164-533: The Mareth Line was a system of fortifications built by France in southern Tunisia in the late 1930s. The line was intended to protect Tunisia against an Italian invasion from its colony in Libya . The line occupied a point where the routes into Tunisia from the south converged, leading toward Mareth , with the Mediterranean Sea to the east and mountains and a sand sea to the west. The line ran along
328-584: A militarist policy. However, they relied on a possible British opposition to an enlargement of the French sphere of influence in North Africa (while, if anything, London was hostile about a single country controlling the whole Strait of Sicily ). In the beginning of 1881, France decided to militarily intervene in Tunisia. The motivations of this action were provided by Jules Ferry , who sustained that
492-675: A 10-year Non-Aggression Pact in 1934, revealing his plans to only to his closest associates. Relations between Germany and Poland altered from the early to the late 1930s, as Germany sought rapprochement with Poland to avoid the risk of Poland entering the Soviet sphere of influence, and appealed to anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland. Hitler even tried to convince Poland to join the Anti-Comintern Pact. The Soviet Union in turn at this time competed with Germany for influence in Poland. At
656-455: A confrontation with France. Hence Tunisia officially became a French protectorate on May 12, 1881, when the ruling Sadik Bey (1859–1882) signed the Treaty of Bardo (Al Qasr as Sa'id). Later in 1883 his younger brother and successor 'Ali Bey signed the al-Marsa Convention. France did not enlarge its Maghreb domain beyond Algeria for half a century. The next area for expansion, at the beginning of
820-611: A faction of ultra-nationalists within the government supporting the pact while the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Japanese Foreign Ministry were staunchly opposed to the pact. There was great concern in the Japanese government that such a pact with Germany could disrupt Japan's relations with Britain, endangering years of a beneficial Anglo-Japanese accord , that had allowed Japan to ascend in
984-632: A fifth of Tunisia's eligible students. At the summit of the modern education system was the Sadiki College , founded by Hayreddin Pasha . Highly competitive examinations regulated admission to Sadiki, and its graduates were almost assured government positions. Many Tunisians took satisfaction in France's defeat by Germany in June 1940, but the nationalist parties derived no more substantive benefit from
1148-412: A force of 24,000 soldiers placed under the command of General Léonard-Léopold Forgemol de Bostquénard on the border between Tunisia and French Algeria . On 24 April 1881, French troops entered Tunisia from the north ( Tabarka ), the center of Kroumirie and Sakiet Sidi Youssef . Tabarka was invaded on 26 April, as well as Le Kef on the same day. The three armies can then join together to eliminate
1312-657: A goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the Reichswehr , which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles . Since the 1920s Italy had identified the year 1935 as a crucial date for preparing for a war against France, as 1935 was the year when Germany's obligations under the Treaty of Versailles were scheduled to expire. Meetings took place in Berlin in 1924 between Italian General Luigi Capello and prominent figures in
1476-407: A harder line and kept Bourguiba under house arrest from 1951 to 1954. A general strike in 1952 led to violent confrontation between the French and Tunisians, including guerrilla attacks by nationalists. Yet another change in French government, the appointment of Pierre Mendès-France as Prime Minister in 1954, brought a return to gentler approaches. International circumstances – the French defeat in
1640-663: A local Nazi government that sought incorporation into Germany) in 1939. Poland rejected Germany's demands and Germany in response prepared a general mobilization on the morning of 30 August 1939. Germany justified its invasion of the Low Countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in May 1940 by claiming that it suspected that Britain and France were preparing to use the Low Countries to launch an invasion of
1804-538: A main line of resistance and a reserve line about 0.93 mi (1.5 km) back. A secteur défensif (SD) was to be built on the rocky Dahar Plateau, which later became part of an SD across the Matmata Hills to Kebili on the edge of the Chott el Djerid . The chott and Chott El Fedjaj drained across Tunisia into Wadi Akarit, across Tunisia but Wadi Akarit was only sketchily fortified, the French concentrating on
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#17327648969611968-533: A major loan to Tunisia in the mid-19th century and had trading interests. The opportunity to seize control of Tunisia occurred following the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) . Paris did not act immediately; the French parliament remained in an anti-colonial mood and no groundswell of popular opinion mandated a takeover of Tunisia. Several developments spurred France to action. In 1880, the British owners of
