The signing of the Treaty of Fez on March 30, 1912, ushering in the French Protectorate, was a mournful finale to ʿAbd al-Hafiz’s reign. Over the preceding decade, large segments of the Moroccan heartland had fallen into French hands; it was only France’s reluctance to alarm other European states that kept her from declaring full dominion over Morocco before 1912. A secret Franco-Spanish agreement of 1904 acknowledged Spain’s “historic” claim to the entire north of Morocco, with the exception of Tangier, whose “special” character was recognized by the Great Powers in the 1906 Treaty of Algeciras. In the final division of Moroccan spoils between France and Spain in November 1912, Tangier’s future was left up in the air. Britain wanted the city and its hinterland to become an international zone where no one foreign power would prevail, while France wanted Tangier to remain among the assets of its Protectorate. Posing a host of difficult issues, the question of Tangier was set aside for the time being. Then World War I intervened, and it was not until 1923 that France, Spain, and Great Britain – noticeably without the help of the newly formed League of Nations – finally agreed on a multi-tiered international administration for the city under the nominal headship of the sultan. This agreement acknowledged Sharifian sovereignty, as France greatly desired, while preserving Tangier’s international character, as Britain wished. The Tangier question was settled for the time being to the satisfaction of Britain and France, but not of Spain, who quietly grieved over its loss.