History of Tunisia under French rule: Difference between revisions
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The French progressively assumed more of the important administrative positions, and by 1884 they supervised all Tunisian government bureaus dealing with finance, post, education, telegraph, public works and agriculture. They decided to guarantee the Tunisian debt, and then abolished the international finance commission. French settlements in the country were actively encouraged; the number of French colonists grew from 34,000 in 1906 to 144,000 in 1945, occupying approximately one-fifth of the cultivated land. Roads, ports, railroads, and mines were developed. In rural areas the French administration strengthened the local officials (''qa'ids'') and weakened the independent tribes. An additional judicial system was established for Europeans but available generally, set-up without interfering with the existing [[Sharia]] courts, available as always for the legal matters of Tunisians. |
The French progressively assumed more of the important administrative positions, and by 1884 they supervised all Tunisian government bureaus dealing with finance, post, education, telegraph, public works and agriculture. They decided to guarantee the Tunisian debt, and then abolished the international finance commission. French settlements in the country were actively encouraged; the number of French colonists grew from 34,000 in 1906 to 144,000 in 1945, occupying approximately one-fifth of the cultivated land. Roads, ports, railroads, and mines were developed. In rural areas the French administration strengthened the local officials (''qa'ids'') and weakened the independent tribes. An additional judicial system was established for Europeans but available generally, set-up without interfering with the existing [[Sharia]] courts, available as always for the legal matters of Tunisians. |
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==Tunisian |
==Tunisian politics== |
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Many welcomed the progressive changes brought by France, but the general consensus was that Tunisians preferred to manage their own affairs. Kayr al-Din in the 1860s and 1870s had introduced modernizing reforms before the French occupation. Some of his companions later founded the weekly magazine ''al-Hadira'' in 1888. A more radical one ''al-Zahra'' ran from 1890 until suppressed in 1896; as was the ''Sabil al-Rashad'' of 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Tha'alibi, who was inspired by [[Muhammad 'Abduh]] of Cairo, among others. |
Many welcomed the progressive changes brought by France, but the general consensus was that Tunisians preferred to manage their own affairs. Kayr al-Din in the 1860s and 1870s had introduced modernizing reforms before the French occupation. Some of his companions later founded the weekly magazine ''al-Hadira'' in 1888. A more radical one ''al-Zahra'' ran from 1890 until suppressed in 1896; as was the ''Sabil al-Rashad'' of 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Tha'alibi, who was inspired by [[Muhammad 'Abduh]] of Cairo, among others. |
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Revision as of 00:51, 6 May 2010
Template:HTIB The history of French Tunisia occurred from 1881 to 1956, when Tunisia was under a French protectorate. The French presence in Tunisia commenced came decades after their occupation of Algeria to the west. Both of these regions were former possessions of the Ottoman Empire. Before the French arrived, Tunisia had begun a process of modernization and government reform, but financial difficulties mounted until a commission of European creditors was installed; the French government assumed Tunisia's international obligations. Major developments, including infrastructure, industry, and the financial system, were also undertaken by the French. The independence movement was already very active before World War I, and continued to gain strength, until its aim was achieved.
Establishment
As the 19th century commenced, the country remained quasi-autonomous, although officially still an Ottoman province. Trade with Europe increased dramatically with western merchants arriving to establish businesses in the country. In 1861, Tunisia enacted the first constitution in the Arab world, but a move toward a modernizing republic was hampered by the poor economy and by political unrest. Loans made by foreigners to the government were becoming difficult to manage. In 1869, Tunisia declared itself bankrupt; an international financial commission, with representatives from France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, took control over the economy.
Initially, Italy was the country that demonstrated the most desire to have Tunisia as part of her own sphere of influence having investment, citizens and geographic proximity as motivation.[1] However this was rebuffed when Britain and France co-operated to prevent this during the years 1871 – 1878 ending in Britain supporting French influence in Tunisia in exchange for dominion over Cyprus and French cooperation on the Egyptian matter. Britain was also interested in preventing both sides of the Strait of Sicily were controlled by one only power. France still had the issue of Italian influence (related to the sizeable colony of Tunisian Italians established) and thus decided to find an excuse for a pre-emptive strike, called by the Italians the Schiaffo di Tunisi.
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Using the pretext of a Tunisian incursion into Algeria, then a part of France, the French invaded with an army of about 36,000 which quickly advanced to Tunis and forced the Bey to make terms in the form of the 1881 Treaty of Bardo (Al Qasr as Sa'id), which gave France control of Tunisian governance.
In the spring of 1881, the French army occupied Tunisia. Italy, also interested in Tunisia, protested, but did not risk a war with France. On May 12 of that year, Tunisia was officially made a French protectorate with the signature of the Treaty of Bardo by Muhammad III as-Sadiq.[2]
Economic progress
The French progressively assumed more of the important administrative positions, and by 1884 they supervised all Tunisian government bureaus dealing with finance, post, education, telegraph, public works and agriculture. They decided to guarantee the Tunisian debt, and then abolished the international finance commission. French settlements in the country were actively encouraged; the number of French colonists grew from 34,000 in 1906 to 144,000 in 1945, occupying approximately one-fifth of the cultivated land. Roads, ports, railroads, and mines were developed. In rural areas the French administration strengthened the local officials (qa'ids) and weakened the independent tribes. An additional judicial system was established for Europeans but available generally, set-up without interfering with the existing Sharia courts, available as always for the legal matters of Tunisians.
Tunisian politics
Many welcomed the progressive changes brought by France, but the general consensus was that Tunisians preferred to manage their own affairs. Kayr al-Din in the 1860s and 1870s had introduced modernizing reforms before the French occupation. Some of his companions later founded the weekly magazine al-Hadira in 1888. A more radical one al-Zahra ran from 1890 until suppressed in 1896; as was the Sabil al-Rashad of 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Tha'alibi, who was inspired by Muhammad 'Abduh of Cairo, among others.
