This paper discusses in a transnational perspective the emergence of a new form of warfare in North Africa (1921-1926) and a new political project concretised by the proclamation of the ‘Rif republic’ (1923). The Rif war that broke out in Northern Morocco in 1921 was a complex form of warfare within the range of colonial wars, which was also considered one of the most important anti-colonial wars of the inter-war period. It was both a form of armed resistance that held the Spanish and French colonial powers in check for five years and also the bearer of a political project that it implemented first with the declaration of the independence of the Rif, on September 18, 1921, then with the proclamation of the ephemeral ‘Rif Republic’ on February 1rst, 1923. From this point of view, the Rif war changes the established certainties of the old world and foreshadows new transnational dynamics of resistance. This new guerrilla warfare would later be emulated in other parts of the world during the forthcoming wars of decolonisation. The Rif war resonates with contemporaneous revolts, such as the Great Druze Revolt of 1925 in Syria or the resistance against the Italian occupation led by Omar al-Mukhtâr in Cyrenaica until 1931. Moreover, the proclamation of the ‘Rif Republic’ will be analysed as an example among the numerous experimentations with new State structures in the post-WWI period. The most famous of which is the establishment of the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal in Ankara on October 29, 1923 - some months after that of the Rif - because it became perennial. This contribution draws from various archives and documents throughout different sides of the conflict. The French diplomatic and consular archives, including the "Abdelkrim papers" which are Abdelkrim’s personal papers, as well as the French military archives will be particularly mobilized.