History of French-era Tunisia
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The history of Tunisia under French rule started in 1881 with the establishment of the French protectorate and ended in 1956 with
Tunisian independence Tunisian independence was a process that occurred from 1952 to 1956 between France and a separatist movement, led by Habib Bourguiba. He became the first Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia after negotiations with France successfully had br ...
. The
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
presence in Tunisia came five decades after their occupation of neighboring
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. Both of these lands had been associated with the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
for three centuries, yet each had long since attained political
autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...
. Before the French arrived, the Bey of Tunisia had begun a process of modern reforms, but financial difficulties mounted, resulting in debt. A commission of European creditors then took over the finances. After the French conquest of Tunisia the French government assumed Tunisia's international obligations. Major developments and improvements were undertaken by the French in several areas, including
transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
and
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
, industry, the
financial system A financial system is a system that allows the exchange of funds between financial market participants such as lenders, investors, and borrowers. Financial systems operate at national and global levels. Financial institutions consist of complex, c ...
,
public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
,
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
, and
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
. 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 reform, debt

As the 19th century commenced, the
Husaynid The Husaynids ( ar, بنو حسين, Banū Ḥusayn) are a branch of the Alids who are descendants of Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Along with the Hasanids, they form the two main branches of the . Genealogical tr ...
dynasty
Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
remained the
hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...
ruler the country. Since the early 18th century Tunisia had been effectively autonomous, although still 'officially' an Ottoman province. Commerce and
trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
with Europe increased dramatically following the
Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. Western merchants especially Italians arrived to establish businesses in the major cities. Italian farmers, tradesmen, and laborers also immigrated to Tunisia. With the rapid surge in contacts with Europe, foreign influence grew. During the rule of Ahmad Bey (r.1837-1855) extensive modern reforms were initiated. Later, in 1861 Tunisia promulgated the first constitution in the Arab world. Yet the Tunisian drive toward modernizing the state and the economy met resistance. Reformers became frustrated by comfort-seeking insiders, political disorganization, regional discontent, and rural poverty. An 1864 revolt in the ''Sahil'' region was brutally put down. Later, after ineffective measures had failed, the leading reformer Khair al-Din (Khaïreddine) became chief minister 1873–1877, but he too eventually met defeat by wily conservative politicians. European banks advanced funds to the Beylical government for modernizing projects, such as civil improvements, the military, public works, and development projects, but also they included money for the personal use of the Bey. The loans were frequently negotiated at unfavorable rates and terms. Repayment of this foreign debt eventually grew increasingly difficult to manage. In 1869, Tunisia declared itself bankrupt. A ''Commission Financière Internationale'' (International Financial Commission) was thereafter formed, whose representatives were led by
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, and included
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and Britain. This commission then took control over the Tunisian economy.


French regime

Presented here are the commencement and the early history of the Protectorate, including institutional profiles, economic accomplishments, and reforms. "On the whole the urban and settled parts of the Tunisian population did not evince great hostility to the French protectorate in the pre-First World War period." The changing political configurations variously dominant in Metropolitan France are also summarized.


Establishment

Initially, Italy was the European country most interested in incorporating Tunisia into its sphere of influence. Italy's strong motivation derived from the substantial number of expatriate citizens already resident there, with corresponding business investment, due to its close geography. Yet in the emerging national conscience of the newly unified (1861) Italian state, the establishment of a directly ruled colony did not then attract high-priority interest for the political agenda. France, whose possession of Algeria bordered Tunisia, and Britain, then possessing the tiny island of Malta lying off its coast, were also interested. Britain wanted to avoid a single power controlling both sides of the
Strait of Sicily The Strait of Sicily (also known as Sicilian Strait, Sicilian Channel, Channel of Sicily, Sicilian Narrows and Pantelleria Channel; it, Canale di Sicilia or the Stretto di Sicilia; scn, Canali di Sicilia or Strittu di Sicilia, ar, مضيق ص ...
. During 1871–1878, France and Britain had been co-operating to foreclose Italian political influence. Yet more often these two countries were keen rivals. "For most of their tenure oth began in 1855 Richard Wood and Léon Roches, the consuls respectively of Britain and France, competed fiercely with each other to gain an economic or political edge in Tunisia." The Congress of Berlin, held in 1878, convened to discuss the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, the "sick man" of Europe, following its decisive defeat by Russia, with a focus on its remaining
Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
possessions. At the Congress, an informal understanding among the British, Germans, and French was reached, assenting to France incorporating Tunisia, although the negotiations around this understanding were kept secret from the Italians at the time. The French Foreign Minister, William Waddington, discussed the matter extensively with Britain's
Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...
, and
Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...
, while originally opposed, came to view Tunisia as an ideal distraction of the French away from continental Europe by the time of the Congress. Italy was promised Tarabulus in what became Libya. Britain supported French influence in Tunisia in exchange for its own protectorate over
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
(recently 'purchased' from the Ottomans), and French cooperation regarding a nationalist revolt in Egypt. In the meantime, however, an Italian company apparently bought the Tunis-Goletta-Marsa rail line; yet French strategy worked to circumvent this and other issues created by the sizeable colony of
Tunisian Italians Italian Tunisians (or Italians of Tunisia) are Tunisians of Italian descent. Migration and colonization, particularly during the 19th century, led to significant numbers of Italians settling in Tunisia. Italian presence in Tunisia The presence ...
. Direct attempts by the French to negotiate with the Bey their entry into Tunisia failed. France waited, searching to find reasons to justify the timing of a pre-emptive strike, now actively contemplated. Italians would call such strike the ''
Schiaffo di Tunisi The Schiaffo di Tunisi (literally Slap of Tunis in English), was an expression used by the Italian press and historiographers from the end of the 19th century to describe an episode of the political crisis elapsed at the time between the Kingdom ...
''. In northwest Tunisia the Khroumir tribe episodically launched raids into the surrounding countryside. In Spring of 1881 they raided across the border into French
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. France responded by invading Tunisia, sending in an army of about 36,000. Their advance to Tunis was rapidly executed. The Bey was soon compelled to come to terms with the French conquest of the country, in the first of a series of
treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...
. These documents provided that the Bey continue as head of state, but with the French given effective control over a great deal of Tunisian governance, in the form of the ''Protectorat français en Tunisie''.Kenneth J. Perkins, ''A History of Modern Tunisia'' (Cambridge University 2004), pp. 10–12, 36–38. With her own substantial interests in Tunisia, Italy protested but would not risk a confrontation with France. Hence Tunisia officially became a French
protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
on May 12, 1881, when the ruling Sadik Bey (1859–1882) signed at his palace the
Treaty of Bardo The Treaty of Bardo (french: Traité du Bardo, ar, معاهدة باردو) or Treaty of Qsar es-S'id, Treaty of Ksar Said established a French protectorate over Tunisia that lasted until World War II. It was signed on 12 May 1881 between repre ...
(Al Qasr as Sa'id). Later in 1883 his younger brother and successor 'Ali Bey signed the
Conventions of La Marsa The Conventions of La Marsa ( ar, اتفاقية المرسى) supplementing the Treaty of Bardo were signed by the Bey of Tunis Ali III ibn al-Husayn and the French Resident General Paul Cambon on 8 June 1883. They provided for France to repay T ...
. Resistance by autonomous local forces in the south, encouraged by the Ottomans in Tarabulus, continued for half a year longer, with instability remaining for several years.
Paul Cambon Pierre Paul Cambon (20 January 1843 – 29 May 1924) was a French diplomat and brother to Jules Cambon. Biography Cambon was born and died in Paris. He was called to the Parisian bar, and became private secretary to Jules Ferry in the ''préfe ...
, the first Resident-Minister (after 1885 called the Resident-General) of the French Protectorate, arrived in early 1882. According to agreement he assumed the office of the Bey's foreign minister, while the general commanding French troops became the minister of war. Soon another Frenchman became director-general of finance. Sadiq Bey died within a few months. Cambon wanted to demonstrate the complete disestablishment of Ottoman claims to suzerainty in Tunisia. The Ottomans beforehand agreed to acquiesce. Accordingly, Cambon designed and orchestrated the accession ceremony of 'Ali Bey (1882–1902). Cambon personally accompanying him from his La Marsa residence to the Bardo Palace where Cambon invested him as the new Bey in the name of France.