2132-671: A major power and create a Greater Germany that would include Alsace-Lorraine , Austria, Sudetenland , and other German-populated territories in Europe. The Nazis also aimed to occupy and colonize non-German territories in Poland, the Baltic states , and the Soviet Union, as part of the Nazi policy of seeking Lebensraum ("living space") in Central and Eastern Europe . Germany renounced
2296-482: A means of bridging the gap between Arabo-Islamic and European cultures." In a more pragmatic vein, schools teaching modern subjects in a European language would produce a cadre of Tunisians with the skills necessary to staff the growing government bureaucracy. Soon after the protectorate's establishment, the Directorate of Public Education set up a unitary school system for French and Tunisian pupils designed to draw
2460-525: A memorandum grouping together 16 demands inspired by his nationalist friends. On 15 September, the Vichy government sent an end of inadmissibility in response to the monarch. On 12 October, it was the absence of Tunisians among the French directors of the administration that provoked his anger. The end of the World War II means the return in force of the French protectorate in Tunisia. The first victim
2624-487: A more accommodating stance towards Italy in the Mediterranean. In the summer of 1936, Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano informed Japanese Ambassador to Italy, Sugimura Yotaro, "I have heard that a Japanese–German agreement concerning the Soviet Union has been reached, and I think it would be natural for a similar agreement to be made between Italy and Japan." Initially Japan's attitude towards Italy's proposal
2788-434: A national assembly. A conciliatory French government acknowledged the desirability of autonomy, although it warned that this would come only at an unspecified time in the future; Paris proposed French and Tunisian "co-sovereignty" over the protectorate. An accord signed the next year, which granted increased powers to Tunisian officials, fell short of satisfying nationalists and outraged settlers. New French prime ministers took
2952-676: A new French holding. Germany and Britain remained silent; Italy was outraged but powerless. French public opinion was largely supportive, and the Treaty of Bardo was passed with only one dissenting vote in the Chamber of Deputies and unanimously in the Senate . As a protectorate, Tunisia's status differed from that of Algeria. The Bey remained in office as head of state, and Tunisia was deemed nominally independent, while existing treaties with other states stayed in force. France, however, took control of Tunisia's foreign affairs, finances, and maintained
3116-548: A population of 47.5 million and France (excluding its colonies) 42 million. The wartime gross domestic product (GDP) of the Axis was $ 911 billion at its highest in 1941 in international dollars by 1990 prices. The GDP of the Allied powers was $ 1,798 billion. The United States stood at $ 1,094 billion, more than the Axis combined. The burden of the war upon participating countries has been measured through
3280-448: A result of Italy's economic difficulties its soldiers were poorly paid, often being poorly equipped and poorly supplied, and animosity arose between soldiers and class-conscious officers; these contributed to low morale amongst Italian soldiers. By early 1940, Italy was still a non-belligerent, and Mussolini communicated to Hitler that Italy was not prepared to intervene soon. By March 1940, Mussolini decided that Italy would intervene, but
3444-476: A result of Italy's support for Japan against international condemnation, Japan took a more positive attitude towards Italy and offered proposals for a non-aggression or neutrality pact with Italy. The Tripartite Pact was signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan on 27 September 1940, in Berlin. The pact was subsequently joined by Hungary (20 November 1940), Romania (23 November 1940), Slovakia (24 November 1940), and Bulgaria (1 March 1941). The Axis powers' primary goal
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#17327648969613608-474: A war with Germany should Hitler dare to attack Austria. Relations between Germany and Italy recovered due to Hitler's support of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, while other countries condemned the invasion and advocated sanctions against Italy. Interest in Germany and Japan in forming an alliance began when Japanese diplomat Hiroshi Ōshima visited Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin in 1935. Although at
3772-605: Is dominated by the Atlas Mountains , while the northern and southern portions are largely flat. The primary feature in the south is the Matmata Hills, a range running north-south roughly parallel to the Mediterranean coast. West of the hills, the land is the inhospitable Jebel Dahar and the Dehar region of desert beyond to the west, making the region between the hills and the coast the only easily traversed approach to northern Tunisia. A smaller line of hills runs east–west along
