1921 — The Disaster of Annual

On July 22, 1921, Spain's African empire began to crumble. Rifian warriors under the brilliant commander Abd el-Krim annihilated a Spanish army at Annual, in northern Morocco. The Spanish had pushed too far into the mountains, and paid for it in one of colonial history's starkest reversals.

Some 13,000 Spanish soldiers died or were captured, in what Spain still calls the Disaster of Annual. It was one of the worst defeats ever inflicted on a European colonial army in Africa, and it inspired anti-colonial fighters for decades. After the victory, Abd el-Krim went further still, and formally proclaimed the Rif Republic itself.