The Shores of Tripoli, America's African Province

What I don't understand is why the Americans were apparently interested enough to send forces all of the way to Africa to defeat the corsairs, when they could have simply tried to get the French and Spaniards to do it for them. It's not as if the early U.S.'s allies were friends of the pirates.
 
What I don't understand is why the Americans were apparently interested enough to send forces all of the way to Africa to defeat the corsairs, when they could have simply tried to get the French and Spaniards to do it for them. It's not as if the early U.S.'s allies were friends of the pirates.
They weren't really allies, though. After the Revolutionary War, they general just left America alone, since their goal of rubbing it in Britain's face was done. Remember the XYZ affair? Franco-American relations weren't always that strong post-ARW.
 
This is a US which reduced the standing army to @80(!) men even as they were debating whether something should be done to prevent the imminent destruction of all white settlers in Ohio.

The minimum US force level to hold Tripoli would probably be more than the US in OTL was willing to field in the late 1850s, in terms of troops and in warships. Not going to happen. Period.

The US with the 80-man standing army was during the Articles of Confederation period - this was almost 20 years later, when the US had a proper, but quite small army and navy.

Apart from that minor quibble, though, I would tend to agree with you and most of the other sceptical posters. The United States government at the time had limited resources and very little desire to spend more on an army and a navy than it absolutely had to. Actually taking a piece of territory in North Africa, or even seriously supporting a friendly regime there, would be a major investment. American businessmen who were involved in trade in North Africa might support this, but pretty much everyone else, including merchants who focused on trade in other parts of the Mediterranean, would probably be dead set against it. Even if the US greatly increased the size of its army and navy, these would still be much smaller than the forces of the European powers and the Ottoman Empire. The US would have to ally with a major European power, probably either Britain or France, if it was to have any chance of holding on to this territory.

Basically, the US would have to have a very different attitude among both the public and the political elite, and a much stronger direct interest in North Africa.
 
Okay, so forget the political annexation ideas for a moment. Could the Barbary Wars touched off the beginning of U.S. interest in the Maghreb, such as a lot of investment in trade there, merchants settling, minor ports/bases, American presence though not control?
 
Last edited:
Top