3936-620: Is normally understood as including Japan. The term "axis" was first applied to the Italo-German relationship by the Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini in September 1923, when he wrote in the preface to Roberto Suster's La Germania Repubblicana that "there is no doubt that in this moment the axis of European history passes through Berlin" ( non v'ha dubbio che in questo momento l'asse della storia europea passa per Berlino ). At
4100-676: The Armée de l'Air (Air Force). By the late 1930s, the Navy had only one aircraft carrier and the Armée de l'Air could spare only second-rate aircraft. Algeria , Morocco and Tunisia provided much of the manpower of the Armée coloniale and Tunisia, with the Italian colony of Libya to the east, was excepted from the priority given to the defence of metropolitan France. French plans for defence of Tunisia assumed that Italy would launch an overwhelming assault that France could not easily oppose. Italy
4264-803: The Axis were forced out of Tunisia in 1943, the Free French accused him of collaborating with the Vichy Government and deposed him. The accession of Muhammad VII on 19 June 1942 was a surprise for the Tunisians. Very popular since he convinced his father to defend the Destour in April 1922, he had a reputation for being close to the people. From 10 August, he did not hesitate to enter into conflict with Jean-Pierre Esteva by presenting him with
4428-532: The Congress of Berlin three years before. The events, in effect, demonstrated the irrealisability of the foreign policy of Cairoli and of Depretis , the impossibility of an alliance with France and the necessity of a rapprochement with Berlin and with Vienna , even if obtorto collo . However, such an inversion of the foreign policy of the last decade couldn't be led by the same men, and Benedetto Cairoli resigned from office on 29 May 1881, thus avoiding that
4592-758: The Eastern Front , Vlasov's forces were recognized by Germany as an ally, particularly by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler . After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, Germany supported Japan by declaring war on the US. During the war Germany denounced the Atlantic Charter and the Lend-Lease Act that the US adopted to support
4756-705: The First Indochina War and insurgency of the Algerian War — spurred French efforts to solve the Tunisian question quickly and peacefully. In a speech in Tunis, Mendès-France solemnly proclaimed the autonomy of the Tunisian government, although France retained control of substantial areas of administration. In 1955, Bourguiba returned to Tunis in triumph. At the same time, the French protectorate of Morocco
4920-637: The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the country of Slovakia . On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which contained a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence. Germany's invasion of its part of Poland under the Pact eight days later triggered the beginning of World War II. By the end of 1941, Germany occupied a large part of Europe and its military forces were fighting
5084-612: The Protectorate of Morocco , and more broadly of the French Empire. Tunisian sovereignty was more reduced in 1883, the Bey was only signing the decrees and laws prepared by the Resident General of France in Tunisia. The Tunisian government at the local level remained in place, and was only coordinating between Tunisians and the administrations set up on the model of what existed in France. The Tunisian government's budget
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5248-534: The Regency of Tunis (French: Régence de Tunis ) and commonly referred to as simply French Tunisia , was established in 1881, during the French colonial empire era, and lasted until Tunisian independence in 1956. The protectorate was established by the Bardo Treaty of 12 May 1881 after a military conquest , despite Italian disapproval. It was part of French North Africa with French Algeria and
5412-526: The Soviet Union in 1941, the Nazi regime's stance towards an independent, territorially-reduced Russia was affected by pressure beginning in 1942 from the German Army on Hitler to endorse a " Russian Liberation Army " led by Andrey Vlasov . Initially the proposal to support an anti-communist Russian army was met with outright rejection by Hitler, however by 1944 as Germany faced mounting losses on
5576-759: The Tunisia Campaign and from November 1942 to March 1943, the Panzerarmee conducted a fighting retreat through Egypt and Libya, pursued by the Eighth Army. In March the Eighth Army reached the Libya–Tunisia border and paused at Medenine to prepare to attack the Mareth Line. Axis engineers built an outpost zone from Wadi Zeuss 3.5 mi (5.6 km) back to the Mareth Line. Field fortifications were constructed at Sidi el Guelaa, south of Aram on
