So, do you remember the time that the United States Sweden and the kingdom of Sicily flawed against a bunch of pirates
Yeah that happened two separate times
But this was a conflict largely fought by the United States as the other two nations largely dropped out after a few years
This conflict was rather significant as not only was it the first time that the United States sent troops on another continent
But our resulted in the oldest non broken friendship tree between the United States and another nation
This was the Barbary Wars
But before going into the wars themselves you may be wondering where exactly these pirates came from as with
Most people think of pirates they assume action in the Caribbean or a trilogy of movies
But these pirates operated out of North Africa and had done so for centuries
This region was referred to as the Barbary Coast to the Europeans from the 16th century
Onward and have been derived from the indigenous Berber people
Following the 1500s and the Ottoman conquest of the region
The region was largely divided into three entities of the Algerians Tunis and Tripoli tanja
The piracy thrived on the competition among the European powers, France
Encouraged them against Spain and later Britain and the Dutch supported them against France
For this reason, even when a nation had naval dominance in the Mediterranean
No power was particularly strict on the activity and it was never really enforced the English and later British
mast to get along standing treaties of protection from the ship raids during
the American Revolutionary War the Pirates attacked American ships as they were no longer under British or French protection on
December the 20th of
1777
Morocco sold Muhammad the third declared that merchant ships of the new American nation
would be under the protection of the Sultanate and could enjoy safe passage into the
Mediterranean the Moroccan American treaty of friendship
Stands as America's oldest unbroken friendship treaty with the foreign power
following the American Revolution
The US had to Spain in its Navy due to cost but rebuilt one in the late 1790s
Due to the constant raids and the u.s. Was paying over a million dollars annually in tribute to the Berber States
Amounting to over 10 percent of the budget of the new nation
upon Thomas Jefferson winning the presidency he stood fast in his refusal to pay tribute and
ordered a squadron of American frigates to guard American merchant ships in the Mediterranean
This resulted in the Algerian day
Unofficially declaring or against the US and the first part prairie war erupted
Naval action was largely cited towards the US as they are assisted by
Sicilian bases and support and a blockade of the Tripoli Coast ensued
However direct action against the capital Tripoli didn't occur for a few years in Tula Bal of Derna in 1805
Lieutenant William Eaton with eight US Marines and 500 mercenaries marched overland from
Alexandria and attacked Tripoli with his men taking the city after an afternoon of fighting essentially and in the war
Derna was it significant in that it was the first land battle of the United States on foreign soil
post-independence it
Also showed that America could execute a war far from home and that American forces had the cohesion to fight together as Americans
It also permantly put in place the United States Navy and Marines as a standing force
pieced in last for very long though and the Algerians started to raid American shipping again by
1807 it was until
1815 that American vessels were sent back into the region however as the war against the British
kind of occupied most of their focus
Another squadron of warships were sent out
destroyed the Barbary forces and forced the day of Algeria to stop breeding American shipping and
Piracy as a whole in the region largely came to an end as no major European Wars occurred falling upon his defeat for decades
With the French invasion of Algeria in 1830 putting in one of the file nails in the coffin
for the once powerful Berber pirates
I hope you enjoyed the video if you'd like to learn about the French invasion of Algeria in 1830
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