First berber war

The Knights Order of the Hospitallers , having occupied the island of Rhodes in 1309, began to actively oppose Mediterranean piracy , thus making a feasible contribution to the struggle against the Ottoman Empire . After a months-long siege of the island in 1522, the knights were forced to leave Rhodes. In 1530, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V bestowed the island of Malta to the knights, trying to protect Rome from Islamic invasion . The newly formed Order of Malta instantly launched a large-scale war with the Berber pirates and their overlord , the Ottoman Empire, restraining them throughout the Mediterranean . From the 17th century until 1798, Malta served as a bastion protecting Europe from all kinds of corsairs and pirates from Algeria , Tunisia , Tripolitania and Morocco . The European states, in turn, recognizing the important role of the Order, tried to maintain it financially and maintained warm relations with it.

However, in 1798, on the way to Egypt, Malta unexpectedly captures Napoleon . Unable to defend themselves against this sudden attack, the knights had to leave the fortifications of the island. Thus, one of the main obstacles, which had restrained the Barbarian Pirates for several centuries, suddenly disappeared for several centuries, which they did not hesitate to use.

Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania, which were formally part of the Ottoman Empire, in fact, as early as the 17th century, were actually independent and concluded various international agreements without the participation of Istanbul. Britain and France had to make some concessions to the pirates: a combination of diplomacy, demonstration of power and annual payments resulted in the agreement that ships under Union Jack and the white bourbon cloth can, without fear, cruise the Mediterranean Sea (although In fact, the attacks were still committed, but much less often).

These treaties directly related to America - until 1776 the United States remained a colony of Great Britain, and after declaring independence , having entered into an alliance with France in 1778 , enjoyed the same advantages as the French.

But by 1783, with the end of the revolution, the United States of America had to independently attend to the security of its trade routes and citizens. Without the means and ability to acquire naval forces sufficient to reliably protect Mediterranean trade, the newly formed US government chose a more pragmatic way. In 1784, the US Congress allocated money for payments to pirates and authorized its ambassadors to Great Britain and France ( John Adams and Thomas Jefferson ) to try to conclude peace treaties with the Barbarian states. However, the amount requested by the pirates was noticeably larger than the money allocated by Congress.

After this news in the US Congress began disputes. On the one hand, Jefferson, who believed that the payment, in fact, would do little to help trade and would only inspire pirates to new attacks and demands. In fact, the Jeffersonian Republican Democratic Party has long held the view that the future of the United States lies in the expansion to the west, deep into the mainland , and trade in the Atlantic threatens to siphon off extra money from the budget and unleash unnecessary conflicts in Europe . John Adams argued that circumstances force the United States to pay, at least until a new fleet is built. As a result, the United States paid the required amount to Algeria and continued to pay up to $ 1 million annually over the next 15 years for the right of free passage through the Mediterranean and for the return of American hostages. By the way, this amount was about 20% of the annual income of the United States in the late 1790s ^[4] .

Jefferson continued to express his position on this issue further; moreover, over time many other US politicians joined him, including George Washington . After in 1794, the United States began to reconstruct its fleet , America finally had the opportunity to say "no!", However, now it was necessary to fight the ingrained habit of paying tribute.

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson came to power in the USA, and immediately after his inauguration, Yusuf Karamanli (Tripoli pasha ), demanded 225 thousand dollars . Jefferson finally had the chance to respond to these demands with a refusal, which immediately resulted in a declaration of war (there was no formal exchange of declarations, Karamanli declared war in the traditional way - he cut down the flagpole with the American flag in the embassy). Morocco , Algeria and Tunisia soon joined their ally.

In response, Jefferson sent a group of frigates to protect US interests in the Mediterranean and notified Congress about this. Although the Congress did not vote for a declaration of war (primarily because it was already underway, and there was no need to confirm it formally), nevertheless, the president was given all the necessary powers to conduct military operations, and the commanders “ were allowed to seize any ships or cargo belonging to the Tripoli pasha, and to commit any acts of aggression justified in the conditions of war . "

By the time the US military ships appeared in the Mediterranean, the states of the Barbarous Coast had been at war with Sweden for some time, trying to block their ports. The Americans accepted a proposal for joint action and joined the blockade. Sweden soon left the war, freeing about a hundred of its citizens in exchange for an unknown amount. They considered further continuation of hostilities useless and expensive pleasure (such sentiments prevailed at that moment in the United States).

At the initial stage of the war, there were very few clashes, the Berber corsairs avoided American ships (except for one serious battle in August 1801 between the frigate Enterprise and the Tripoli corsair Tripoli) and the situation remained unresolved. The following year, Jefferson decided to strengthen the contingent, and during the year redirected the best ships of the fleet to the Mediterranean, appointing Edward Prebl commander. In 1803, Prebl reinforced the blockade of ports, and also allowed the courts to conduct coastal raids and intercept Berberian ships at sea.