5740-550: The Vichy Government of Marshal Philippe Pétain sent to Tunis as new Resident-General Admiral Jean-Pierre Esteva , who had no intention of permitting a revival of Tunisian political activity. The arrests of Taieb Slim and Habib Thameur, central figures in the Neo-Destour party's political bureau were a result of this attitude. The Bey Muhammad VII al-Munsif moved towards greater independence in 1942, but when
5904-893: The West who have invariably hindered the progress and often threatened the very existence of the Italian people ". Italy condemned the Western powers for enacting sanctions on Italy in 1935 for its actions in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War that Italy claimed was a response to an act of Ethiopian aggression against tribesmen in Italian Eritrea in the Walwal incident of 1934. Italy, like Germany, also justified its actions by claiming that Italy needed to territorially expand to provide spazio vitale ("vital space") for
6068-473: The consular courts they had maintained to protect their nationals from the Tunisian judiciary. The French courts also tried cases in which one litigant was Tunisian, the other European. The protectorate authorities made no attempt to alter Muslim religious courts in which judges, or qadis, trained in Islamic law heard relevant cases. A beylical court handling criminal cases operated under French supervision in
6232-458: The 16th century, custom duties were limited to 3 per cent of the value of imported goods; yet manufactured products from overseas, primarily textiles, flooded Tunisia and gradually destroyed local artisan industries. In 1861, Prime Minister Mustapha Khaznadar made an effort to modernise administration and increase revenues by doubling taxes. The primary effect, only fully felt by 1864, was widespread rural insurrection, coupled with great hardship for
6396-490: The 1880s, was Tunisia. With an area of 155,000 square kilometers, Tunisia was a small prize, but it occupied strategic importance, across the Algerian frontier and only 150 kilometers from Sicily ; Tunisia offered good port facilities, especially at Bizerte . France and Italy, as well as Britain, counted significant expatriate communities in Tunisia and maintained consulates there. Ties were also commercial; France had advanced
6560-501: The Allied powers prior to entry into the alliance, as imperialism directed at dominating and exploiting countries outside of the continental Americas . Hitler denounced American President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's invoking of the term "freedom" to describe US actions in the war, and accused the American meaning of "freedom" to be the freedom for democracy to exploit the world and the freedom for plutocrats within such democracy to exploit
6724-459: The Allies, there were no three-way summit meetings, and cooperation and coordination were minimal; on occasion, the interests of the major Axis powers were even at variance with each other. The Axis ultimately came to an end with its defeat in 1945. Particularly within Europe, the use of the term "the Axis" sometimes refers solely to the alliance between Italy and Germany, though outside Europe it
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6888-665: The Axis defences of the Tebaga Gap and led them to retreat from the Mareth Line to Wadi Akarit . The Mareth Line is derelict and is commemorated at the Mareth Museum . In the 1930s the defence of the French colonial empire (French Indochina, Pacific Islands, West Indies, African colonies and Syria–Lebanon) was left to the French Foreign Legion , colonial and "native" units, the Marine nationale (Navy) and
7052-505: The Bey and followed his lead in offering no resistance to the French. At the same time, the rulers obtained the dismissal of Tunisians who had supported the 1881 rebellion or had otherwise opposed the extension of French influence. A Frenchman held the office of Secretary-General of the Tunisian government, an office created in 1883 to advise the Prime Minister and oversee the work of the bureaucracy. French experts answerable only to
7216-564: The Camera would openly distrust him; since then he de facto disappeared from the political scene. The Italians called these events the Schiaffo di Tunisi (literally Slap of Tunis ). After the establishment of French protectorate, Italian immigrants in Tunisia would have protested and caused serious difficulties to France. However, little at a time, the problem was solved and the immigrants could later opt for French nationality and benefit from
7380-505: The Directorate and avoiding an immediate armed conflict. The Four Power Directorate proposal stipulated that Germany would no longer be required to have limited arms and would be granted the right to re-armament under foreign supervision in stages. Hitler completely rejected the idea of controlled rearmament under foreign supervision. Mussolini did not trust Hitler's intentions regarding Anschluss nor Hitler's promise of no territorial claims on South Tyrol. Mussolini informed Hitler that he
