Tunisia

G

Defense

In 2004 the armed forces of Tunisia comprised an army of 27,000 persons, a navy of 4,800, and an air force of 3,500.

VI

History

In the earliest known period of its history, the region now called Tunisia was part of the Carthaginian Empire (see Carthage). According to tradition, Phoenician traders founded the city of Carthage in 814 bc at a location slightly northeast of the site of modern Tunis. In subsequent centuries Carthage became the center of a mighty empire that dominated most of northern Africa and intermittently ruled the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, and parts of Sicily.

Beginning in 264 bc Carthage clashed with the expanding Roman Empire in a series of bloody struggles known as the Punic Wars. In the last of these, the Third Punic War (149-146 bc), Rome defeated the Carthaginians and completely destroyed their capital. From the 2nd century bc to the 5th century ad most of the region now constituting Tunisia was part of the Roman province called Africa. The rebuilt Carthage became the center of Roman power in North Africa.

During the 5th century a Germanic tribe known as the Vandals moved south through the Iberian Peninsula, crossed the Mediterranean, and wrested the province from Roman control. After a century of Vandal rule, from about 430 to 534, the region was reconquered for Rome by the Byzantine general Belisarius.

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A

Arab, Spanish, and Turkish Rule

The region remained under Byzantine rule until Arab adherents of Islam conquered it in the 7th century. Under the Arabs Tunisia acquired an inland capital at Kairouan (now Al Qayrawān). The Arab conquerors ruled from the late 7th to the early 16th century (see Spread of Islam). During that period they replaced the Roman-Christian culture with Islamic culture. During the Muslim era a succession of dynasties wielded power, notably the Aghlabites (800-909), the Fatimids (909-973), and the Zeirids (10th century). In the 9th century, during Aghlabite rule, Tunisia was the base for the Arab conquest of the Mediterranean island of Sicily.

In the latter part of the 12th century the Normans (led by Roger II, the king of Sicily) extended their conquest of Sicily to most of the ports of Tunisia. But the Normans were expelled by the Almohad rulers from Morocco within 10 years. After a period of Moroccan rule, Tunisia became independent again under the Hafsite dynasty (1228-1574). The Hafsites made Tunis their capital. During this period of Arab domination, the region came to be known as Tunis, or Tunisia, from its chief city. The greatest medieval Islamic historian, Ibn Khaldun, was born in Tunis in 1332.

Arab political supremacy came to an end in the early 16th century, when Tunisia became caught in struggles between the Spanish and Ottoman empires for supremacy in the Mediterranean region. In 1534 Mediterranean pirate Barbarossa (Khayr ad-Din) captured the city of Tunis. He was expelled by Spanish imperial 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 control over Tunisia.

Under the Ottoman Turks, Tunisia enjoyed a period of relative stability from 1574 to 1881. For over 100 years Tunisia was ruled by governors from Istanbul. But in 1705 Husayn ibn Ali, an Ottoman military commander of Greek origin, declared himself the hereditary ruler, owing allegiance to the Ottoman sultan. He founded the Husaynid dynasty, whose rulers were known as beys. 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 maritime nations, among which were the American colonies, paid regular bribes to the Tunisian government as insurance against raids on their Mediterranean shipping. Between 1801 and 1805 and in 1815 the U.S. Navy curbed Mediterranean piracy by attacking Tunis and other corsair (pirate) 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 the United Kingdom, all of which had imperialistic ambitions in northern Africa.

In 1834 France 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 remained the ruler in name. A sizable group of French settlers colonized the northern coastal region, filled administrative posts, operated business enterprises, built roads and railroads, and opened schools that taught in French and Arabic.

Inspired by the idea of modernizing their country, a new generation of Tunisians formed the Young Tunisian Party in 1907. The Young Tunisians advocated the right of Tunisians to manage their own affairs. For several decades French authorities succeeded in suppressing the fledgling nationalist 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 after some minor reforms were introduced, but it was revived during the economic depression of the 1930s. In 1934 a group of younger, more energetic men broke away to form the more militant Neo-Destour, or New Constitutional, Party. Habib Bourguiba, a Tunisian lawyer who had studied in Paris, became secretary general of the party. Bourguiba aimed at rallying mass support among Tunisians and the French soon banned the party. Bourguiba and his associates spent time in prison, and after World War II broke out in 1939 he was deported to France.

After France fell to Nazi Germany in 1940 during World War II, Bourguiba was released by the Germans. However, he refused to cooperate with the Germans and supported the Allies. In Tunisia, the French authorities cooperated fully with the Vichy government, which governed France after its defeat by Germany. Tunisia became the scene of fighting between German and Allied forces following an Allied landing in North Africa in late 1942. After the Germans were driven out of Tunisia in 1943, 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 postwar renewal of nationalist agitation.

In 1945, after the end of the war, France accused Bourguiba of collaborating with the enemy. He was forced to seek refuge in Cairo, Egypt. But France felt compelled to make some concessions to Tunisia. In 1946 France granted Tunisia status as a semiautonomous associated state of the French Union, and the following year the French resident general formed a ministry composed chiefly of Tunisians. The French, however, retained the preponderance of political power. In 1949 Bourguiba was allowed to return from exile. He resumed his campaign for Tunisian independence, and France responded by permitting more Tunisians to serve in ministerial posts and in the civil service. But widespread violence broke out in 1952 after negotiations over further reforms collapsed. The French position in Tunisia became increasingly untenable as the disorders continued unabated into 1954.

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