Chapter VIII – Upheaval in the Mediterranean
The new Bey assumed his duties at a crucial time for Tunis. The nation had attained a temporary position of respect among the secondary powers of the world, but it still faced structural problems and uncertainty in its international relations. French influence protected the country from invasions but at great cost to the people’s prosperity, since even basic goods soon became scarce on the markets, they being shipped off for consumption in France. Industry faced similar resource shortages, and also suffered from primitive infrastructure and a weak middle class.
That’s why the government pushed even harder its ideology of ‘Neo-Carthaginianism’, in part to take the people’s mind off their more pressing problems and in part to pursue non-peaceful solutions to them. As in the past, Italy was considered a potential threat, and it was considered imperative that it would remain disunited. So it was with some alarm that news came of Garibaldi’s redshirts running amok in Lucca and Tuscany, both in the Austrian sphere of influence but both far enough from Austria to not receive any direct support. Tunis had already received military access from the Papal States, and a grave decision was reached, after much deliberations: Tunis would invade both Lucca and Tuscany to make sure the Redshirts would not take over. When the declarations of war were delivered in October, Austria intervened to protect Lucca but not Tuscany. Soon, Tunisian armies were engaging the Italian nationalists in both countries.
In March 1884, small bands of Tunisian anarcho-liberals decided the time was ripe for armed struggle, and rose up in Mogadishu, Kairouan and Iraklion. It was the first time rebels had taken action in modern Tunisian history, and would not be the last.
In September, Tuscany, having been rid of its rebels, agreed to Tunis’ peace terms (some small measure of humiliation, which added some prestige to Tunis).
In early October, in the face of an Austrian invasion of Tunis, a white peace was negotiated, ending all operations in Lucca, which had attained their primary objective.
Tunis emerged from those two wars with a net loss of prestige, but Italian unification had been averted, at least for the immediate future.
In 1885, oil was found in Brunei. Suddenly, its conquest seemed more fortunate than it had until recently to the Tunisian government. Research in organic chemistry was proceeding steadily, and it was hoped that new uses would soon be discovered for that resource.
But, organic chemistry aside, the colonial race was the focus of Tunisian research. The nation had recently dropped out of secondary power status, a mere temporary setback, as the government would assure the worried Bey, while France was colonizing south of Algeria and Sardinia-Piedmont had been given the Congo. Austria was also making some progress in Western Sahara, and it had little reason to like Tunis, after recent events.
A chance for action came in 1886, when the Spanish government, which had previously ceded much of its Moroccan territory to France and had lost control of Catalonia, was toppled by anarcho-liberals. The new, radical, government immediately declared war on Catalonia, bringing down upon it the wrath of France, which started a separate war to claim the rest of Spanish Morocco.
Seeing Spain crumble thus, under blockade by the French navy and under invasion from French troops, the Tunisian government joined in, and demanded the Balearic Isles, claiming some ancient Carthaginian entitlement to them. The world was not convinced, but also did nothing to stop Tunis.
The islands’ garrisons were quickly subdued, and the rest of the Tunisian army was ferried to France, from where they were to invade the Spanish mainland. While French troops marched forward in Spain and West Africa, Spanish forces were overrunning Catalonia, and some were moving into France. It was there that the first real battle of the Spanish-Tunisian war was fought.
Good defensive positions in the mountains kept the Spanish brigades at bay, while a military access treaty was being negotiated with Catalonia.
The Battle of Foix was a resounding victory, and the rest of the summer was spent mopping up Spanish troops in France before moving into Catalonia
In September, tasting blood in the water, Portugal declared war on Spain, claiming Extremadura. The Netherlands came to the Portuguese’ assistance.
Meanwhile, Tunisian forces had been marching quickly through Catalonia and linked up with the French front, where the last great battle was being fought in Teruel. Tunisian troops reinforced the French positions and also moved to block the Spanish lines of retreat.
The Spanish defeat, with over 70,000 men killed or captured, effectively ended their military resistance in Spain.
One month later, Spain made peace with France, acquiescing to its demands. Less than three weeks after that, France declared war on Prussia, claiming the Rheinland. Victory seemed to have made it optimistic, though some would call that attitude arrogance. In any case, Prussia had been much weakened by Austria in recent wars but it could still call upon a large number of allies, so its defeat was far from certain.
For the next year, Tunisian troops occupied much of Spain unopposed, until the Spanish agreed to accept the loss of the Balearic Isles. The Catalonian conscript army was still campaigning in Spain, but without opposition it was expected that the Catalonians would soon obtain a favourable peace. Tunis entered in an alliance with them, to strengthen their legitimacy and weaken the Spanish case.
In March 1888 the Portuguese-Dutch alliance ended their war, after Spain agreed to cede Cuba to the Netherlands. (The USA was, at the same time, up against a Russian-Mexican alliance, that would soon see the return of Alaska to Russia).
Spain, once a great power, was now 12th in the world rankings, while Tunis was 15th. However, the latter’s economic problems were unresolved and, taking advantage of Lucca’s truce with Tunis, Garibaldi’s Redshirts returned and succeeded in convincing Sardinia-Piedmont to form the nation of Italy. By July 1888 the map of Europe had been redrawn and, with France still fighting the Prussians and their allies, more changes seemed imminent.