7544-693: The Fascist regime's support prior to intervention against Yugoslavia. The intention of the Fascist regime was to create a " New Roman Empire " in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean . In 1935–1936 Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia and the Fascist government proclaimed the creation of the " Italian Empire ". Protests by the League of Nations , especially the British, who had interests in that area, led to no serious action, although The League did try to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail. The incident highlighted French and British weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally. The limited actions taken by
7708-489: The French State and without having its permission. By this treaty, France also undertook to ensure the durability of the monarchical regime and to preserve the Bey's status as sovereign and head of state; article 3 indicated that the Government of the French Republic undertakes to lend constant support to H.H the Bey of Tunis against any danger. The last shots were fired on 26 May where 14 French soldiers and an unknown number of Tunisians died. The return to France of half of
7872-435: The French government provided funds for construction after Italy formed the Rome–Berlin Axis with Germany, creating a greater threat to French security in North Africa. The casemates designed for the line had much less concrete than comparable examples in France and had no fossé (gap) rather a stable door, in case the lower part was blocked by débris. In September 1936, during a meeting with General Joseph Georges , it
8036-475: The French soldiers encamped at La Manouba , not far from the Bardo Palace . At 4 pm, escorted by two squadrons of hussars, Bréart presented himself in front of the Bey's palace accompanied by his entire staff and most of the senior military officers. Tunisian soldiers honored them. They are introduced into the living room where Sadok Bey and the French consul Théodore Roustan are waiting for them. Fearing being deposed and replaced by his brother Taïeb Bey,
8200-492: The German military, such as von Seeckt and Erich Ludendorff , over military collaboration between Germany and Italy. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons and hoped that Italy could assist Germany. However at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany: that Italy "must ... tow them, not be towed by them". Italian foreign minister Dino Grandi in
8364-452: The Hallouf Pass the line was held by the 164th Light Afrika Division . The 15th Panzer Division with 32 operational tanks was based at Zerkine 5 mi (8.0 km) north-west of Mareth. In reserve were the 21st Panzer Division south-west of Gabès and the 10th Panzer Division south-west of Sousse with 110 operational tanks. The line from Djebel Tebaga to Djebel Melab was held by the Raggruppamento Sahariano . The British survey of
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#17327648969618528-533: The International Debt Commission's stranglehold on Tunisian finances. Responding to French pressure, the Bey's government then lowered taxes. French officials hoped that their careful monitoring of tax assessment and collection procedures would result in a more equitable system and stimulate a revival in production and commerce, generating more revenue for the state. In 1883, French law and courts were introduced; thereafter, French law applied to all French and foreign residents. The other European powers agreed to give up
8692-442: The Italian 1st Army (General Giovanni Messe ) on 23 February 1943 and attempted a spoiling attack, the Battle of Medenine ( Unternehmen Capri , Operation Capri). The attack was a costly failure and the Axis troops withdrew to the Mareth Line to await the British attack. Rommel called the Mareth Line "a line of antiquated French blockhouses, which in no way measured up to the standards required by modern warfare...". The Mareth Line
8856-478: The Italian nation. In October 1938 in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement, Italy demanded concessions from France to yield to Italy in Africa. Relations between Italy and France deteriorated with France's refusal to accept Italy's demands. France responded to Italy's demands with threatening naval manoeuvres as a warning to Italy. As tensions between Italy and France grew, Hitler made a major speech on 30 January 1939 in which he promised German military support in
9020-494: The Italians wouldn't have opposed it because some weeks before France had consented to a renewal of the Italo-French trade treaty. Italy was still paying debts contracted with France and it was primarily Italy that was politically isolated despite its tentatives towards the German Empire and Austria-Hungary (Ferry confirmed that it was Otto von Bismarck to invite Paris to act in Tunisia precising that, in case of action, Germany wouldn't have raised objections. While in Italy there