Bashir Sfar initiated the discussion group Khalduniya in 1896. 'Ali Bash Hamba founded the French language journal Tunisien to inform the French public of the Tunisian complaints, but only increased the level of unrest. Tha'alibi founded the Arabic language Tunisien in 1909, to challenge Hamba from a Tunisian view point. In 1911 civil disturbances started within the universities. One result was that Hamba and Tha'alibi reached an accord. A political party was begun, al-Ittihad al-Islami [The Evolutionist], which had pro-Ottoman leanings.
Issues concerning a Muslim cemetery, the Jallaz, sparked large demonstrations which ended with martial law and the killing of many Tunisians in late 1911. Further demonstrations in 1912 led to a general boycott of the streetcar lines in Tunis. In responce the French authorities led to the closing of the nationalist newspapers and the exile of nationalist leaders.[3]
Organized nationalist sentiment among Tunisians, driven underground in 1912, resurfaced after the Great War. Tha'alibi tried to present Tunisia's case against the Protectorate to the Versailles Peace Conference and also published the book La Tunisie martyre, which endorsed a constitutional program. Encouragement came from many directions in 1919, e.g., the formation of the League of Nations, and especially from Wafdist tafwid [delegation] of Egypt.
Nationalists established the Destour [Constitution] Party in 1920. In 1922 the French granted minor reforms: a Ministry of Justice under Tahir b. Khayr al-Din, and a Grand Council of Tunisia which was purely consultative and in which the French were over-represented. This set back provoked a split in the Destour Party; Tha'alibi left Tunis in 1923. Nationalist attention focused on economic issues in 1924. A mutual aid soiety was begun, but did not survive a wave of strikes. Then the labor union, C.G.T.T. or Conféderation Générales des Travailleurs Tunisiens was founded, despite opposition from the Destour Party and the French Socialist.
Abdullah Laroui provides a very abstracted summary this sequence of events in Tunisia (cultural reformism, political reformism, political activism), noting that the parallel sequence in Algeria and Morocco differed somewhat. He then abstracts for the entire Maghrib: secular political reformism (moderate both in ideology and action), religious reformism (radical in ideology but moderate in action), and political activism (moderate in program, extremist in methods of action).[4]
Habib Bourguiba and others established and led a successor to Destour, the Neo-Destour Party, in 1934. French authorities later banned this new party. Oddly enough, support came from those Tunisian Italians who were supporting the fascist government in Italy; later in 1942 Mussolini obtained the liberation of Bourghiba from a Vichy jail. During World War II the nationalist movements struggled to survive.
World War II
During World War II, the French authorities in Tunisia supported the Vichy government which ruled France after its capitulation to Germany in 1940. After initial victories to the east the German General Erwin Rommel,[5] lacking supplies and reinforcements, in November 1942 lost the decisive battle of al-Alamein (near Alexandria in Egypt) to the British General Bernard Montgomery. After learning of Allied landings in the west (Operation Torch), the Axis army retreated westward to Tunisia and set up defensive positions. The British following on his heels eventually broke these lines, although Rommel did have some early success against the "green" American and Free French troops advancing from the west. General George Patton, however, later beat Rommel in battle. The fighting ended in May 1943. Tunisia became a staging area for operations in the invasion of Sicily later that year.[6] General Dwight D. Eisenhower subsequently wrote of the occupation of Tunisia that "far from governing a conquered country, we were attempting only to force a gradual widening of the base of government, with the final objective of turning all internal affairs over to popular control."[7]
Independence
Following World War II the French managed to regain control of Tunisia as well as other administered territories in North Africa. However, the struggle for national independence continued and intensified.
The Neo-Destour Party reemerged under Habib Bourguiba. Yet with a lack of signigicant progress, violent resistance to French rule began in the mountains during 1954. The Tunisians coordinated with independence movements in Algeria and Morocco, although it was Tunisia that first became independent. Ultimately, in the decades-long struggle for independence, Neo-Destour leaders were able to gain sovereignty for the people by maneuver and finesse.[8]
Reference notes
- ^ The establishment of an Italian directly-ruled colony was considered but at time was not a popular concept in the national conscience and it was repeatedly rejected, italian Left wing (or "Sinistra storica") Prime Ministers as Agostino Depretis and Benedetto Cairoli were known opponents of any military adventure, in what was know as the "Clean hands" politics after the Congress of Berlin (1878).
- ^ Cooley, Baal, Christ, and Mohammed. Religion and Revolution in North Africa (New York 1965) at 193-196; Richard M. Brace, Morocco Algeria Tunisia (Prentice-Hall 1964) at 36-37.
- ^ Laroui, History of Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton Univ. 1977) at 314-315, 353, 357-361.
- ^ Laroui, History of Maghrib (1970; 1977) at 363-364, 366, 367.
- ^ Rommel later joined the German military's plot to kill Hitler; Rommel's preference was to arrest him and try him for war crimes. Wm. L. Shirer, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (New York: Simon and Schuster 1960) at 1030-1032.
- ^ Wm. L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (New York: Simon and Schuster 1960) at 912-913.
- ^ Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (New York: Doubleday 1948) at 137. Eisenhower became known for talking straight if not always clearly.
- ^ Richard M. Brace, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia (Prentice-Hall 1964) at 39-52, 95-97.
See also
- History of Tunisia: Ancient
- History of Tunisia: Medieval
- Hafsid
- Barbary Coast
- List of Beys of Tunis
- Tunisian Italians
- French occupation of Tunisia
- Tunisian Campaign
- Tunisia
- History of Tunisia
- History of Africa