Economic advance

The French progressively assumed more of the important administrative positions. By 1884 they directed or supervised the Tunisian administration of government bureaus dealing with
finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
, post,
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
,
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
, public works and
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
. After deciding to guarantee the Tunisian state
debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
(chiefly to European investors), the Protectorate then abolished the international finance commission. French settlements in the country were being actively encouraged; the number of French colons grew from 10,000 in 1891, to 46,000 in 1911, and then to total 144,000 in 1945. The
transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...
system was developed by the construction of railroads and highways, as well as sea ports. Already by 1884 the Compagnie du Bône-Guelma had built a rail line running from
Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...
west 1,600 km to Algiers, passing through the fertile
Medjerda The Medjerda River ( ar, وادي مجردة), the classical Bagrada, is a river in North Africa flowing from northeast Algeria through Tunisia before emptying into the Gulf of Tunis and Lake of Tunis. With a length of , it is the longest river ...
river valley near Beja and over the high tell. Eventually rail lines were built all along the coast from the northwest at
Tabarka Tabarka ( ar, طبرقة ') is a coastal town located in north-western Tunisia, close to the border with Algeria. Tabarka's history is a mosaic of Berber, Punic, Hellenistic, Roman, Arabic, Genoese and Turkish culture. The town is dominated b ...
to
Bizerte Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...
, to Tunis and
Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...
, to Sfax and Gabès; inland routes went from the coastal ports to Gafsa, to
Kasserine Kasserine ( ar, القصرين, al-Qasrīn, Tunisian Arabic: ڨصرين ') is the capital city of the Kasserine Governorate, in west-central Tunisia. It is situated below Jebel ech Chambi ( جبل الشعانبي), Tunisia's highest mountain. It ...
, and to
El Kef El Kef ( ar, الكاف '), also known as ''Le Kef'', is a city in northwestern Tunisia. It serves as the capital of the Kef Governorate. El Kef is situated to the west of Tunis and some east of the border between Algeria and Tunisia. It has a ...
. Highways were also constructed. Geologists from French mining companies scrutinized the land for hidden resources, and invested in various projects. Railroads and ports often became ancillary developments to mining operations. Among the deposits discovered and extracted for export, phosphates (a salt of phosphoric acid, used chiefly as fertilizer) became the most important, mined near the south-central city of Gafsa. One company was awarded the concession to develop the mines and build the railroad, another to construct the port facilities at Sfax. The Compagnie des Phosphates et Chemins de Fer de Gafsa became the largest employer and taxpayer in the Protectorate. Iron and other minerals including zinc, lead, and copper, were also first profitably mined during the French era. Tunisian
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
s would complain that these improvements, e.g., the rail and mining operations, were intended to benefit primarily France; the French profited most, and the employment opportunities were open more to French colons than to Tunisians. French companies provided their own
engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
, technicians, managers, and accountants, and most of the skilled work force. Another major grievance of nationalist critics regarded the 'flood' of cheap manufactured goods entering the Tunisian market. This
competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...
worked havoc with the large
artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
class, until then in good health and vigor, who made comparable goods by hand according to tradition. Here, the French did no more than passively introduce into Tunisia the fruits of advanced production techniques, and then let neutral
market forces In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering ...
wreck their destruction on the local merchants, who could not compete on price. Under the Protectorate, the social
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
was also improved, e.g., by school construction (see below, ''Education reform''), and the erection of public buildings for meetings and performances. Civic improvements included the provision of new sources of clean water and the construction of public sanitation facilities in Tunis, and other large cities.
Hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
s were built, the number of
medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s increased,
vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
s became common, hence fatalities due to
epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...
s and other ills decreased; the per annum death-rate dropped dramatically. As a result, the Tunisian
population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
steadily increased, the number of Muslims about doubling between 1881 and 1946. Regarding agriculture, French settlers and companies acquired farm lands in such quantities as to cause resentment among Tunisians. ''Habis'' rural properties (land held in religious trust or ''wafq''), and also tribal lands held in common, were made available for monetary purchase due to fundamental changes in the land law legislated by the Protectorate. The social utility of farm lands, in extent and intensity, advanced, especially regarding production of olive groves and of vineyards. In rural areas the French administration strengthened the local officials (''qa'ids'') and weakened the independent tribes. Nationwide an additional judicial system was established for Europeans but available generally, set-up without interfering with the existing
Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
courts, available as always for the legal matters of Tunisians.


Education reform

The French presence, despite its negatives, did present Tunisians with opportunities to become better acquainted with recent European advances. Modernizing projects had already been an articulated goal of the reform movements initiated under the Beys prior to the French. Among the areas of study that were sought for their practical value were agriculture, mining, urban sanitation, business and commerce, banking and finance, state administration, manufacture and technology, and education. Prior to the Protectorate the schools open to the majority of Tunisians were religious, e.g., the many local ''kuttab'' whose curriculum centered on the memorization and study of the Qur'an. These schools were usually proximous to the mosque and run by the
imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...
. Students might progress to further such instruction at advanced schools. Especially noteworthy in this regard, but at the highest level, was the leading theological facility at the Mosque of Uqba in Kairouan, founded circa 670. During the 9th-11th centuries, in addition to religious subjects, medicine, botany, astronomy, and math were taught. Above all the Uqba Mosque then was the center of the
Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
school of law. Muslim scholars, the
ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
from throughout northern Africa, came here to study. Yet educational modernizing had preceded the French to a limited extent. The
Zitouna Mosque Al-Zaytuna Mosque, also known as Ez-Zitouna Mosque, and El-Zituna Mosque ( ar, جامع الزيتونة, literally meaning ''the Mosque of Olive''), is a major mosque at the center of the Medina of Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia. The mosque is the oldes ...
school in Tunis, which accepted the best graduates of the ''kuttab'' primary schools, had begun to add more secular topics to its predominantly Muslim curriculum. Also, the reforming prime minister Khair al-Din had at Tunis in 1875 established
Sadiki College Sadiki College, also known as ''Collège Sadiki'' ( aeb, المدرسة الصادقية, "El-Sadqiya High School"), is a '' lycée'' (high school) in Tunis, Tunisia. It was established in 1875. Associations formed by its alumni played a major rol ...
, a secondary school (
lycee In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...
), which from the first taught a curriculum oriented toward the modern world, instruction being in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and also in several European languages. Jews also had maintained their own schools, as did the more recently arrived Italians. During the French Protectorate, the goals of Tunisian educators in general developed, so as to include more the introduction of modern fields of study, namely, those leading toward the utilitarian knowledge practiced in Europe. Accordingly, in France such skills were well known, and a French technical vocabulary entered working use in Tunisia for various Protectorate projects, commercial and industrial. The
French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
was the favored medium in new schools set up by the French Church, initially established primarily for children of French settlers, such as Collège Saint-Charles de Tunis in 1875. Yet many urban Tunisians also sought for their children learning opportunities oriented to the acquisition of modern skills useful in the workplace. The Tunisian elites struggled against Protectorate resistance to such access. Over time, and not without contested issues, a new educational regime was created, including instruction in French open to Tunisians. This took place in the political context of the Protectorate, of course, affecting the existing Muslim institutions of learning, secular Tunisian advancement, and the instruction of young French colons. The innovations in
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
raised tender social issues in Tunisia. Yet many of such controversies were not new to the French, whose own educational institutions had met fundamental change during the 19th century. As France had come to develop and employ new technologies and the learning of the industrial age, French schooling adapted, and also became open to scrutiny. The balance between the teaching of traditional morality versus modern utilitarian skills, as well as exactly how and which morals to teach, became greatly contested in light of the wider French debate between religious versus secular values; it involved left-republican anticlerical politics. Similar issues arose later in Tunisia, including the views of the national movement. In Tunisia the French in 1883 set up a ''Direction de l'Enseignement Public'' (Directorate of Public Education) to promote schools for teaching children of French officials and colons, and to further the spreading use of the French language. Its goals widened to include education in general. This Directorate eventually administered, or directed, all the different educational institutions and systems in Tunisia, which it sought to modernize, coordinate, grow and expand. Soon established in Tunis were the new mixed Collège Alaoui, and for women the new École Rue du Pacha and École Louise René Millet. Several separate educational systems eventually resulted under the Protectorate. Serving French ''colons'' and Tunisians was a primary and secondary system closely coordinated with Metropolitan France, using the French language. From here students might attend a
university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in France. The government also directed a modern secular system of schools using mixed French and Arabic. The ''kuttab'' primary schools remained, keeping their religious instruction, yet enhanced by arithmetic, history, French, and hygiene; taught primarily in Arabic, the ''kuttab'' received government support. Thus Zitouna Mosque students might come from either the mixed secular or the ''kuttab'' religious schools. Zitouna education continued to expand, running four-year secondary schools at
Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...
, Sfax, and Gabes, and also a program at the university level, while remaining a traditional Islamic institution. Sadiki College, however, became the premier ''lycée'' in the country, which offered to an emerging Tunisian elite a secular, well-developed, French-language program. These reforms set the stage for further advances made in Tunisian education since independence.