In October 1803, the Tripoli fleet managed to seize the frigate “ Philadelphia ”, whole and intact, which ran aground while patrolling the Tripoli harbor. The American sailors, being under constant fire from the coastal batteries and the Tripoli fleet, tried unsuccessfully to free the ship. The ship, crew and captain William Bainbridge were taken ashore and taken hostage. A little later, Philadelphia was anchored in the harbor and turned into an artillery battery.

On the night of February 16, 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur, with a small group of sailors, used the newly captured Tripoli Ketch to sail to the board of the Philadelphia without raising any alarm. With a sudden attack, Decatur’s people quickly defused the Tripoli mariners who were guarding Philadelphia, and set fire to the ship, without giving the enemy an opportunity to use the newly acquired ship. This bold foray is immortalized in the very first lines of the US Marine Corps anthem, and Lieutenant Stephen Decatur Jr. became one of the first heroes of America after the war of independence.

On July 14, 1804, Preble decided to attack Tripoli itself from the sea. In addition to several raids and bombing of the city, the attack included an episode with the very ketch , renamed the USS Intrepid, which participated in a raid on Philadelphia. The loaded Intrepid explosive was supposed to be used to damage the harbor and most of the Trypolian fleet, however it was spotted on time and destroyed by gunfire from the Tripoli ships. Captain Richard Somers and the entire crew of the ship were killed. Despite the desperate attempts, the attack on Tripoli ended in vain.

The turning point in the war turned out to be an operation on land - the battle of Derna (capital of the region Cyrenaica ) in the spring of 1805. William Eaton, the former US Consul in Tunisia, using the knowledge of the region, drew the opponent of the Tripoli pasha, Hamet Karamanli, to his side. With the help of Hamet, he assembled a detachment of 200 Christian and 300 Muslim mercenaries. This was followed by a long hike of 500 miles from Alexandria to Derna through the Libyan desert , during which a small detachment of sailors led by Presley O'Bannon joined him. During the transition, frictions between mercenaries of different faiths repeatedly arose, sometimes only miraculously did not go into slaughter. On April 27, 1805, this small detachment, supported from the sea by one frigate, was able to capture the strategically important city of Derna, thus opening its way to Tripoli.

The severely deteriorating situation: the economy, exhausted by a long blockade and raids, the immediate danger hanging over Tripoli after seizing Derna, and claims to the throne of previously displaced Hamet Karamanli, forced Yuryf Karamanli to sign an agreement on the cessation of hostilities on June 10, 1805. The first Barbarian war ended with this, although the US Senate approved the treaty only in 1806.

As a result of the treaty, the United States pledged to pay $ 60,000 for the release of prisoners of war (at the time of signing the treaty, 300 Americans were prisoners in Tripoli, and only 100 Tripoli were captured by the US Army). However, the Jefferson administration had a clear distinction between the tribute that was paid earlier and the ransom , which should have been paid now. To redeem prisoners, thus ending the war, - at that time it seemed like a good step. Although William Eaton, who intended to continue the attack on Tripoli and bring Hamet Karamanli to power, believed that the victory at Derna cost at least a free exchange of prisoners, if not more. But at that moment the threat of war with Great Britain was already hanging over America because of the increasingly deteriorating international relations, so these arguments were not heard.

The First Berber War greatly raised the prestige of the US Army and Navy. Up to this point, it was unclear how much the US is ready to wage war away from home, and generally fight together as Americans, not citizens of individual states, but the war put everything in its place.

However, the main problem - the Berber piracy - remained unresolved. Already in 1807, Algeria resumed attacks on US merchant ships and the seizure of American citizens hostage. The promptly tense international situation did not allow responding to provocations, and it was only in 1815, during the Second Berber War , that this problem was solved.

• Although formally America did not declare war on any of the parties to the conflict, yet, due to some ambiguity in the constitution , the first Berber war is sometimes called the first war of the United States of America. ^[five]

• The Tripolitan Monument ( eng. The Tripoli Monument ) is the oldest of all US war memorials ^[6] . He was erected to perpetuate the memory of the heroes of the First Berber War: Captain Richard Somers, Lieutenants James Caldwell, Stephen Decatur , Henry Wadsworth, Joseph Israel and John Dorsey. The monument is made in Italy from Carrara marble and transported to America on board the frigate Constitution in 1806.

• The first American destroyer sunk in World War II was “ Reuben James ” ^[7] , named after Ruben James , during the boarding of the “Philadelphia” Decatur who had closed his body and managed to safely take the enemy blade to the side.

• Piracy
• Slave trade
• Barbary Wars
• List of United States military operations

• Treaties with pirates (eng.)
• Victory in Tripoli: Lessons for the War on Terrorism (Eng.)
• Order of Malta (eng.)
• Barbary Slavery, BBC (English)
• Jefferson and the Quran (Eng.)