Hubert Lyautey in the context of "Winning hearts and minds"

Winning hearts and minds is a concept occasionally expressed in the resolution of war, insurgency, and other conflicts, in which one side seeks to prevail not by the use of superior force, but by making emotional or intellectual appeals to sway supporters of the other side.

The use of the term "hearts and minds" to reference a method of bringing a subjugated population on side, was first used by French general and colonial administrator Hubert Lyautey as part of his strategy to counter the Black Flags rebellion during the Tonkin campaign in 1895. The term has also been attributed to Gerald Templer's strategy during the Malayan Emergency.

The Bombardment of Casablanca (Arabic: قصف الدار البيضاء; French: Le bombardement de Casablanca) was a French naval attack that took place from 5 to 7 August 1907, destroying the Moroccan city of Casablanca. France used mainly artillery fire from armored cruisers to bomb the city and targets in the surrounding area, which caused an estimated 1,500 to 7,000 Moroccan deaths. The bombardment of Casablanca opened a western front to the French conquest of Morocco after Hubert Lyautey's occupation of Oujda in the east earlier that year.

The bombardment came after an attack of tribesmen of the Shawiya opposed to the terms of the Treaty of Algeciras of 1906 to the French presence in the customs house and to the construction of a railroad over a sanctuary, specifically on European employees of the Compagnie Marocaine operating a Decauville train from a quarry in Roches Noires to the Port of Casablanca on 30 July 1907. When the French cruiser Galilée disembarked a landing party of 75 soldiers on 5 August, an insurrection broke out in the city.

Henri Gouraud (17 November 1867 - 16 September 1946) was a French army general. He played a central role in the colonization of French Africa and the Levant. During World War I, he fought in major battles such as those of the Argonne, the Dardanelles, and Champagne. An important figure in the aftermath of the Ottoman Empire, he served as High Commissioner of the French Republic in the Levant from 1919 to 1922, during which he led military campaigns in Cilicia and Syria.

Affiliated with the colonial party, Gouraud was an active colonizer, influenced by figures such as Joseph Gallieni and Hubert Lyautey. His name remains closely associated with the conquest of Sudan, Mauritania, Chad, and Morocco, and his arrest of Samory Touré in September 1898 marked a turning point in the French colonization of West Africa. This act brought him to prominence at a time when France sought to overcome the humiliation of the Fashoda Incident.

Si El Madani El Glaoui (1860–July 1918; born Madani El Mezouari El Glaoui, Arabic: المدني المزواري الڭلاوي, romanized: al-Madanī al-Mazwarī al-Glāwī; Tachelhit: Lmadani Aglawu), nicknamed the faqih (the literate) was a prominent statesman in Morocco during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He was largely responsible for establishing the Glaoui family's power in the country.

Descendant of a family in the service of the Moroccan Makhzen since the reign of Moulay Ismail, and invested by Moulay Hassan, Si El Madani served 4 successive sultans with several functions, culminating in his appointment in 1908 as Grand Vizier (صدر أعظم in Arabic) under Moulay Abdelhafid before being dismissed in 1911 at the urging of France, whose increasing influence in Moroccan affairs he had opposed.