Summary

The Second Berber War (1815-1816), also known in historiography as the Algerian War, was the second of two armed conflicts that occurred in the early 19th century between the United States and the nominally subordinate North African city-states of the Ottoman Empire: Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis, generally referred to as the Berber States. The war between the Berber states and the U.S. ended in 1815; the international conflict was brought to an end the following year, when the British and Dutch fleets entered the fray. The war led to an end to the practice of the United States paying tributes to pirate states and accelerated the final eradication in the Mediterranean of piracy, which had spread unbridled during Ottoman domination (from the 16th to 18th centuries). Within a few decades, European states were able to build modern, powerfully armed ships that could not be met by Berber pirates who lacked the necessary technology.

After the victorious First Berber War (in 1801-1805), the United States had to turn its attention to another theater of operations, due to deteriorating relations with the United Kingdom against the backdrop of the trade that American merchants were conducting with France, which the British tried unsuccessfully to block. This situation led to the outbreak of the War of 1812. Berber states immediately took advantage of the situation and returned to their piratical practices, attacking American and European merchant ships in the Mediterranean, demanding ransom for officers, while turning ordinary sailors into slaves.

European states, engaged in the great conflict that was the Napoleonic Wars, had neither the strength nor the capacity to address (until 1815) the issue of piracy in the Mediterranean basin.

The expulsion of U.S. ships from the Mediterranean by the British fleet during the 1812 conflict further encouraged pirate city-states to attack ships bearing American flags. Omar ibn Muhammed, deejay of Algiers, expelled American consul Tobias Lear and declared war on the United States for refusing to pay an annual tribute.

After the end of the British-American War of 1812, which actually lasted until December 1814, the United States was able to resume its interests on the North African coast. On March 3, 1815, the U.S. Congress saw fit to send a navy against Algiers, and soon 10 warships, under the command of Commodores Stephen Decatura and William Bainbridge, veterans of the First Berber War, set sail for the Mediterranean. Decatura's squadron set out on May 20, 1815, while Bainbridge had difficulty completing his squadron and only went to sea on July 1. In this situation, the initiative - both militarily and diplomatically - fell on Decatur's shoulders.

On its way to Algiers, shortly after leaving Gibraltar, the Decatura squadron encountered off Cape Gata and after a brief battle captured the Algerian deejay's flagship "Meshuda." Shortly thereafter, the Algerian brig "Estedio" was captured in a clash off Cape Palos.

In the last week of June, the squadron reached Algiers and talks with the deej began. After protracted negotiations, in which persistent demands for compensation were interspersed with threats to bombard the city, the dey capitulated. Under the terms of the treaty, signed aboard the USS "Guerriere" in the roadstead of Algiers on July 3, 1815, Decatur agreed to return, for $10,000, the "Meshuda" and the "Estedio," while the Algerians were to release all the Americans held captive, of which there were to be about ten, as well as a significant group of Europeans. Article 3 of the treaty stated: "The United States, in accordance with customs accepted among civilized nations, shall not demand ransom for the release of captured crews." The treaty guaranteed that there would be no future harassment collection. This was stated in Article 2: "It is understood by both contracting parties that in the future no tributes, gifts, or any other form of payment shall, under any pretext, be demanded by the Dey and the Regency of Algiers from the United States of America." Ultimately, the treaty granted the United States all shipping rights.

As soon as Decatur left Algiers heading for Tunis to negotiate identical terms with the Bey there, and to Tripoli, where he intended to force the feed to abide by earlier agreements, the deejay of Algiers rejected the treaty.

In early 1816, Britain undertook a diplomatic mission, with a small squadron of ships of the line behind it, intending to persuade the rulers of Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers to stop acts of piracy and free the Christian slaves. The rulers of Tunis and Tripoli agreed without resistance, but the dey of Algiers proved stubborn and the negotiations were turbulent. The head of the mission, Edward Pellew, convinced that he had finally negotiated a treaty abolishing the slavery of Christians, returned to England. Meanwhile, shortly after the treaty was signed, as a result of conflicting orders, Algerian troops slaughtered some 200 fishermen from Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica under British protection. This caused an outburst of fury in Britain and Europe in the belief that Pellew's negotiations had failed.

As a result, Pellew was again sent to sea with instructions to complete his mission to the end and at the same time punish the wayward Algerians. To this end, he was given a squadron of five ships of the line escorted by a number of frigates and supported by six Dutch ships.

On August 27, 1816, after a round of unsuccessful negotiations, the fleet conducted a nine-hour bombardment of the city. The attack destroyed many pirate ships and coastal batteries, forcing the deejay to accept the terms he had rejected the previous day. Pellew warned that if the conditions were not implemented, the bombardment would resume. The dey accepted the terms not knowing that the Englishman was bluffing, for the fleet had fired all its ammunition. The treaty was signed on September 24. 1,083 Christian slaves and the British consul were freed, and the US recovered the last tribute paid.

This time, unlike after the First Berber War, when almost all European countries were involved in hostilities (including the Americans with the British), there were no major wars in Europe. The era of colonialism and imperialism began, of which the Berber states were also victims, as the European powers reached for all sources of food, minerals and cheap labor.

In 1830 Algeria and in 1881 Tunisia became colonies of France, while Tripolitania returned in 1835 to the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In 1911, taking advantage of the weakening of the Ottoman Sultans' state, Tripolitania was seized by Italy. Europeans exercised control over North Africa until the mid-20th century.

Sources

1. Second Barbary War
2. II wojna berberyjska
3. An Act for the protection of the commerce of the United States against the Algerine cruisers, March 3, 1815. [dostęp 2018-07-13]. [zarchiwizowane z tego adresu (listopada 20, 2015)].
4. a et b (en) « Barbary Wars, 1801–1805 and 1815–1816 », MILESTONES: 1801–1829,‎ ? (lire en ligne)
5. Stephen Taylor, Commander : The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain, Londres, faber and faber, 2012, 289 p. (ISBN 978-0-571-27711-7)
6. Frederic C. Leiner, The End of Barbary Terror, America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa, Oxford University Press, 2007, 2007, 39–50 p. (ISBN 978-0-19-532540-9, lire en ligne)
7. ^ Micheal Clodfelter (9 May 2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts. McFarland. p. 198. ISBN 9780786474707.
8. ^ "The Second Barbary War: The Algerine War". UM Clements Library. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
9. ^ "Gli Stati Uniti, secondo le consuetudini delle nazioni civilizzate, non chiesero nessun riscatto per l'esubero dei prigionieri in loro favore". Articolo 3.
10. ^ "È chiaramente compreso tra le parti contraenti, che nessun tributo come dono biennale, o sotto altra forma o nome qualsiasi, potrà mai essere richiesto dal Dey e reggente di Algeri agli Stati Uniti d'America o tramite ogni altro pretesto qualsiasi". Articolo 2.