Jump to content

History of Tunisia under French rule: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→French regime: Add 'Main article: French Protectorate of Tunisia'
Line 26: Line 26:


===New education===
===New education===
The French presence, despite its negatives, did present Tunisians with an opportunity to become better acquainted with recent European advances. Such modernizing had been an articulated goal of the reform movements already initiated under the Beys. Among areas of study would be agriculture, mining, public works, commerical and business practices, banking and finance, state administration, manufacture and technology, and methods of education.<ref>Cf., chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 12, and especially 6, in Ahmed Kassab and Ahmed Ounaïes, ''L'Époque Contemporaine (1881-1956). Histoire Général de la Tunisie, Tome IV'' (Tunis: Sud Editions 2010).</ref>
{{expand section|date=October 2010}}

Previous to the Protectorate the schools open to the majority of Tunisians were religious, i.e., the ''kuttab'' whose curriculum centered on the memorization and study of the Qur'an. During the Protectorate, general educational objectives included the introduction of fields of study common in France, oriented more toward the acquisition of modern skills useful in the workplace. Although it would create a cultural sea change for Tunisians, the French language became a favored means for communicating such knowledge. The establishment of French language instruction open to Tunisians, of course, took place in the context of existing institutions of learning.<ref>Kenneth J. Perkins, ''A History of Modern Tunisia'' (Cambridge University 2004) at 62-63.</ref>


==Tunisian politics==
==Tunisian politics==

Revision as of 07:25, 7 December 2010

Template:HTIB The History of French era Tunisia commenced in 1881 with the French Protectorate and ended in 1956 with Tunisian independence. The French presence in Tunisia came five decades after their occupation of neighboring Algeria. Both of these countries had been former possessions of the Ottoman Empire for three centuries, yet each had long ago attained political autonomy. Before the French arrived, Tunisia had begun a process of modern reforms, but financial difficulties mounted until the installation of a commission of European creditors. After their occupation the French government assumed Tunisia's international obligations. Major developments and improvements were undertaken by the French in several areas, including transport and infrastructure, industry, the financial system, public health, and administration. Yet French business and its citizens were favored, not to the liking of Tunisians. Their preexisting national sense was early expressed in speech and in print; political organization followed. The independence movement was already active before World War I, and continued to gain strength against mixed French opposition. Its ultimate aim was achieved in 1956.[1][2]

Beylical debt

As the 19th century commenced, the country remained relatively autonomous, although officially still an Ottoman province. Commerce with Europe was increasing dramatically with western merchants, most often Italians, arriving to establish businesses in the country. In 1861, Tunisia enacted the first constitution in the Arab world, but the impetus toward modernizing the state apparatus was hampered by the poor economy and by political discontent. Foreign loans for improvements and development projects were made to the government, but not always at good terms; repayment of this debt began to be difficult to manage. In 1869, Tunisia declared itself bankrupt; an international financial commission, with representatives from France, the Britain, and Italy, took control over the economy.

French regime

Main article: French Protectorate of Tunisia

Establishment

Initially, Italy was the country that demonstrated the most desire to have Tunisia as part of her own sphere of influence, being geographically proximous, and already having a substantial number of expatriot citizens resident there. with corresponding business investment, citizens and geographic proximity as motivation. Yet in the emerging national conscience of the new Italian state, the establishment of a directly-ruled colony was not yet very popular.[3] However this was rebuffed when Britain and France co-operated to foreclose Italian political influence during the years 1871–1878; eventually Britain supported French influence in Tunisia in exchange for dominion over Cyprus and French cooperation on an anti-colonial revolt in Egypt. Britain was also interested in preventing both sides of the Strait of Sicily being controlled by a single power. French strategy worked to circumvent issues created by the sizeable colony of Tunisian Italians established in Tunisia, and to find reasons to justify the timing of a pre-emptive strike, now actively contemplated. Italians called such a strike the Schiaffo di Tunisi.

French possessions during the 1920s, including the Protectorate in Tunisia.

