Portal:Military history of Africa/Selected biography/5
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Abd el-Krim (c.1882, Ajdir –February 6, 1963, Cairo) (Amazigh: 
Mulay Abdelkrim, full name: Muhammad Ibn 'Abd El-Karim El-Khattabi , (Arabic: محمد بن عبد الكريم الخطابي) was the Berber leader of the Rif, a Berber area of northeastern Morocco. He became the leader of a wide scale armed resistance movement against French and Spanish colonial rule in North Africa. His guerilla tactics are known to have inspired Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara.
In 1921, as a by-product of their efforts to destroy the power of a local brigand, Raisuli, Spanish troops approached the unoccupied areas of the Rif. Abd-el-Krim sent their General, Manuel Fernández Silvestre, a warning that if they crossed the Amekran River he would consider it an act of war. Silvestre is said to have laughed, and shortly afterwards set up a military post across the river at Abarán. By mid-afternoon of the same day a thousand Rifains had surrounded it; 179 Spanish troops were killed, and the remainder were forced to retreat. Soon afterwards, Abd el-Krim directed his forces to attack the Spanish lines, with great success — in three weeks 8,000 Spanish troops were killed, and at Annual an army of 13,000 was forced to retreat by only 3,000 Rifains. Shortly after the battle, General Silvestre committed suicide. This colossal victory established Abdelkrim as a genius of guerilla warfare.
