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

armada and that of 1784 met the same fate. 135 Steadfastness of Algiers then
permitted the conclusion of a 100 years truce which many observers at the time
considered humiliating for Spain. 136 So, all through its long diplomatic history
with western countries, Algiers had been a theatre for ‘visits’ of threatening
squadrons. The United States, although a late comer, engaged in a policy of
gunboat diplomacy as soon as it could afford the means for that, i.e.: a navy.
By embarking on it, the United States in fact permitted the perpetuation of a
method of aggression against Algiers that was already characteristic of
European coercive diplomacy.
Gunboat Diplomacy has been successfully used by the great maritime
powers which, through conspicuous displays of their naval might, forced the
rulers of smaller or weaker countries into accepting terms favorable to
themselves. Most often, it served clear-cut foreign policy objectives that
consisted of obtaining advantageous commercial treaties, like markets and
trading posts, establishing military bases, or simply furthering an imperial
expansionism short of military conquest. During the 19 th century, this form of
coercive action was left to the naval officers who carried their field operations
with great measures of latitude but always with the same objective: furthering
national interests be they strategic, political, or economic.
The use of naval power in the sense described above matches the
definition of ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’ as provided by the British diplomatist and
naval strategist James Cable (1920-2001). In a series of works published
135 Plantet, Correspondance des deys d’Alger, pp. LXVIII-IX.
136 USDC, 6:310, From William Carmichael to John Jay, July 15, 1786.
372