Tunisia

A

Arab, Spanish, and Turkish Rule

The region of Tunisia was overrun by Arab adherents of Islam in the 7th century. The Arab conquerors ruled from the late 7th to the early 16th century, replacing the Roman-Christian culture with a Muslim way of life. During the Muslim era a succession of dynasties wielded power, notably the Aghlabites (800-909), the Fatimid caliphs (909-973), and the Zeirids (10th century). In the latter part of the 12th century the Normans, led by the Sicilian ruler Roger II, briefly occupied a number of important coastal points. The Arabs recovered the region later in the century, and the Arab Almohad (12th century) and Hafsite (1228-1574) dynasties succeeded to power. Arab political supremacy came to an end in the early 15th century.

During the period of Arab domination the region had come to be known as Tunis, or Tunisia, from its chief city. In 1534 the Mediterranean pirate Barbarossa II (Khayr ad-Din), captured the city of Tunis. He was expelled by Spanish forces in the following years. Spanish dominance in Tunisia was short-lived, however. In 1574 armies of the Ottoman Empire defeated the Spanish and assumed hegemony over Tunisia.

Under the Ottoman Turks, Tunisia enjoyed a period of relative stability from 1574 to 1881. Imperial rule was effected through native administrators, who were known as deys of Tunis until 1705 and as beys thereafter. The first bey, al-Husayn ibn Ali (reigned 1705-1740), founded the Husaynid dynasty. Husaynid rule secured for Tunisia a limited degree of autonomy and a large measure of prosperity.

B

An End to Piracy

Piracy, long a major Tunisian enterprise, continued to flourish under Husaynid auspices. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries a number of European and other maritime nations paid regular bribes to the Tunisian government as insurance against raids on their Mediterranean shipping. Between 1801 and 1805 and in 1815 the United States Navy curbed Mediterranean piracy by attacking Tunis and other corsair bases along the so-called Barbary Coast of northern Africa.

As a result of the loss of its revenues from piracy, the Tunisian government was plunged deeply into debt. The financial crisis was made especially acute by the unrestrained personal extravagances of the beys and by the necessity for frequent, costly government reprisals against rebel uprisings. The chief creditors of Tunisia were France, Italy, and Britain, all of which had imperialist ambitions in northern Africa. In 1830 France conquered and annexed Algeria. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, France agreed to abandon any claim to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in return for a similar assurance by Britain in regard to Tunisia. A French army entered Tunisia from Algeria in 1881, ostensibly to subdue unruly tribesmen. In a series of sharp conflicts the French crushed native Tunisian opposition. On May 12, 1881, the reigning bey signed the Treaty of Kasser Said, known also as the Bardo Treaty, which acknowledged Tunisia to be a French protectorate. The two countries signed the supplemental Convention of Marsa in 1883.

C

The French Protectorate

French rule in Tunisia brought many important social and political changes. After 1884 a French resident-general governed the country, although the bey was the nominal ruler. A sizeable group of French settlers colonized the northern coastal region, filled administrative posts, and operated business enterprises. These settlers exerted a strong Westernizing influence.

During the early 1900s the widespread diffusion in Tunisia of European democratic ideals produced vigorous independence movements known collectively as the Young Tunisians. For several decades French authorities successfully suppressed the fledgling patriotic movements. In 1920, however, various nationalist groups united and formed the Destour (Constitutional) Party, which advocated extensive democratic reforms.

The Destour movement was disbanded in 1925, but it was revived during the economic depression of the 1930s. In 1934 the so-called Neo-Destour (or New Constitutional) Party was organized by the Tunisian patriot and statesman Habib Bourguiba. In contrast to the more moderate Destour Party, which looked for support only in Tunisia, the Neo-Destour Party sought and received aid from extreme leftist or nationalist groups in France, Morocco, and Algeria. The Destour and Neo-Destour parties were forced by the government to dissolve in 1938.

D

World War II

The French authorities in Tunisia cooperated fully with the government of Vichy France, which ruled after that country capitulated to Germany on June 22, 1940, during World War II. Tunisia was important in Axis military operations. In November 1942 amphibious Allied forces landed in Algeria and Morocco. Germany poured troops and tanks into the northern regions of nearby Tunisia to resist the Allied advance. After several months of fighting the Allied forces pinned the German forces against the sea on the Cape Bon Peninsula, and on May 12, 1943, the Germans capitulated.

The surrender marked the final defeat of the Axis powers in northern Africa. On May 15 the Allies transferred control of Tunisia to the Free French. The French authorities immediately arrested hundreds of alleged Fascist sympathizers and deposed the reigning bey as a collaborator. These actions provoked deep resentment among the Tunisian people and prepared the way for the later renewal of nationalist agitation.

E

Post-War Tunisia

In 1945 France forced Bourguiba to seek refuge in Cairo. In the following year France granted Tunisia status as a semi-autonomous associated state of the French Union. Further steps towards autonomy came in August 1947, when the French resident-general formed a ministry composed chiefly of Tunisians; the French, however, retained dominance of political power. In September 1949 Bourguiba returned from exile and resumed his campaign for Tunisian independence. France, in 1951, responding to the ensuing upsurge of nationalist sentiment, appointed more Tunisians to ministerial posts and in the civil service.

The following year the native Tunisian ministers attempted to air their grievances against the French before the UN Security Council, but they were prevented from doing so by a ruling that the dispute involved a domestic rather than an international question and hence did not fall under UN jurisdiction. Meanwhile, riots and political demonstrations occurred continually, especially in the northern region, rendering the French position in Tunisia increasingly untenable. The disorders continued unabated through the first half of 1954, during which time the French made, to no avail, repeated offers of limited reforms.