French context

The French brought all the contradictions and internal conflicts of their culture to North Africa. Briefly a review follows of the broad context in which France approached, traded with and financed, invaded, and then administered Tunisia. It will be seen that modern French politics not only guided the direction of the French colonial venture, but also informed indirectly and in combination with traditions the politics of their clients, the Tunisian people and their leadership. France was not unfamiliar with rule over foreign lands, i.e., two distinct phases of expansion outside Europe, and one within: the 16th–18th century ventures in North America and in India, which lands were lost by the
monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...
in 1763 prior to the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
; the
Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
conquests over most of western and central Europe, lost in 1815; and then the 19th and 20th century
colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
in Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The latter expansion began when the restored royalist regime captured
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
in 1830. That same year, however, the '' Légitimist''
Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by Bras ...
king was overthrown by the
July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...
in favor of a new '' Orléanist'' king. Yet this new version of
constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
, perhaps more
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
, did not resolve the persistent social conflict between (a) the traditional royalists (now divided), (b) the arrived and courted
middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
, and (c) the neglected republicans (called "neo-
Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...
s" after the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
). The latter supported a democratic popular sovereignty and, from a distance, the emerging urban
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
. In both the aristocrat and the peasant, religious practice generally remained strong. In the emergent middle class, religion competed with secular values backed by "
scientism Scientism is the opinion that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality. While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientis ...
". Many urban workers began neglecting religious practice In the late 19th century, republican
anti-clericalism Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...
peaked. The divergent viewpoints evident here, under various guises, continued to divide French society, whether subtly, or dramatically, or catastrophically, well into the 20th century. A dissimilar though somewhat analogous social array may be discerned at work in the political dynamics of modern and independent Tunisia. In
1848 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...
the French people overthrew the
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
of King Louis-Philippe; however, radical urban workers were quelled. Although for a time
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
replaced royalty, the voters remained conservative, still fearful of instability from the republican left, and under the sway of traditional social hierarchies. Over the republican candidate,
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
won the December election of 1848 by a huge landslide. An 1851 coup then confirmed the result: the
Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...
. Because of his 1871 defeat by Germany, France lost its two-centuries-old position as the leading power in continental Europe. Yet the new
French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...
(1871–1940) arose, and quickly prospered. Many progressives from Asia, Africa, and the Americas still "regarded Paris as the spiritual capital of the world". France returned to popular sovereignty. After first turning to constitutional monarchists who nonetheless instituted the republic, the voters later elected
republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
and
radicals Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
, even
socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
on occasion. The right was stymied by its own illusions, e.g., in the
Dreyfus Affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...
. Even though socially and politically divided, in the next conflict, the disastrous
World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
(1914–1918), France emerged triumphant. In 1881 Jules Ferry (1832–1893), the republican premier and moderate anti-cleric, negotiated a political consensus to enable him to order the French army's conquest of Tunisia. During the subsequent Protectorate a change in French domestic political fortunes could directly impact Tunisian issues. For example, the 1936 election of
Léon Blum André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of French Socialist le ...
and the ''
Front Populaire The Popular Front (french: Front populaire) was an alliance of French left-wing movements, including the communist French Communist Party (PCF), the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and the progressive Radical-Soci ...
'' reportedly improved official French comprehension of Tunisian aspirations. During the 1920s
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
while studying for his law degree at the
University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...
astutely observed first hand how French politicians formulated and strategized their domestic agendas. Politically, Bourguiba's mind "had been formed in the Paris of the Third Republic." As independence leader and later the first President of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba (1903–2000) became the constitutional architect of the Republic.


Tunisian politics

Relating chiefly to the ''status quo ante'' and early decades of the French Protectorate, the political factors discussed here persisted throughout the course of French rule in Tunisia. Their relative strengths, one to the other, however, changed markedly over time. In appraising the marked significance of the French era on Tunisia, one explanatory reason might be the large number of Europeans who became permanent residents in the country. Compared with the Ottomans, who settled perhaps several tens of thousands from their empire in Tunisia, the French and their Italian 'allies' settled hundreds of thousands.


