The use of Spanish Republican intelligence services in the period leading up to the Civil War had a substantial impact on surveillance, control, and security—not only on the Iberian Peninsula but also in the Protectorate of Morocco. Thanks to its remarkable strategic value alongside Ceuta and Melilla, the Moroccan colonial possession became a testing ground for the intelligence services of the colonial powers, evolving into a hub of espionage of significant historiographical value. Powers such as Italy, Japan, France, and England had carried out numerous investigations on Spanish territory, prompting the Republic to create new espionage and counterespionage services in collaboration with the Delegation for Indigenous Affairs and the Spanish High Commission in Morocco, capable of curbing these activities and defending Spanish sovereignty over the Protectorate. The ambition to create new services was not limited exclusively to Spanish territory but extended to Islamic countries, where the Republic sought to closely monitor and control the pan-Islamist and Muslim nationalist movements emerging in the early 1930s—a factor that could threaten its control over Moroccan territory.
Speaker: Ignacio Bautista Roldán (PhD candidate, Global IMFAHE Fellow at the Department of History, Harvard University; School of Law and Politics, University Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain)
LOCATION:RCCHU Conference Room STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20261110T220000Z DTEND:20261110T230000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR