Ask anyone in Rabat about the "Commander of the Faithful," and you’ll get a story that feels more like a Hollywood thriller than a history lesson. King Hassan II wasn't just a monarch. He was a survivor. Honestly, the guy dodged death so many times that people started calling it baraka—a kind of divine luck.
He ruled Morocco for 38 years. That’s a lifetime in politics. From 1961 to 1999, he was the guy holding the puzzle pieces of a young, fractured nation together. But he didn't do it with just a gentle hand. It was a mix of intense charisma, old-school tradition, and, if we’re being real, a fair amount of "don’t mess with me" energy.
You’ve probably heard of the "Years of Lead." It’s a heavy name for a heavy time. But if you only look at the repression, you miss the guy who was secretly talking to Israeli leaders in the 70s or the man who built enough dams to literally change the color of the Moroccan landscape.
The Birthday Party From Hell (And Why He Survived)
July 10, 1971. Skhirat. It was supposed to be a 42nd birthday bash for the ages.
Think 1,000 guests, diplomats in sports shirts, and enough food to feed a small city. Then, the shooting started.
About 1,200 cadets from the Ahermoumou military school stormed the palace. It wasn't a party anymore. It was a massacre. Over 90 people died, including the Belgian ambassador. The rebels thought they had him. They even went on the radio to announce the King was dead and Morocco was now a republic.
But Hassan II was hiding in a bathroom.
When the cadets finally found him, something weird happened. He didn't plead. He didn't run. According to the stories from people who were there, like Ambassador Stuart Rockwell, the King looked the soldiers in the eye and started reciting the Fatiha (the opening of the Quran).
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The soldiers, mostly young kids who had been told they were there to protect the King from a coup, realized they were the ones committing it. They literally dropped their guns and started kissing his hand.
Talk about a power move.
King Hassan II and the Green March: A Masterclass in Chess
Most leaders send tanks to win territory. Hassan II sent 350,000 civilians.
By 1975, Spain was pulling out of the Sahara. Morocco wanted it. Instead of a bloody war, Hassan organized the "Green March." It was basically a massive, peaceful human wave.
- 350,000 volunteers.
- Carrying Moroccan flags.
- Carrying the Quran.
- No weapons.
They just walked. They walked across the border into Spanish Sahara. The Spanish soldiers, not wanting to be the guys who shot thousands of unarmed civilians on global TV, just stood there. It was a massive PR win and a huge moment for Moroccan nationalism.
Even today, the "Moroccanness" of the Sahara is the biggest "don't go there" topic in Moroccan politics. It started right there, with a King who knew exactly how to use a crowd.
The Dark Side: Let's Talk About the Years of Lead
We can't talk about Hassan II without talking about the "Years of Lead" (Sanawāt ar-Raṣāṣ). It’s the part of the story that's hard to swallow.
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During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, if you were a leftist, a student activist, or someone who didn't like the way the King ran things, you lived in fear. People "disappeared." There were secret prisons like Tazmamart—places so bad that the King literally denied they existed until the early 90s.
Mehdi Ben Barka is the name everyone remembers. He was the King's old math teacher turned political rival. In 1965, he vanished in Paris. To this day, nobody has officially found his body, but the fingerprints of the Moroccan secret service were all over it.
Hassan’s right-hand man for a long time was General Mohamed Oufkir. Oufkir was the "cleaner." But in 1972, Oufkir tried to have the King’s plane shot down by F-5 fighter jets.
The King survived (again). Oufkir ended up dead. The King then locked Oufkir's entire family—including his kids—in a desert prison for nearly 20 years. It was brutal.
The Great Bridge Builder
While he was an autocrat at home, he was a genius diplomat abroad.
Hassan II was one of the few Arab leaders who could talk to everyone. He was a staunch ally of the US during the Cold War. He even sent troops to help the coalition in the Gulf War, even though his own people were protesting against it in the streets.
But his real "secret" work was with Israel.
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Long before the Abraham Accords of 2020, Hassan II was hosting secret meetings between Israeli and Egyptian officials. He helped pave the way for Anwar Sadat’s historic trip to Jerusalem in 1977. He met with Shimon Peres in 1986. He understood that Morocco had a unique Jewish history—at one point, Morocco had nearly 300,000 Jewish citizens—and he used those ties to become a middleman in a region that desperately needed one.
Why He Still Matters Today
When he died in 1999, two million people showed up for his funeral.
Why? Because for all his faults, he modernised the country.
He had this obsession with water. He used to say, "You cannot feed citizens pencils." While other countries were building massive military complexes, he was building dams. He wanted to make sure Morocco could feed itself. Today, Morocco is an agricultural powerhouse in Africa because of those choices made in the 70s.
He also built the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. It’s got a retractable roof and sits right on the ocean. It was meant to be a symbol of a modern Morocco that still holds onto its soul.
How to Understand His Legacy
If you're trying to wrap your head around his impact, look at these three things:
- Stability: He kept a monarchy alive when almost every other North African monarchy fell to coups.
- The Sahara: He made Western Sahara a "sacred" part of Moroccan identity that persists today.
- Reform (The Late Years): In the 90s, he actually started opening up. He created a Human Rights Council and allowed more political freedom. He knew the world was changing and he didn't want the monarchy to break under the pressure.
You can visit the Mohammed V Mausoleum in Rabat today to see his tomb. It’s a quiet place, but it represents a very loud, very complicated history.
Next Steps for the Curious
If you want to really get the "vibe" of this era, read Malika Oufkir’s book Stolen Lives. It’s a gut-wrenching account of what happened to the family of the general who tried to kill him. For the political side, look up the "Equity and Reconciliation Commission" established by his son, King Mohammed VI. It was the first of its kind in the Arab world, meant to address the abuses of his father’s reign without tearing the country apart. It’s a fascinating look at how a nation tries to heal from its own "Iron King."