Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Situated at a particularly strategic spot on the global map, the north-western corner of Africa, she looked like a suitable prey to France, Britain, Germany, Spain and anyone else within naval distance. The monarchy's internal weakness made her particularly vulnerable to foreign ambitions, and the international crises which arose out of the quarrels between the various predators--notably in 1906 and 1911--played a major role in the genesis of the First World War. France and Spain partitioned her, with international (i.e. British) interests being taken care of by a free port in Tangier. On the other hand, while Morocco lost her Independence, the absence of her sultan's control over the Berber fighting clans was to make the actual France, and even more the Spanish, military conquest of the territory difficult and prolonged." [Hobsbawm: Empire, p. 280-1] Morocco, a relatively stable and rather conservative kingdom in a revolution-scarred region, is tradition-bound and economically weak." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 272]