9184-488: The Mareth Line 31 mi (50 km) south, to cover Gabes. The gap between the Mareth Line and the Great Eastern Sand Sea, a potential route by which an invader could outflank the Mareth line, was not given consideration until 1938. General Georges Catroux and Colonel Gautsch surveyed the area and in their assessment predicted that three divisions could advance from the Libyan border to Ksar (fortified village) el Hallouf and Bir (well) Soltane in six days and then advance into
9348-419: The Mareth Line in Operation Pugilist. The 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division penetrated the Line near Zarat but was driven back by the 15th Panzer Division and the "Giovani Fascisti" on 22 March. Reconnaissance by the Long Range Desert Group had shown that the line could be outflanked. A force could pass through the southern Matmata Hills, reach the Tebaga Gap from the west and reach the coastal plain behind
9512-466: The Mareth Line was inactive from 1939 to 1940, as Italy remained neutral until a few days before the Armistice of 22 June 1940 , after which, the line was demilitarised by an Italo-German commission . In November 1942, the British Eighth Army ( General Bernard Montgomery ) defeated Panzerarmee Afrika at the Second Battle of El Alamein and the British First Army landed in French North Africa in Operation Torch . Axis forces occupied Tunisia in
9676-577: The Mareth Line, made the position untenable; the Italian 1st Army escaped encirclement when the 1st Armoured Division was held up at El Hamma and the Axis forces retreated to Wadi Akarit , 37 mi (60 km) to the north. After the Battle of the Mareth Line, the defences were left to become derelict and are commemorated at the Mareth Museum at Gabès. French protectorate of Tunisia The French protectorate of Tunisia (French: Protectorat français de Tunisie ; Arabic : الحماية الفرنسية في تونس al-ḥimāya al-Fransīya fī Tūnis ), officially
9840-420: The Mareth Line, the positions of Zarat sudest (Zaret South-West), Ouerzi, Ouerzi Ouest (Ouerzi West), Ouerzi Est (Ouerzi East), Ksiba Ouest and Ksiba Est being of particular interest, was assisted by General Marcel Rime-Bruneau, a former Chief of Staff of the Tunisian garrison and Captain Paul Mezan, the former Garrison Engineer of the Mareth Line. On 19 March 1943, the Eighth Army made a frontal assault against
10004-440: The Mareth Line. During Pugilist, Montgomery had sent the 2nd New Zealand Division around the Matmata Hills but its attack was contained at the Tebaga Gap from 21 to 24 March. Montgomery sent the 1st Armoured Division ( X Corps ) to reinforce the attack at the Tebaga Gap. The British attacked again in Operation Supercharge II on 26 March and broke through the gap the next day. This success, combined with another frontal assault on
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#173276489696110168-477: The Nazi Party came to power in Germany. Hitler had advocated an alliance between Germany and Italy since the 1920s. Shortly after being appointed Chancellor of Germany , Hitler sent a personal message to Mussolini, declaring "admiration and homage" and declaring his anticipation of the prospects of German–Italian friendship and even alliance. Hitler was aware that Italy held concerns over potential German land claims on South Tyrol, and assured Mussolini that Germany
10332-534: The Nazi Party publicly promoted the expansion of Germany into territories held by the Soviet Union. Germany justified its war against Poland on the issues of German minority within Poland and Polish opposition to the incorporation of the ethnically German-majority Free City of Danzig into Germany. While Hitler and the Nazi party before taking power openly talked about destroying Poland and were hostile to Poles, after gaining power until February 1939 Hitler tried to conceal his true intentions towards Poland, and signed
10496-531: The Pact in 1937, followed by Hungary and Spain in 1939. The "Rome–Berlin Axis" became a military alliance in 1939 under the so-called " Pact of Steel ", with the Tripartite Pact of 1940 formally integrating the military aims of Germany, Italy, Japan, and later followed by other nations. The three pacts formed the foundation of the Axis alliance. At its zenith in 1942, the Axis presided over large parts of Europe, North Africa, and East Asia, either through occupation, annexation, or puppet states . In contrast to
10660-489: The Reichskommissariats established in the east ( Reichskommissariat Ostland in the Baltics, Reichskommissariat Ukraine in Ukraine) were established as colonies for settlement by Germans. In Norway, under Reichskommissariat Norwegen , the Quisling regime , headed by Vidkun Quisling , was installed by the Germans as a client regime during the occupation , while king Haakon VII and the legal government were in exile . Quisling encouraged Norwegians to serve as volunteers in
10824-447: The Resident-General, a consultative conference representing French colonists was set up in 1891, and expanded to include appointed Tunisian representatives in 1907. From 1922 until 1954, Tunisian delegates to the Tunisian Consultative Conference were indirectly elected. The French authorities left the framework of local government intact, but devised mechanisms to control it. Qaids , roughly corresponding to provincial governors, were
