Richard Pennell

Rifi soldiers, 1922. Agence Rol/Bibliotheque nationale de France.

The Rif War

As Spain and France moved into Morocco, the people of the Rif Mountains united to form a new state. For five years they fought one of the most successful wars of resistance in imperial history.

A pirate execution, from The history and lives of all the most notorious pirates, and their crews, from Capt. Avery, who first settled at Madagascar, to Capt. John Gow, by Charles Johnson, 1725. British Library/Bridgeman Image.

Putting Pirates on Trial

Mutiny and murder at sea ended in capture for the crew of the pirate ship Revenge. Their trial was a deliberate display of the authority of the British state. How did it unfold?