Islamic context

Most Tunisians are accustomed to references made about the Muslim world, for spiritual inspiration, literary metaphor, historical analogy. Within Islam the three primary cultural spheres, each stemming from a world ethno-linguistic civilization, are:
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
,
Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...
,
Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
. Each influenced Islam as a whole, as its sophisticated cultural contours bear witness. Each likewise benefited Tunisia. Preceding the French protectorate in Tunisia, the Ottoman Turks exercised varying degrees of suzerainty, and the ruling strata of Tunisia once spoke Turkish. Under its Arabizing rulers, the quasi-independent
Beys Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
, an attempt at modern reform was made, which used as a model similar reforms in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. Influence of the Iranian-sphere on Tunisia through the government has been only occasional, e.g., by the 8th-10th century
Rustamid The Rustamid dynasty () (or ''Rustumids'', ''Rostemids'') was a ruling house of Ibadi, Ibāḍī imam, imāms of Persian people, Persian descent centered in Algeria. The dynasty governed as a Muslim theocracy for a century and a half from its cap ...
state, and by al-Afghani. Arab culture has strongly affected Tunisia since the 8th century conquest and subsequent Arab migrations. Tunisia became an Arabic-speaking, Muslim country closely connected with the Mashriq (the Arab east). Long before the recent rise of Europe, and for centuries sharing this distinction with distant China, Muslim Arab civilization led the world in the refinement and in the prosperity of its citizens. Yet since, Turkish armies arrived from Central Asia and Turks eventually moved into leadership position at various Muslim polities, beginning about the 10th century. Thereafter, the Arabs ostensibly rested content under their foreign, albeit Islamic, rule. Moreover, about the year 1500 European Christians, once their rather opaque and trailing neighbors along the Mediterranean shore, "at last caught up with and overtook Islam, though the latter was quite unaware of what was happening." Nonetheless the Arabs still retained a well-acknowledged double esteem as (a) the creators of the ancient world's earliest civilizations (when most spoke another Semitic language, i.e.,
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
or Canaanite or
Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
, or spoke
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
), and later as (b) co-creators of the elegant and enduring Islamic civilization, with the desert Arabs (the original people of Muhammad), to whom they attached themselves as 'adopted' Semite cousins. Despite having earned and enjoyed such high esteem, the Arabs in more recent times found themselves thirsty for rejuvenation and renewal. During the 19th century a great renaissance began to stir among Arabs and among the Muslim peoples in general, giving rise to various reformers who conveyed their political and ideological messages. Inspiring and enigmatic, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839–1897) traveled widely to rally the Muslim world to unity and internal reform. Later while in Paris in 1884 al-Afghani published with Muhammad 'Abduh (see below) a journal ''al-'Urwa al-wuthqa'' The Strongest Link"to propagate his message. He himself sought a leading position in government to initiate reinvigorating reforms. He managed for a time to associate with an Ottoman Sultan, and later with a Shah of Iran, but to no effect. Although advocating a pan-Islamic solution, al-Afghani also taught the adoption of a universal reason under Islamic principles whereby Muslim societies might be reformed and then master the European sciences; industry and commerce would transform Muslim material culture. Such modernizing did not convince the more traditionist among the ''ulema'', but did energize a popular following across Islam which became committed to reform agendas. Such rational principles were often welcome by Tunisian nationalists. Another reformer with lasting influence in Tunisia was the Egyptian Shaykh
Muhammad 'Abduh ; "The Theology of Unity") , alma_mater = Al-Azhar University , office1 = Grand Mufti of Egypt , term1 = 1899 – 1905 , Sufi_order = Shadhiliyya , disciple_of = , awards = , in ...
(1849–1905), a follower of al-Afghani. A gifted teacher, he eventually became the Mufti of Egypt. 'Abduh cultivated reason and held the controversial view that in
Muslim law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
the doors of ''
ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
'' were open, i.e., permitting the learned to make an ''original'' interpretation of sacred texts. 'Abduh visited Tunisia twice. Together al-Afghani and 'Abduh have been called "the two founders of Islamic modernism". In Tunisia a reformer also arose.
Khair al-Din al-Tunsi Hayreddin Pasha ( aeb, خير الدين باشا التونسي Khayr ed-Din Pasha et-Tunsi; ota, تونسلى حيرالدين پاشا; tr, Tunuslu Hayreddin Paşa; 1820 – 30 January 1890) was an Ottoman- Tunisian statesman and reforme ...
(1810–1889) urkish name: Hayreddin Pashawas an early reformer of Circassian origins. When a child he learned Turkish and eventually became an Ottoman
Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...
. As a young man he was brought to Tunisia to enter the declining Turkish-speaking elite. Here he spent several decades in the service of several
Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
s (1840s-1877), when he chose to adopt the Maghrib as his own and learned Arabic. Khair al-Din has been discussed previously. He preceded al-Afghani, and appeared to be more traditionally religious. He came of age in the era of the Ottoman
Tanzimat The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. ...
, a series of modern reforms begun in 1839. Khair al-Din advocated a modern rationalism in the reform of society and government, yet one respectful of Muslim institutions. Once in power in Tunisia to implement his reforms (1873–1877), Khair al-Din encountered stiff opposition and was replaced mid-steam. Later the Tunisian Shaykh Mahammad al-Sanusi led a group which "adhered to the ideology expounded by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Shaykh Muhammad 'Abduh." An
alim Alim (''ʿAlīm'' , also anglicized as ''Aleem'') is one of the Names of God in Islam, meaning "''All-knowing one''". It is also used as a personal name, as a short form of Abdul Alim, "''Servant of the All-Knowing''": Given name * Alim ad-Din A ...
in the service of the Bey before the Protectorate commenced in 1881, thereafter al-Sunusi traveled east on pilgrimage where he claimed to have entered "an anti-Western secret society" founded by al-Afghani. Soon 'Abduh visited Tunisia, where he was greeted by "reformist ulama" supporters of Khayr al-Din. During the next year 1885 occurred a formal protest to the Bey against tax and tariff measures of the new French regime. Involved were 60 notables, featuring al-Sanusi and public demonstrations; it likely constituted an "alliance between mosque and
bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...
." Yet the protest was ineffective; the dispute was settled. In character this protest group differed from the nationalist movement to come, but adumbrated it. Banished by the French, al-Sanusi responded with "a concilliatory letter" and was reinstated. During its first two decades the subject people remained "content to pursue Tunisian development within the Protectorate framework." Alongside the pan-Islamic were conflated ethnic views, i.e., conflicting pan-Arab and pan-Turkic. Many Arabic-speaking countries under Ottoman rule had grown weary; a popular desire for self-rule under an
Arab nationalism Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language an ...
arose. In this regard Tunisia differed: an Arabic-speaking country but already long liberated from the Ottomans, governed by an autonomous Bey where the imperial hand was merely ceremonial. Tunisia experienced no fight against the Turkish empire, whereas during World War I many mashriq Arabs fought against Turkish armies for their independence. Yet in 1881 Tunisia fell under European rule, as did Egypt in 1882, Morocco and Libya in 1912, and Syria and Iraq in 1919. Early in the 20th century the Tunisian resistance movement against France emerged. It later would enjoy two distinct sources of Islamic political culture. For Muslim fraternity, e.g., for a forum in which to compare ideas and programs, Tunisians could choose between: the Ottomans (latter Turkey), and the Arab world to the east (the Mashriq and Egypt).


Nationalist origins

The
Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
of Tunis was the traditional, authoritarian ruler. Under the Protectorate the Bey's rule continued ''de jure'', yet ''de facto'' control of the country passed to the French ''
Resident General A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indir ...
'' and his ministers, appointed in Paris. The Bey continued in his lesser role as a figurehead monarch. Yet his position had been tarnished by the court's "prodigality and corruption" and the cynical aristocracy. The harsh put down of the 1864 revolt in the ''Sahil'' was still remembered a century later. During the first decade, notables and conservative Tunisians had appealed to Ali Bey to effectively mediate with the French. His ability to maneuver was closely confined. "In Tunisia, obedience to the Bey meant submission to the French." Yet the Bey stirred some Tunisian culture into the foreign recipe. Indeed, many Tunisians at first welcomed the progressive changes brought about by the French, but the general consensus that evolved was that Tunisians preferred to manage their own affairs. Before the French conquest, during the 1860s and 1870s Khair al-Din had introduced modernizing reforms in Tunisia. His innovative ideas, although acknowledging the ascendancy of Europe, remained conversant with Islamic tradition and favored reform on Islamic terms. He wrote an influential book. The learned Arabic weekly magazine ''al-Hādira''
he Capital He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
was founded in 1888 by companions and followers of the reforming Beylical minister Khair al-Din. The weekly discussed politics, history, economics, Europe and the world, and was published until 1910. This moderate magazine of the Tunisian establishment articulated views that were often pitched to the ''baldiyya'' (merchants) and the ''
ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'' (clerics and jurists). It voiced perspectives found in Khair al-Din's 1867 book on Islam confronting the modern. The "organized body of reformers and patriots" who started the weekly were influenced by the Egyptian
Muhammad 'Abduh ; "The Theology of Unity") , alma_mater = Al-Azhar University , office1 = Grand Mufti of Egypt , term1 = 1899 – 1905 , Sufi_order = Shadhiliyya , disciple_of = , awards = , in ...
and his 1884-1885 visit to Tunisia; Shaykh 'Abduh had advocated moderation. Many of the reasonable editorials in ''al-Hadirah'' were written by as-Sanusi. According to Tunisian author Ibn Ashūr, writing decades later, al-Sanusi's distasteful experience with the early Tunisian opposition to French rule had caused him to re-evaluate the Protectorate, positively. A radical weekly publication ''az-Zuhrah'' was openly critical of French policy, and ran from 1890 until suppressed in 1897. Another periodical uneasy with the status quo and terminated by French authorities was ''Sabil al-Rashad'', 1895–1897. It was published by 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Tha'alibi, who was educated at Zaytuna. The young Tha'alibi, destined to play a leading intellectual role, was another directly inspired by 'Abduh of Cairo, and by earlier, local reformers, e.g.,
Mahmud Qabadu Mahmud Qabadu (1812–1872) of Tunisia, also Muhammad Qabadu, was a scholar of Quranic studies, a progressive member of the ulama, a long-time professor at the Zaytuna mosque academy, and a poet. Shaykh Mahmūd Qabādū served as a qadi to the chie ...
. In 1896 Bashir Sfar and other advocates of renewal from ''al-Hādira'' founded ''al-Jam'iyah Khalduniya'' he Khaldun Society its charter was approved by a French decree. The society provided a forum for sophisticated discussions; it was named after the famous medieval historian of Tunis
Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...
. According to professor Laroui, it "emphasized the need for gradual reform" of education and the family. ''Khalduniya'' also facilitated the role played by ''ulama'' progressives at
Zitouna Mosque Al-Zaytuna Mosque, also known as Ez-Zitouna Mosque, and El-Zituna Mosque ( ar, جامع الزيتونة, literally meaning ''the Mosque of Olive''), is a major mosque at the center of the Medina of Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia. The mosque is the oldes ...
. ''Khalduniya'', wrote Laroui "became increasingly French both in mentality and in language." The ''Khalduniya'' society "opened a window on the West for Arabic-speaking Tunisians," comments professor Perkins. It offered to the public free classes in European sciences. Many decades later, regarding the new political party
Neo-Destour The New Constitutional Liberal Party ( ar, الحزب الحر الدستوري الجديد, '; French: ''Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel''), most commonly known as Neo Destour, was a Tunisian political party founded in 1934 by a group o ...
, ''Khalduniya'' (and Sadiki College) "channeled many young men, and a few women, into the party." ''Khalduniya'' also helped create the demand in Tunisia for foreign Arabic newspapers and magazines. Other Tunisian periodicals continued to enter the marketplace of ideas.
Ali Bach Hamba Ali Bach Hamba (1876 - 29 October 1918) was a Tunisian lawyer, journalist and politician. He co-founded the Young Tunisians with Béchir Sfar in 1907. Biography Bach Hamba was born in 1876 in Tunis into a family of Turkish origin, his brother, ...
founded the
French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
journal ''le Tunisien'' in 1907, in part to inform the European public of Tunisian views. The opinions it expressed seemed not only to further mutual understanding, but to increase the unease and unrest. In 1909 Tha'alibi founded its
Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
version ''at Tūnisī'', which among other issues challenged the pro-Ottoman Hanba from a more 'Tunisian' view point. Tha'alibi (1876-1944) is described in 1902, when he returned from Egypt, as "with strange attire, tendencies, thought and pen." His reform ideas struck "conservative leaders" as "an attack on Islam." In 1903 ath-Tha'alibi was "brought to trial as a renegade" and "sentenced to two months imprisonment." As French rule continued, it appeared increasingly determined to favor the French and Europeans over native Tunisians. Accordingly, the general tone of the Tunisian response grew bitter and hardened into a challenging resolve. Here professor Kenneth Perkins marks the "transition from advocacy of social change to engagement in political activism." In 1911 civil disturbances were ignited by the Zaytuni university students. One result was that Bach Hamba and Tha'alibi reached an accord. A political party was begun, ''al-Ittihad al-Islami'', which thus expressed pan-Islamic leanings. Late in 1911 issues concerning a Muslim cemetery, the Jellaz, sparked large nationalist demonstrations in Tunis. The protests and riots left dozens of Tunisians and Europeans dead. The French declared
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...
; they blamed political agitators. In 1912 further demonstrations led to the popular Tunis Tram Boycott. In response the French authorities closed the nationalist newspapers and sent into exile Tunisian leaders, e.g., Tha'alibi and Bach Hamba. Tha'alibi later would return to Tunisia. According to professor Nicola Ziadeh, "the period between 1906 and 1910 saw a definite crystallization of the national movement in Tunisia. This crystallization centered around Islam." By the eve of the First World War (1914–1918), Tunisian 'nationalists' had developed and it adherents encountered an opportunity to publicly define themselves, in terms not only domestic but in light of widespread trends and foreign events. Pan-Islam had been promoted by the Ottoman Sultan
Abdulhamid ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd ( ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الحميد) is a Muslim male given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Ḥamīd'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which gave rise ...
, and such ideas also developed in
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and touched Tunisia. The more conservative opponents of the Protectorate felt its influence more strongly. Then in 1909 this sultan was deposed. In 1924 the
Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
in Turkey was terminated by Mustafa Kemal.
"The intellectuals, the bourgeoisie, the students and the proletariat reacted against the French administration and economic measures; they defended their right of work against the immigrants; they demanded legal equality with strangers; they wanted to maintain the principle of Tunisian sovereignty."
The nucleus of the above naissant political party ''al-Ittihad al-Islami'' evolved into "The Evolutionist Party of Young Tunisians". Eventually it became simply ''Tunis al-fatat'' oung Tunisians Yet loss of its leadership, due to the French crack-down in 1912, curtailed its effectiveness. Following the World War ''Tunis al-fatat'' developed into a loose term which encompassed a wide political-cultural spectrum of Tunisian opinion, from 'communists' to ''les Vieux Turbans'' he Old Turbans In the 1920s there emerged its most vital, centrist element: a new alignment, the political party called ''
Destour The Constitutional Liberal Party ( ar, الحزب الحر الدستوري, '), most commonly known as Destour, was a Tunisian political party, founded in 1920, which had as its goal to liberate Tunisia from French colonial control. History ...
'' onstitution The ''Destour'' "aimed to restore the Constitution of 1861".


Settler positions

When the French army occupied Tunisia, few Europeans were resident there, most being from Italy. In 1884 there were 19,000 Europeans, the majority Italians. In 1901 Europeans were 111,000, including 72,600 Italians, 24,200 French, and 12,000
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
( maltese-speaking from the nearby island, then a British colony). The French government soon sought to discover ways to increase the French population. Various incentives, chiefly economic, began to be offered to citizens who would relocate to Tunisia. Since France itself enjoyed a higher standard of living, to be attractive the incentives to potential settlers had to be quite substantial when compared to Tunisian incomes. Although always relatively small in numbers (peaking at about 250,000), French settlers or '' colons'' became a very influential social stratum in Tunisia. They combined commercial-industrial expertise and know-how, with government privilege. Although not all the French were equally prosperous, ranging from rich to poor, nonetheless group cohesion was strong. French capital found investments in such activities as
mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
and railroads, which resulted in handsome returns. Their use of modern technology required a trained workforce, and French immigrants were invariably the workers hired. Such skilled jobs were among the highest paid in Tunisia. Settler homes and urban neighborhoods were often built following French models. Eventually a sense of pride and accomplishment in the modern development of the country came to be felt and relished by the newly dominant French community. Local Tunisians came to be stereotyped by some settlers as narrow and biased, the more rural the native population more primitive or confused. The settlers organized themselves into interest groups in order to maintain their leading position, to protect their engine of money-making and the source of Tunisia's relatively rapid development. Tunisians chafed at being made second-class citizens in their own country. In French public relations, the major point that would win Tunisian favor was the French ability to modernize the economy and administration. Tunisians, however, wanted to share in the work and rewards of the new French-built enterprises. Eventually, the more far-seeing among resident French administrators were drawn to draft French development plans so as to include significant participation by the Tunisian people. Nonetheless, other French administrators were more inclined to award business and employment opportunities to French settlers, for both local political reasons and
colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...
policy. Usually, in response to any proposed economic development, French settlers would marshal their influence in order to reap the major benefits. For many French, such benefits were the ''raison d'être'' for their living in Tunisia. If the local French administrator on occasion decided against them, they would hasten to appeal to their political contacts in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. These they carefully cultivated, e.g., through the large, political pressure group ''Parti-Colonial''. A growing conflict naturally emerged between the interests of the settlers and those of Tunisians; a struggle which became increasingly sour. The French officials themselves were sometimes uncomfortably divided as to which course to take, and exactly how to take it. Settlers expressed their views in their political and cultural associations, and commercial trade groups. Newspapers and magazines in French were published by and for the settler communities, e.g., ''La Tunisie Française''. These various forums enabled the individual settler to follow discussions that articulated their hopes and anxieties, to read journalists whose reports were pitched to their points of view, and to discern the
talking points A talking point, often used in the plural, is a pre-established message or formula used in the field of political communication, sales and commercial or advertising communication. The message is coordinated ''a priori'' to remain more or less inv ...
of their politicians, all of which enhanced their solidarity and effectiveness. Settler interests could be diverse across the gamut of social issues at home in France, while in North Africa they united for the struggle to defend their common advantages and privileges. Even so, some French settlers became known for their countenance of, or support for, maghriban political aspirations. Although a small minority of the ''colon'' community, their numbers were sufficient in Tunisia to support the French-language publication ''Petit Monde''. It presented humanistic articles that attempted to span the gulf of alienation, was sympathetic to Tunisians, and discussed self-governance. Other ''colons'', however, might heap scorn on any such European who broke ranks. One dissenting ''colon'' was the French official and later academic
Jacques Berque Jacques Augustin Berque (4 June 1910, Molière, Algeria – 27 June 1995) was a French scholar of Islam and sociologist of the Collège de France. His expertise was the decolonisation of Algeria and Morocco. Berque wrote several histories on th ...
. Another, the well-known author
Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...
, was consciously conflicted over his native Algeria. His 1942 novel ''L'Étranger'' drew a portrait of a young French ''colon'', his social disconnection and his crime and trial. Camus labored for mutual comprehension between the conflicting sides. Even after the French exodus, Berque remained attached to the Maghrib, and connected to its newly independent peoples. Berque also was able to perceive the multiple faces of the French situation, its layered context. He mentions that during the severe economic distress of 1934 the ''colons'' of
Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...
mounted a political demonstration at Gambetta Park, and declared with veiled ambiguity, "we love this land, we love its atmosphere, harsh though it is, and even its natives, with whom we wish to live in amity... ."


French policy

Although the French often presented a united front in Tunisia, internally they had brought with them to North Africa their own long-standing national divisions. Despite such quarrels, many on the political left and in the Christian churches eventually agreed to cooperate in spreading the 'advantages' of French culture in Africa and Asia. Yet an anti-colonialist dissent persisted.
Albert Sarrault Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert C ...
, a leading French colonialist, "lamented in 1935 that most of the French remained indifferent about colonies." In Tunisia a hierarchy developed: the projects of the French state came first, followed the interests of the French settlers. The more numerous Italian settlers were rivals of the French who later became associated as allies, yet remained distinct. Tunisian Jews, many families resident since late antiquity, others relatively recent immigrants from Italy, often seemed to occupy a precarious position in between the established local traditions and the new European modernity. The majority Tunisian Muslims carefully observed the regime of the French occupiers. They were distinguished by their attitude toward French policies, whether as persuaded contributors, as neutrals, as holdouts, or later as political opponents. Under the French regime, a variety of activities were given encouragement. The Church sent missionaries, who were directed from the new cathedral in Tunisia, south across the Sahara to what became Francophone Black Africa where many mission communities were established. Yet the Eucharistic Congress of 1930 in Tunis drew the public reproach of
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
. Protectorate projects enlisted
civil engineers This list of civil engineers is a list of notable people who have been trained in or have practiced civil engineering. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U ...
and city planners who developed designs from which were built many public improvements. These served community needs for water, communication, health, sanitation, travel and transportation. Civic comfort was enhanced. Business and commercial opportunities were multiplied. The Tunisians populace appreciated the introduction of such improvements, but noticed the advantages the Protectorate bestowed on the European newcomers. Community leaders began to appeal to the self-proclaimed public virtues of the French state, e.g., ''droit humane'', in order to obtain equal treatment with the French ''colons''. Yet at first such appeals resulted more often than not in disappointment, increasingly so, enough that many Tunisians turned cynical regarding the Protectorate's claims. Mass movements arose. Yet not all French officials were non-responsive. From the start, the fundamental nature of the colonial enterprise had been disputed. Various causes and/or justifications were proposed during the period of the Protectorate as its self-explanation: for revenue and natural resources, for export markets, for cultural expansion and national prestige, for career opportunities and jobs for the arriving colons, or as a frontier for the military. French policy, in attempting to satisfy such a variety of rationals, could shift in focus from one to another, often depending on which French administrator made the choices and the immediate circumstances. As a natural result French policy was not always consistent over time. During the latter decades of the Protectorate, local French officials increasing also sought to better address the needs, complaints, and demands of the Tunisian people. On many issues, the Protectorate could be confronted with its own contradictory objectives, and underlying political conflicts, leading to difficult decisions or negotiations.


Art and Culture

Traditional arts continued in Tunisia, e.g., in music the
ma'luf ''Ma'luf'' ( ar, مألوف, acquainted, familiar ''Ma'lūf'') is a genre of art music in the Andalusian classical music tradition of Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. It is of Iberian origin and was introduced to the Maghreb The Maghreb (; a ...
a form of the
andalusian Andalusia is a region in Spain. Andalusian may also refer to: Animals *Andalusian chicken, a type of chicken *Andalusian donkey, breed of donkey *Andalusian hemipode, a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds *Andalusian horse, a breed of ho ...
. Regarding all forms of music, for the first time the introduction of recording techniques allowed music playing to be preserved for later enjoyment and for posterity. Indeed, all of the fine arts were stimulated and challenged, not only by European technology, but by French exemplars and art theories. In literature, while the conventions of
Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry ...
continued to develop and thrive, other writers adopted new forms modeled on French literature, such as the
novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
. The construction of theatres under the Protectorate also increased the opportunities for public performances, both of older Tunisian forms and of experiments in new genres. In particular, modern inventions surrounding the simultaneous capture of light and sound made an entirely new form of art possible:
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
.


Chronology


Versailles 1919

Organized nationalist sentiment among Tunisians, driven underground by the French following the popular demonstrations in 1912, resurfaced after the Great War. Traveling to Paris Abdel Aziz Tha'alibi sought to present to the Versailles Peace Conference Tunisia's case against the Protectorate. He also published his book ''La Tunisie martyre'' which, among other things, endorsed a constitutional program based on the 1861 precedent. Encouragement came from many directions. In 1919, the
League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
was founded. Here many nations lobbied for sovereignty, including the Wafdist ''tafwid'' (delegation) of Egypt. Turkey under Atatürk rejected the Verssailes borders and fought successfully to establish their national independence on their own terms. The
Bolshevik revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
in Russia had resulted in a new state power which angrily confronted the international order, and began to organized and fund subversive groups in order to overthrow existing regimes. The
colonial order A colonial order of chivalry was an order of chivalry awarded by European colonial states in Africa and Asia for those who conquered and administered their territories. They were sometimes adopted by post-colonial successor states, or remained on ...
, although in appearances as vigorous as ever, had been seriously shaken by the devastation of war. The prophetic might discern that it was the beginning of the end of the colonial era.


Tunisian ''Destour''

Nationalists established the
Destour The Constitutional Liberal Party ( ar, الحزب الحر الدستوري, '), most commonly known as Destour, was a Tunisian political party, founded in 1920, which had as its goal to liberate Tunisia from French colonial control. History ...
(Constitution) Party in 1920. Called popularly ''Le Destour'', the official name was ''Al-Hisb Al-Horr Ad-Destouri At-Tounsi'' or ''Le Parti Libre Constitutionnel Tunisien''.
Tha'alibi Al-Tha'alibi (961–1038), was a writer famous for his anthologies and collections of epigrams. As a writer of prose and verse in his own right, distinction between his and the work of others is sometimes lacking, as was the practice of writer ...
was a founding member. The party negotiated an informal alliance with the Bey, which annoyed the French. In 1922 Lucien Sanit, the new French Resident General, 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 setback provoked turmoil in the Destour Party. Under French threat, Tha'alibi left Tunisia in 1923. Nationalist attention focused on economic issues in 1924. A mutual aid society was begun, but did not survive an episode of economic disruption caused by a wave of strikes. The Confédération Générale des Travailleurs Tunisiens (CGTT) had been formed by M'hammad Ali with assistance from the
Destour The Constitutional Liberal Party ( ar, الحزب الحر الدستوري, '), most commonly known as Destour, was a Tunisian political party, founded in 1920, which had as its goal to liberate Tunisia from French colonial control. History ...
party. The CGTT was a nationalist alternative to the established, communist-led, French union the CGT. It then successfully recruited Tunisian workers in large numbers from CGT ranks. The CGTT proved more aggressive, and was actively engaged in Tunisian issues and nationalist politics. In 1924 the Protectorate had its leaders jailed. The Destour party had already distanced itself. During the 1940s Farhat Hached had then followed this example and organized the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) quickly entered into a lasting alliance with Neo-Dustour. The
Neo-Destour The New Constitutional Liberal Party ( ar, الحزب الحر الدستوري الجديد, '; French: ''Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel''), most commonly known as Neo Destour, was a Tunisian political party founded in 1934 by a group o ...
party was established in 1934 due to a split in the leadership of Destour.
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
and others established it as the next generation's continuance of the original spirit of Destour. The French authorities later arrested its leaders and harassed the Neo-Destour, diminishing its presence and effectiveness.


World War II

As in the first World War, Tunisians troops were transported to France to fight against the German armies in World War II. Three infantry regiments, one after the other, disembarked at Marseille commencing in March, 1940, and entered the
Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
. Following the French defeat they were back in Tunisia by September. Yet Tunisian units fought again. By November 1942 the French forces in Tunisia were active on the Allied side. Tunisian troops under the French flag then fought the German and Italian army in Tunisia. Later Tunisian units joined the
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
invasion of Italy, entering Rome; they then fought in the liberation of France. At war's end in 1945 the Tunisians were exhausted and in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
. Immediately following the 1940 fall of France, French authorities in Tunisia supported the
Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...
regime, which continued to govern the southern provinces of France after its capitulation to German forces. Many Tunisians had felt some satisfaction at France's defeat. In July, 1942,
Moncef Bey Muhammad VII al-Munsif, ( ar, محمد السابع المنصف; 4 March 1881 in La Manouba – 1 September 1948 in Pau)El Mokhtar Bey, ''De la dynastie husseinite. Le fondateur Hussein Ben Ali. 1705 - 1735 - 1740'', éd. Serviced, Tunis, 1993 ...
acceded to the
Husaynid The Husaynids ( ar, بنو حسين, Banū Ḥusayn) are a branch of the Alids who are descendants of Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Along with the Hasanids, they form the two main branches of the . Genealogical tr ...
throne. Immediately he took a nationalist position, asserting Tunisian rights against the new Resident General appointed by Vichy. He toured the country, dispensing with beylical protocol. Soon becoming very popular as the new voice of Tunisians, Moncef Bey had assumed the place of the leadership of the Destour and Neo-Destour parties, which remained effectively suppressed by the French. Near
Alexandria, Egypt Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
, the German General
Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
, lacking supplies and reinforcements, in November 1942 lost the decisive battle of al-Alamein to the newly replenished forces of British General
Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...
. The fighting ending November 4, 1942. Then came the Tunisia campaign. On November 7, the Allies under American General
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
began landing forces in Morocco (
Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...
). Meanwhile, the German Afrika Korps with the Italian Army retreated from Egypt westward to Tunisia and set up defensive positions at the
Mareth Line The Mareth Line was a system of fortifications built by France in southern Tunisia in the late 1930s. The line was intended to protect Tunisia against an Italian invasion from its colony in Libya. The line occupied a point where the routes into T ...
south of Gabès. The British followed on its heels. With reinforcements the Afrika Korps had some success against the "green"
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
and Free French advancing from the west. That enabled operations against the British at the Mareth Line, which ultimately failed perhaps due to
Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...
intercepts. The Allies broke through the Axis lines and an intensive Allied air campaign forced the Afrika Korps to surrender on May 11, 1943. The Italian Army of General Messe fought a desperate last battle in Cape Bon and Enfidaville and surrendered two days later. Tunisia became a staging area for the invasion of
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
later that year. General Eisenhower subsequently wrote of the occupation of Tunisia (evidently following an anti-colonial policy, yet one compromised) "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." Following the Allied landings in Morocco in late 1942, the governments of both Vichy France and of Tunisia had been taken over by German forces. During this period (November 1942 to May 1943)
Moncef Bey Muhammad VII al-Munsif, ( ar, محمد السابع المنصف; 4 March 1881 in La Manouba – 1 September 1948 in Pau)El Mokhtar Bey, ''De la dynastie husseinite. Le fondateur Hussein Ben Ali. 1705 - 1735 - 1740'', éd. Serviced, Tunis, 1993 ...
"judiciously refused to take sides". He did, however, use what leverage he could muster to appoint the first Tunisian government since 1881, which was inclusive of the country's then political landscape, containing some pro-Allied elements. Later, with the Allied victory and advent of the Allied control, French ''colons'' began to falsely denounce Moncef Bey as a German collaborator, seeking his immediate removal; they were appeased. "Late in 1943 Musif Bey was deposed by the French on the pretext that he had collaborated with the enemy."
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
, the leading figure in the
Neo-Destour The New Constitutional Liberal Party ( ar, الحزب الحر الدستوري الجديد, '; French: ''Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel''), most commonly known as Neo Destour, was a Tunisian political party founded in 1934 by a group o ...
party, imprisoned in Vichy France, had been taken to Rome by the Germans, and feted there to further Italian designs on Tunisia; then he was repatriated to his Axis-occupied homeland. But Bourguiba remained pro-Independence without being anti-French (his wife being French). In Tunisia, however, some pro-German Destour leaders had been willing to work with the Third Reich, despite Bourguiba's persistent warnings. After the war, Bourguiba's American connections managed to clear him of false charges that he was a collaborator. Then with his compatriot Salah Ben Youssef and others there began the rebuilding of the Neo-Destour political organization.


