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Rabat – Like any other ancient nation, Morocco possesses a rich history of wars, struggles, and battles, but few of these battles are as important and as prolific in the collective memory as the Battle of Wadi Al-Makhazin, also known as the Battle of the Three Kings.
As part of the European attempts to subject Muslim Morocco and its neighboring regions to Christian rule, the Portoguese King Sebastian landed in Tangier on August 4, 1578 with an army of more than 20,000, allied with the deposed Moroccan Sultan, Al-Moutawakil.
At this time, Morocco was under the control of the Saadi Sultanate, which got its name from the Arabic word “saad,” which means happiness, due to its subjects reporting being exceedingly satisfied with its rule.
The Saadi empire (1510-1659) had been successful in defending the Moroccan territories from European forces, and even established relations with the regional powerhouses of the time to protect their position of independence.
Some sources also point to the possibility that Moroccan forces were accompanied by and allied with Ottoman forces. Such an alliance would have been a result of the Moroccan rulers carefully cultivating a relationship with the Ottomans, whose empire boasted at the time one of the world’s most powerful and feared military.
The Moroccan forces in battle against King Sebastian’s troops numbered 50,000, although they were not as well-equipped. Despite being gravely ill at the time of the battle, Morocco’s then Sultan, Abd Al-Malik I, still urged his forces to fight for the protection of the country. The battle started when the two armies met near Ksar El-Kebir.
Braving his illness, Abd Al-Malik was leading the troops towards the battlefield, where it was decided that the Moroccan forces would encircle the enemy and try to ambush the center.
The strategy proved to be a success. The Portuguese troops were utterly defeated after four hours of battle: They lost 8,000 soldiers that day, while another 15,000 were captured and only 100 survivors managed to escape.
With his health problems quickly deteriorating, riding a horse – a staple of ancient military combat – proved to be too strenuous and fatal for Sultan Abd Al-Malik. The Moroccan ruler passed away during the battle and did not live to celebrate his troop’s uplifting triumph over the Portuguese. His brother, Ahmad Al-Mansour, succeeded him to the throne in 1578 and went on to conquer numerous cities in Africa, such as Timbuktu after defeating the Songhai empire.
As for Portugal, the unexpected debacle at the hands of Moroccan troops sent the country into political trouble. King Sebastian died in the battle without an heir. This sent the country into a prolonged political disarray as various rival factions claimed and fought for the right to the crown in a conflict that lasted from 1580 until 1583. Furthermore, paying ransoms for prisoners of war also didn’t help ease the devastating economic impact of Portugal’s defeat.
To this day, this battle lives on in the history books and the minds of Moroccans. It has even been the subject of a few plays and movies, including Souheil Ben-Barka’s 1990 film The Battle of the Three Kings and George Peele’s 1591 play The Battle of Alcazar.