Using the pretext of a Tunisian incursion into French Algeria, the France invaded with an army of about 36,000 which quickly advanced to Tunis. There the Tunisian Bey was compelled to make terms in the form of the 1881 Treaty of Bardo (Al Qasr as Sa'id), which gave France effective control over a great deal of Tunisian governance.

In the spring of 1881, the French army occupied Tunisia. With her own interests in Tunisia, Italy protested but did not risk a confrontation with France. On May 12 of that year, Tunisia was officially made a French protectorate (Protectorat français en Tunisie) with the signature of the Treaty of Bardo by Muhammad III as-Sadiq.[4][5]

Economic advance

Map of Tunisia in 1902, showing new railroads and highways.

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.

New education

The French presence, despite its negatives, did present Tunisians with an opportunity to become better acquainted with recent European advances. Such modernizing had been an articulated goal of the reform movements already initiated under the Beys. Among areas of study would be agriculture, mining, public works, commerical and business practices, banking and finance, state administration, manufacture and technology, and methods of education.[6]

Previous to the Protectorate the schools open to the majority of Tunisians were religious, i.e., the kuttab whose curriculum centered on the memorization and study of the Qur'an. During the Protectorate, general educational objectives included the introduction of fields of study common in France, oriented more toward the acquisition of modern skills useful in the workplace. Although it would create a cultural sea change for Tunisians, the French language became a favored means for communicating such knowledge. The establishment of French language instruction open to Tunisians, of course, took place in the context of existing institutions of learning.[7]

Tunisian politics

Nationalism

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 response the French authorities led to the closing of the nationalist newspapers and the exile of nationalist leaders.[8]

Settler views

{Under construction}

French policy

{Under construction]

World War I

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.

1920s and 1930s

Le Destour

{Under construction}

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.

Called popularly Le Destour, the official name was Al-Hisb Al-Horr Ad-Destouri At-Tounsi or Le Parti Libre Constitutionnel Tunisien.

Neo Destour

{Under construction}

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.

Culture

{Under construction}

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,[9] 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.[10] 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."[11]

Map of modern Tunisia.

1945 to 1956

{Under construction}

French presence

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.

Independence

[12]

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.[13]

Reference notes

  1. ^ For geography and climate background, see History of Tunisia preview.
  2. ^ For referral to authorities, see text following.
  3. ^ Then a colonial program was repeatedly rejected. Italian Left wing (Italian: Sinistra storica) Prime Ministers Agostino Depretis and Benedetto Cairoli were known opponents of any military adventure, in what was know as the "Clean hands" politics following the Congress of Berlin (1878). Soon thereafter however, under Francesco Crispi, Italy would began to seek colonies. Cf., Giuliano Procacci, History of the Italian People (Paris 1968; London 1970, reprint Penguin 1973) at 351-352, 357-358.
  4. ^ Cooley, Baal, Christ, and Mohammed. Religion and Revolution in North Africa (New York 1965) at 193-196.
  5. ^ Richard M. Brace, Morocco Algeria Tunisia (Prentice-Hall 1964) at 36-37.
  6. ^ Cf., chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 12, and especially 6, in Ahmed Kassab and Ahmed Ounaïes, L'Époque Contemporaine (1881-1956). Histoire Général de la Tunisie, Tome IV (Tunis: Sud Editions 2010).
  7. ^ Kenneth J. Perkins, A History of Modern Tunisia (Cambridge University 2004) at 62-63.
  8. ^ Laroui, History of Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton Univ. 1977) at 314-315, 353, 357-361.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Wm. L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (New York: Simon and Schuster 1960) at 912-913.
  11. ^ Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (New York: Doubleday 1948) at 137. Eisenhower became known for talking straight if not always clearly.
  12. ^ 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). Laroui, History of Maghrib (1970; 1977) at 363-364, 366, 367.
  13. ^ Richard M. Brace, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia (Prentice-Hall 1964) at 39-52, 95-97.

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=History_of_Tunisia_under_French_rule&oldid=401015191"