Post-war context

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. This phenomenon was not particular to Tunisia, or to North Africa. Separately organized independence movements were becoming widespread throughout Asia and Africa. The stature of the Soviet Union, with its ostensibly 'anti-colonialist' ideology, was enhanced by its position as a primary victor in the war. Its doctrines demanded a harsh judgment on the French in North Africa. In this vein continued writers who may not have been communists. During the French presence, the maghriban resistance was articulated in sharper and more combative terms as the independence movements intensified. Especially bitter in accusation was the works of the iconic, anti-colonial writer of Algeria, Frantz Fanon. The United States of America, the other major victor and power following the war, also articulated a stance against the continued existence of colonies, despite remaining in alliance with European colonial states. Yet within several years of the war's end, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt had become independent, as had India and Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Burma, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In 1945 the
Arab League The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...
was formed in Cairo which soon included Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yeman. Soon the Destour's
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
secretly traveled to Cairo where he took up residence while advancing political causes, e.g., the Maghreb Liberation Committee. As the League of Nations had inspired an increase in the awakening of national conscienceness among subject peoples after the first World War, so also did the foundation of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
in San Francisco following World War II. The U.N. provided a forum in which the issue of independence for nations could be advanced before 'world public opinion'. Hence the struggle for independence in Tunisia became part of the global conversation.


Tunisian nationalism


Political struggle

Following World War II the
Neo-Destour The New Constitutional Liberal Party ( ar, الحزب الحر الدستوري الجديد, '; French: ''Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel''), most commonly known as Neo Destour, was a Tunisian political party founded in 1934 by a group o ...
Party reemerged under the leadership of
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
and Salah ben Yusuf. Already Bourguiba had enlisted the close support of the national labor union, the ''Union Générale des Travailleurs Tunisiens'' (UGTT). It was the successor of the short-lived Tunisian union organization, the ''Confédération'' (CGTT), which the French had suppressed in 1924. During the 1940s Farhat Hached had then followed the CGTT example and organized the UGTT, which was nationalist and not associated with the communist-led French union CGT. Quickly UGTT entered into a lasting alliance with Neo-Dustour. As Secretary General of the party, ben Yusuf pursued a policy of opening it to all Tunisians. He formed alliances with large commercial interests, with the Zaituna Mosque activists, and with pan-Arab groups favored by the Bey. In Paris in 1950 Bourguiba had presented the French government a program for gradual independence. Eventually the French proceeded to introduce limited reforms, e.g., in which the nationalist would receive half the seats in a legislative council, with the other half retained by French settlers. Due to the lack of signigicant progress during 1954 armed groups of Tunisians, called ''Fellagha'', began to muster and conduct operations in resistance to French rule, beginning with attacks in the mountains. The Tunisians coordinated their national struggle with independence movements in
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
and
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
, although Tunisia seemed to be better at the fine points of marshalling its nationalist forces. The Moroccan professor Abdullah Laroui later wrote about the social and historical similarities between the independence movements in the three different countries of the Maghrib.


Internal conflicts

During subsequent Tunisian negotiations with France, a conflict erupted between the rival leaders of Neo-Destour.
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
saw advantage in accepting an interim autonomy before mounting the final push for full independence. Salah ben Yusuf demanded nothing less than an immediate settlement for the ultimate prize. In the ensuing political contest for control of the movement, Bourguiba managed to best ben Yusuf, who was eventually expelled from Neo-Dustur. He then left Tunisia for residence in Cairo.


Independence


Final negotiations

Ultimately, faced with simultaneous defeat at Dien bien Phu in Vietnam, and the upsurge of revolution in Algeria, France agreed to the end of the Protectorate in Tunisia. In the decades-long struggle for independence, Neo-Destour leaders were able to gain independence for Tunisia by maneuver and finesse.


French withdrawal

In Tunisia
Albert Memmi Albert Memmi ( ar, ألبير ممّي; 15 December 1920 – 22 May 2020) was a French-Tunisian writer and essayist of Tunisian-Jewish origins. Biography Memmi was born in Tunis, French Tunisia in December 1920, to a Tunisian Jewish Berber ...
had voiced a less sanguinary view than Fanon's, but nonetheless one not very sympathetic if less harsh in his appraisal of many French settlers. He writes of the ''colon'' that if "his living standards are high, it is because those of the colonized are low." Memmi describes the settler's pecuniary motives and identity:
"The change involved in moving to a colony... must first of all bring a substantial profit. ... You go to a colony because jobs are guaranteed, wages high, careers more rapid and business more profitable. The young graduate is offered a position, the public servant a higher rank, the businessman substantially lower taxes, the industrialist raw materials and labor at attractive prices." *** Perhaps later "he is often heard dreaming aloud: a few more years and he will take leave of this profitable purgatory and will buy a house in his own country." *** Yet if in fact "one day his livelihood is affected, if 'situations' are in real danger, the settler then feels threatened and, seriously this time, thinks of returning to his own land."
This presents a rather dismal portrait of the ''colon'' before his impending tragedy. After Tunisian independence in 1956, the new sovereign regime began to make distinctions between its citizens and foreigners living in Tunisia. Facing an existential choice, the majority of French residents, including families in Tunisia for generations, then made the arrangements to return to their "own land." Tunisians filled their vacated positions. "Between 1955 and 1959, 170,000 Europeans--roughly two-thirds of the total--left the country." This disastrous ending belies the otherwise mixed but not unfavorable results of the French era.
Jacques Berque Jacques Augustin Berque (4 June 1910, Molière, Algeria – 27 June 1995) was a French scholar of Islam and sociologist of the Collège de France. His expertise was the decolonisation of Algeria and Morocco. Berque wrote several histories on th ...
writes, "Greater progress would have to be made, great sufferings undergone before either side would consent to admit the other's lace in history" Berque later cautions that one should "abstain from facile anachronistic judgments in considering the things and the people of an epoch that is past."Berque, ''French North Africa'' (Paris 1962; London 1967), p. 99 ("Greater progress"), at 383-384 ("abstain from").


Reference notes


Further reading

* Perkins, Kenneth. ''A History of Modern Tunisia'' (2nd edition, 2014) * Roberts, Stephen A. ''History Of French Colonial Policy 1870-1925'' (2 vol 1929) vol 2 pp 259–30
online


See also

* History of Tunisia *
Hafsid dynasty The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...
* Barbary Coast * List of Beys of Tunis * Italian Tunisians * French conquest of Tunisia * Tunisia Campaign *
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
*
History of Africa The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and — around 300–250,000 years ago—anatomically modern humans (''Homo sapiens''), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of d ...


External links


Background Note: Tunisia

''The World Factbook'' on "Tunisia"
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of French-Era Tunisia
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
.08 France–Tunisia relations
French Tunisia The French protectorate of Tunisia (french: Protectorat français de Tunisie; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في تونس '), commonly referred to as simply French Tunisia, was established in 1881, during the French colonial Empire era, ...
19th century in Tunisia 20th century in Tunisia