Under the direction of General Lyautey the systematic pacification of Morocco was vigorously undertaken. In the autumn of 1912 the _harkas_ of El Hiba were smashed by the French, and the sultan’s standard—a green triangle on a scarlet ground—was raised over Marrákesh, the southern capital. Eighteen months later two French columns, one advancing eastward from Fez, the other westward from Oujda, effected a junction at Taza, thereby rendering secure for road and railway traffic the only practicable gateway between Algeria and northeastern Morocco. But the outbreak of the Great War in August, 1914, abruptly halted the ambitious plans of Lyautey, who was summoned post-haste to Paris to take the portfolio of minister of war. At the same time he received orders from the home government virtually to strip Morocco of European troops, every bayonet that could be mustered being desperately needed to protect the motherland. To most observers it appeared inevitable that the protectorate must collapse in ruin, and that Morocco, evacuated by the French garrisons, would relapse into anarchy and barbarism. But, before he left for Paris, Lyautey summoned the Grand Caïds—the great native chieftains who are still all-powerful in the south—to Rabat. The precise terms of the bargain which he struck with them may only be surmised, but certain it is that he did not wave the tricolor and appeal to them on grounds of sentiment and patriotism, for most of them detested the French as invaders of their country and dogs of unbelievers. The shrewd old soldier-statesman, who understood the complex Moorish character as have few Europeans, realized that the way to reach the hearts of these men was through an appeal to their cupidity, by promise of power and wealth, for your Moroccan always has an eye out for the main chance. I imagine that he laid all his cards upon the table, for he is that sort of a man, admitting to his visitors quite frankly that the bulk of the French troops were to be withdrawn from the country, leaving the door wide open for a successful rising.