Spain vs. Morocco, JCC (Spanish Committee)
Dear Delegates,
My name is Robert English and I have the pleasure to serve as Crisis Director for Spain vs.
Morocco, the Joint Crisis Committee at MASUN XXVI. I am a senior at George Mason majoring in
Global Affairs and minoring in Arabic. I grew up in Mansfield, Connecticut, hometown of the
UCONN Huskies, but now live in Arlington, Virginia. In my college career, I have had the
opportunity to study abroad in Morocco. Outside of Model UN I also enjoy skiing, rock climbing,
tae kwon do and the occasional binge session of ​
Parks & Rec​
or ​
The West Wing​
.
If you have any questions regarding the structure of committee or any material in the
background guide, please feel free to get in contact with me at the below email. I look forward to a
new twist on the events of 1492!
Sincerely,
Robert English
Crisis Director, Spain vs. Morocco (JCC)
[email protected]
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Dear Delegates,
I am so excited to welcome you all to MASUN XXVI! My name is Hamna Ahmad and I am one of
the chairs for the Spain vs. Morocco Joint Crisis Committee! I am majoring in Government &
International Politics and minoring in Spanish and Political Communications. I first joined Model
UN during my freshman year of high school and am so happy to continue with this club at Mason!
My favorite part of MUN is working with new delegates and pumping them up for a successful
career. I hope each and every one of our delegates has a unique and challenging experience at
MasUN XXVI and I can’t wait to meet you all.
Besides for Model UN, I am also a staff writer for the campus newspaper, Fourth Estate, and serve
as president of GMU’s chapter of Save the Children. In my free time I enjoy baking anything with
chocolate, eating anything with cheese, and drinking anything with coffee. When not stuffing my
face, I like to watch bad television, go to yoga classes, and jam out to Taylor Swift. Twitter is
typically my kind of literature, but I also love reading (and crying over) pieces written for The New
Yorker.
I want to reiterate my excitement about MASUN and urge all of you to participate in this
conference to the best of your abilities—don’t let this opportunity go to waste! I expect you all to
respect your fellow delegates and have fun together. Please contact me about any questions,
comments, or concerns you may have about the committee or conference, GMU, or even just to
introduce yourself!
Best,
Hamna Ahmad
Chair, Spain vs. Morocco JCC--Spanish Committee
[email protected]
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Committee Summary
Committee Overview
In this committee, delegates will be representing all manner of elites among Spanish society
in 1492. This includes merchants, clergy, and feudal lords from various parts of the kingdom. Some
general patterns to keep in mind, which will be elaborated in detail in character descriptions and in
the dossier, are: the majority of landowning nobles are from the region of Castile, while the
merchants and seafaring lords are from the region of Aragón. In addition, the Kingdom of Naples
has been tied to Aragón since the early 15th century. As such, Aragón was a dominant and
successful merchant kingdom in the Western Mediterranean through trade routes, and its
merchants and seafaring lords still have strong political and military ties to Naples. Overall, the
lords of Castille will generally be responsible for fielding the largest quantities of professional
soldiers and income through taxation, while supplies, information, and ships will be under the lords
and merchants of Aragón. However, it is also vital to keep in mind that while historically, Castile
and Aragón have fought, they are now united under the rule of Queen Isabella of Castile and King
Ferdinand of Aragón, and they have made their expressed wishes that national unity is the highest
priority. Religious leadership serve two main functions. First is direct contact with the lower
classes, particularly by keeping track of public order through the extremely organized Catholic
hierarchy. In addition, the Catholic leaders provide a direct link to the Vatican itself, and must take
into account the wishes of his Holiness the Pope Alexander VI, of the Borgias.
Personal Directives, Joint Directives, & Decrees
As in most crisis committees, personal and joint directives will provide the basis for taking
action in this simulation. In order to accomplish a task, the directive must be written with a clear
objective and with the steps necessary to accomplish that goal. It is also important to distinguish
between personal and joint directives. A personal directive is written by one delegates, or a small
group of delegates, using the portfolio powers to accomplish the task at hand., and the portfolio
powers of the writers may be applied to accomplish the task outlined. A personal directive does not
need to be passed by the committee, or even shared with any non-signatories. Consequently,
personal directives are generally much faster but also less powerful since they lack the full force of
the committee.
Joint directives, on the other hand, must be passed by a simple majority in order to take
effect. However, they also utilize the portfolio powers of all delegates present, whether or not the
vote was unanimous. The risk therefore is that while more powerful, there must be a consensus on
joint directives for them to take effect. This renders them more laborious, since often times they
require substantial debate and negotiation to pass a vote.
