy and their ability to establish and exploit a local HUMINT network. It also takes a look at two types of intelligence new to warfare of that time. French had recently fielded radios for use in the tactical environment presenting the colonial forces commander an electronic signals communications capability.