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This piracy ruined many companies, interrupted
lives, hindered trade, and generally offended everyone (similar to the
operations being run today from within legitimate corporations and even
some government agencies). Yet, nobody had the courage to stand up to
these pirates.
A chink appeared in Tripoli's proverbial armor,
with an operation carried out in 1801 by William Eaton and a contingent
that included United States Marines. Thus, the lyrics "...from the halls
of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli...."
After the War of 1812, Stephen Decatur headed up a
US Navy squadron that sailed to the Mediterranean to establish who was
boss. Decatur and his forces kicked a--.
He captured the Algerian flagship Mashuda--and its
406 sailors. He was the first person ever to be in the enviable position
of dictating terms to the Algerians. And the terms were pretty much
"surrender or die." The Algerians had to make reparations, release
slaves, and stop raiding American ships.
He then turned his attention to Tunis. Again, he
kicked a--. He refused to fall for the various tricks of "negotiation"
the Tunisians wanted to try on him. He basically said, "I'm not
negotiating. If you want your entire port wiped out, just keep playing
games with me." They gave in to his demands, and he sailed off to his
next target.
His next stop was at Tripoli. He kicked their a--,
too. And got huge monetary concessions from them in addition to freeing
slaves and generally wreaking havoc on their future as pirates.
The Europeans, seeing American resolve, decided
their own era of wimpery and placating behavior was over. Admiral Lord
Exmouth led a combined English-Dutch fleet into Algiers in 1816. They
kicked a--. This resulted in some positive changes, and everyone was
happy until the Algerian Dey (a Dey is a ruler) got nostalgic for the
good old days of profiting from the white slave trade. This got him
embroiled in a war with France.
In 1829, two armed French brigs ran aground in the
Algerian harbor. The Dey offered a cash reward for the severed heads of
officers and crew members. This resulted in 109 beheadings.
The French, of course, were not happy about this
(yes, you could say they lost their heads over this....). They sent in a
massive force that conquered Algiers in just three weeks. So ended the
Algerian piracy business. The French controlled Algiers for the next
century and a half, finally granting them independence in 1962.
Tunis had already been weakened, so the French
kicked their a--es also. This resulted in French control of Tunis from
1881 until 1956.
Tripoli, the third power in the piracy
triumvirate, was able to escape French control. The Ottoman empire
kicked Tripoli's a-- in 1835. Italy conquered Tripoli in 1911, and
controlled it until the Allied Powers kicked Italy's a-- in WWII. The
Allies left Tripoli in the hands of an Islamic king, and that lasted
until Colonel Qaddafi staged a coup and took control.
During all this time--about a century and a
half--the residents of these nations spoke French as well as their
native languages. The French influence is still very strong, and French
language is an integral part of their culture. In those lands, you need
French as well as Arabic, if you are going to conduct business.
And that's why Arabic translation devices
sometimes contain French. If you're buying a TL-2 or 800-series
translator, you can add an entire French dictionary/phrasebook with an
inexpensive MultiMedia Card (MMC). |