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Press Releases are a third form of action. While directives are specific plans of action, press
releases are strictly meant to make an announcement, and cannot be used to execute a task. Instead,
the optimal time for passing a press release is when clear communication to all who might be
listening is necessary. For the sake of more closely aligning with historical accuracy in the Morocco
vs Spain JCC, press releases will instead be referred to as decrees, given the lack of news outlets in
th​
the 15​
century Maghreb.
Introduction of Participants
(NOTE: All characters are fictional.)
Nobles
1. Eutimio Heriberto Del Olmo from Toledo
2. Gonzalo Elías Solos from Seville
3. Goyo Esteban Ruiz from Toledo
4. Alberto Ezequiel Iñíguez from La Mancha
5. Josué Cande Ibarra from Madrid
6. Fernando Gaspar Bustillo from Madrid
7. Cande Mariano Bautista from Seville
8. Manuel Heliodoro Belmonte from Barcelona
Merchants
1. Graciano Che Hierro from Cádiz
2. Abilio Ramón Suero from Seville
3. Zacarías Manolo Perez from Valencia
4. Efraín Moreno Romero from Barcelona
Clergy
1. José Paquito Valentín from Madrid
2. Luciano Arena Palomo from Burgos
Mercenaries
1. Alejandro Sepúlveda Reinaldo
2. Díaz Augusto Fernández
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History
History of the House of Castile & Early Spanish Rulers
In 1454, King Juan II of Castile died and was succeeded by his son, Enrique IV. Four years
later in 1458, Alfonso V, king of Aragón, Naples, and various other localities, dies. In Aragón,
Alfonso V is succeeded by his brother, Juan II (a different Juan than the King of Castile). In Naples,
he is succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I.
In 1469, Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand II, heir of Juan II of Aragón. Then, in 1474,
Enrique the IV dies with no heir, leaving his half-sister Isabella as Queen of Castile. Five years later
in 1479, Juan II of Aragon dies, leaving Fernando II as ruler of Aragon. This is marks the beginning
of the unification of Castile and Aragón.
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Conquest of Granada
Following the unification of Castile and Aragón, Ferdinand and Isabella’s primary goal was
to finish reuniting the Iberian Peninsula under Christian rule. Following hundreds of years of wars
with the Islamic Moors who had swept through roughly 500 years prior, Spanish and Portuguese
Christian factions had spent centuries slowly pushing the Moors back until the only Islamic
kingdom in Iberia was the Emirate of Granada. Furthermore, while Isabella and Ferdinand had
successfully united their houses, there was still substantial political competition between their
families which threatened the long term unity of their regime. Assaulting the city of Granada
therefore served the second purpose of rallying the Spanish nobles behind a single cause to
minimize infighting and provide a sense of common cause among historic competitors.
The campaign itself was an enormous endeavor, requiring tens of thousands of men,
particularly non-combatants in supporting roles such as logistics of food and supplies. With an
army totaling about 50,000 soldiers, Ferdinand and Isabella marched south towards Granada.
Despite the emphasis on Spanish unity both of them placed on the campaign, the soldiers were
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almost entirely from Castile, while Aragón provided financial and logistical support. This was
largely due to the fact that Castile had a much larger territorial base from which to draw soldiers. In
addition, Aragón overall was ruled by the nobles, however its most valuable city, Barcelona, was
governed by a merchant guild. Therefore much of what Aragón had to offer of value was found in
the vein of providing supplies and support services anyways.
Armies
Spanish Armies in this time period were centered around the nobles who provided their
own soldiers--in the form of cavalry, infantry, and/or archers--and were expected to arm and train
them while on campaign as well as at home. In addition, further infantry were found from several
sources. Local ​
hermandad, ​
similar to municipal, religious militias, often volunteered or were paid to
join the army. Royal agents also could recruit infantry by hiring young men eager for adventure, or
seeking out unemployed laborers. Criminals could also be granted pardons, these men were called
homicianos​
.
The distinct categories of troops in Spanish armies at this time were the infantry, archers
(mostly crossbows) and the light and heavy cavalry. These local militias were responsible for the
primary bulk of a Spanish Army. For example, by 1489 the nobility could field 7,500 heavy and light
cavalry and another 6,000 infantry, while the local commanders had a combined force of 1,900
cavalry and 12,800 infantry. Despite the numerical difference, nobles and their heavy cavalry were
still the most consistently relied upon in large battles, due to their superior training and equipment.
