Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

naval force of 1815. The thesis interprets it as an example of what has
traditionally been called gunboat diplomacy. It also suggests that American
aggressive overseas expansionism, far from being the product of the closing
years of the 19 th century, is in fact deeply-rooted in the history of the United
States and first found expression in the ‘Barbary Wars’ of the opening years of
that same century.
The conclusions of this thesis may surprise traditionalists. Research has
revealed that Algiers was not a pirate state but that it was a corsairing state;
therefore the acts of the Muslim corsairs had legitimacy in as much the same
way as those of Christian privateers. Consequently, it argues that the piracy and
slavery arguments that were put forward by Europeans in general and
Americans particularly to justify naval attacks against Algiers were but a guise
which served to legitimate aggression in order to advance their diverse
economic interests and colonial designs.
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