History of Tunisia under French rule

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 lands had been possessions of the Ottoman Empire for three centuries, yet each had long since 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, administration, and education. Although these developments were welcome, nonetheless French businesses and citizens were clearly being favored over Tunisians. Their ancient 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.

Beylical debt

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As the 19th century commenced, the country ruled by the Bey remained relatively autonomous, although officially still an Ottoman province. Commerce with Europe began to increase dramatically after the Napoleonic wars, with western merchants, most often Italians, arriving to establish businesses in the country; farmers and trades people also came. In 1861, Tunisia promulgated the first constitution in the Arab world. Yet the Tunisian impetus toward modernizing the state apparatus and the economy was hampered by comfortable insiders, by rural poverty, by political discontent, and general disorganization. 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

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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. 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.

Economic advance

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

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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.

New education

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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.

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.

Tunisian politics

Nationalism

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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.

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.

Settler views

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When the French army occupied the country, most Europeans already resident there were from Italy. Eventually the French authorities desired to increase the population of French citizens living in Tunisia. Various incentives, mostly economic, began to be offered to those French who would relocate to North Africa. Since France had a higher standard of living, to be attractive the incentives had to be substantial--especially when compared to Tunisian incomes.

Although small numerically, the French settlers as a group formed an upper strata, of wealth and privilege, who held significant influence over the direction of the counry. Of course, not all French were prosperous. The settlers organized themselves into powerful interest groups in order to maintain their positions, and protect the status quo.

While the Tunisians, who had manifested a desire to modernize before the French came, appreciated the improvements that the French Protectorate was bringing to their country, understandably they did not like being second class citizens in their own country. In French public relations with the Tunisian people, a major positive point to win favor was their ability to modernize the country. Tunisians, of course, wanted to share in the work and rewards of the French system. Far-seeing resident adminitrators, accordingly, were somewhat prone to draft French development plans which included large participation by the Tunisian people.

On the other hand, many French administrators were instead more inclinded to favor the French settlers. Indeed, in response to any new development, the French settlers would marshall their influence in order to reap the major benefit. If the local French administrator was on ocasion against them, they would appeal to their contacts cultivated in Paris. As a result, a long and bitter conflict emerged between the interest of the settlers and those of Tunisians, with French officials themselves sometimes uncomfortably divided as to which course to take.

Settler political and cultural associations were established, as well as commerce and trade groups. Newspaper and magaines also were published for the settler communities, containing forums for developing their views, and journalists to articulate their "talking points". Settler interests ranged across the gamut of society, and the defense of their privileges was an on-going struggle.

French policy

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World War I

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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

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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

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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

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World War II

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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, 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. 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."

Map of modern Tunisia.

1945 to 1956

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French presence

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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

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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.

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

External links

• Background Note: Tunisia
• History of Tunisia
• The World Factbook on "Tunisia"