Furthermore, Queen Isabella was a pivotal advocate for introducing firearms into the
Spanish forces. By bringing in experts from across Europe, she formed a royal artillery corps,
responsible for siege artillery as well as personal firearms for infantry. While the Moors had
pioneered the use of gunpowder initially, by the 15th century, Spain had a virtual monopoly on
heavy cannons, and the Moors lacked all but the most basic personal guns​
. Heavy cavalry were usually consolidated around the general into a bodyguard of several
hundred knights, sometimes a few thousand in a particularly massive army. Spanish tactics
historically revolved around this band of knights, with the infantry and light troops skirmishing
around the knights until one massive charge of the heavy cavalry was ordered. If the charge broke
the enemy’s center the battle would most likely be won. However, if the opposing army stopped the
charge then they would have stopped their enemies best weapon. At that point the battle could turn
either way. Generally the large-scale battles favored whoever had the more powerful center, as
whichever heavy cavalry won the fight in the middle would be able to then turn on the more poorly
equipped infantry and light cavalry. Whichever side lost would also frequently suffer their greatest
casualties during the rout that followed the battle rather than during the midst of the charge.
Moorish armies in this time period were organized through a centralized administration,
known as the ​
Diwan Al-Jaysh​
, with a system of pay based on rank and experience. Volunteer forces
from across North Africa were also extremely common. Known as ​
Ghuzat​
, these volunteer forces
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were frequently plentiful in numbers, but did not come with consistent standards of training,
experience, or equipment, and thus were often unreliable. The main force of Moorish armies was
also infantry, like the Spanish, and combined infantry, missile troops, light and heavy cavalry in
military composition. For example, the most conservative Castilian estimate of a Moorish army
during this time estimated 3,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry (including archers). The military elite
of Moorish armies, similar to Christian knights in training and equipment, were called ​
mamluks​
,
and were recruited from young Christian prisoners to be raised and trained in Moorish palaces.
Also like the Christian armies, militias came in from towns and rural villages, although they were
not as well organized as the Spanish recruitment system. Instead Moorish levies were based on
ethnic and regional identity, such as Berber and Tuareg. However, the command structure of the
Moorish forces was much clearer than its Christian counterpart, particularly with much more
universal standards and symbols for the Moorish army compared to the dozens of feudal banners
that would be seen among a Christian army. Moorish tactics on the other hand, dated back to the
Prophet Muhammad’s campaigns. They played to Moorish strengths in lighter equipped and
numerous forces, particularly by using the ​
jinete​
light cavalry in ambushes and raids.
Current Events
st​
The date is February 1​
1492. Granada has just fallen and King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella are flushed with loot and high moral after successfully driving the Moors completely out of
the Iberian Peninsula. Now, fresh from victory, they’ve decided it’s time to continue their
momentum and make sure the Moors never present a threat to them again. The Royal Couple has
issued a decree that North Africa is to be invaded, using Granada as the base of operations. In the
decree, the overall mission is to create a buffer zone in North Africa under Spanish control to
prevent and deter any possible future incursions into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors. Access
across the Strait of Gibraltar has never been easier--the time is right for invasion!
Guiding Questions/Sources for Further Research
Since all of the characters are fictional, research should be focused primarily on the ways in
which lords, merchants, and clergy of both sides operated, particularly on specific steps they would
take to accomplish a goal. These will be key to creating effective personal and joint directives. Some
basic examples of this are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What steps go into a lord planning an attack on a rival?
What orders need to be given to organize a siege?
How might a merchant use their connections to gain supplies or information?
What would a Cardinal or Imam do to harness popular support?
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5. How do monarchs and nobles consolidate power within specific areas? (Hint: pay attention
to this when dealing with local populations that are of a different culture or religion.)
For further research I recommend reading​
Leo Africanus ​
if you have the time and the
inclination. While it is a novel, it provides excellent insight into the siege of Granada as well as
what life was like during that time period. Unfortunately, historical literature about Morocco in this
time period written in English can be difficult to find. Therefore much of what the background
guide entails, specifically the section describing the makeup of the Moorish army, is extrapolated
from histories of Granada, due to the strong cultural and political connections between them.
For delegates in both the Spanish and Moroccan committees, it will be vital to understand
the geography. Both topographical information and maps of human populations are going to play a
large role in crisis scenarios you will all be facing. I strongly recommend reading the books in the
works cited page, as they all provide excellent detail concerning this time period. Further, it is
suggested that you study of the logistics of military campaigns.
Works Cited
McBride, Angus, and David Nicolle. ​
El Cid and the Reconquista: 1050 - 1492​
. London: Osprey
Publ., 1994. Print.
Nicolle, David. ​
Granada, 1492: The Twilight of Moorish Spain​
. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. Print.
Nicolle, David. ​
The Moors: The Islamic West 7th-15th Centuries AD​
. Oxford: Osprey Military, 2001.
Print.
Pohl, John M. D., and G. A. Embleton. ​
Armies of Castile and Aragon 1370-1516​
. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
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