10988-479: The Ruhr", and said that "If England and France push through Belgium and Holland into the Ruhr, we shall be in the greatest danger", and thus claimed that Belgium and the Netherlands had to be occupied by Germany to protect Germany from a British-French offensive against the Ruhr, irrespective of their claims to neutrality. Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 involved issues of lebensraum , anti-communism , and Soviet foreign policy. After Germany invaded
11152-419: The Secretary-General and the Resident-General managed and staffed those government offices, collectively called the Technical Services, which dealt with finances, public works, education, and agriculture. To help him implement the reforms alluded to in the Conventions of La Marsa , the Resident-General had the power to promulgate executive decrees, reducing the Bey to little more than a figurehead. To advise
11316-461: The Soviet Union, nearly capturing Moscow. However, crushing defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk devastated the German armed forces. This, combined with Western Allied landings in France and Italy , led to a three-front war that depleted Germany's armed forces and resulted in Germany's defeat in 1945. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was created from the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Shortly after Germany annexed
11480-436: The Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, the Slovak Republic declared its independence from the rump Second Czechoslovak Republic . The new Slovak State allied itself with Germany. The remainder of the country was occupied by German military forces and organized into the Protectorate. Czech civil institutions were preserved but the Protectorate was considered within the sovereign territory of Germany. The General Government
11644-441: The United Kingdom. Romania 's oil gave the country a disproportionate importance in the global conflict. In 1940 and 1941, Romania supplied 94% and 75% of Germany's oil imports respectively. Italy – which lacked both natural and synthetic output – was even more reliant on Romanian oil than Germany. The loss of Romania's oil – following the country's defection from the Axis in August 1944 – resulted in Hitler's first admission that
11808-601: The Venice meeting, on 25 July 1934, Austrian Nazis assassinated Dollfuss. Mussolini was outraged as he held Hitler directly responsible for the assassination that violated Hitler's promise made only weeks ago to respect Austrian independence. Mussolini rapidly deployed several army divisions and air squadrons to the Brenner Pass , and warned that a German move against Austria would result in war between Germany and Italy. Hitler responded by both denying Nazi responsibility for
11972-810: The Versailles treaty and remilitarized the Rhineland in March 1936. Germany had already resumed conscription and announced the existence of a German air force, the Luftwaffe , and naval force, the Kriegsmarine in 1935. Germany annexed Austria in 1938 , the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and the Memel territory from Lithuania in 1939. Germany then invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, creating
12136-516: The Waffen-SS , collaborated in the deportation of Jews, and was responsible for the executions of members of the Norwegian resistance movement . About 45,000 Norwegian collaborators joined the pro-Nazi party Nasjonal Samling (National Union), and some police units helped arrest many Jews. However, Norway was one of the first countries where resistance during World War II was widespread before
12300-573: The Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany anyway. In 1937 Italy left the League of Nations and joined the Anti-Comintern Pact , which had been signed by Germany and Japan the preceding year. In March/April 1939 Italian troops invaded and annexed Albania . Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel on May 22. Italy was ill-prepared for war, in spite of
12464-442: The appearance of Tunisian sovereignty while reshaping the administrative structure to give France complete control of the country and render the beylical government a hollow shell devoid of meaningful powers." French officials used several methods to control the Tunisian government. They urged the Bey to nominate members of the pre-colonial ruling elite to such key posts as prime-minister, because these people were personally loyal to
12628-561: The armed forces. The Tunisian economy did not, however, generate enough revenue to sustain these reforms. Central administration, additionally, was weak. Tax collection was devolved onto tax-farmers, and only one-fifth of the revenues ever reached the national treasury. Many hill tribes and desert nomads lived in quasi-independence. Economic conditions deteriorated through the 19th century, as foreign fleets curbed corsairs, and droughts perennially wreaked havoc on production of cereals and olives. Because of accords with foreign traders dating back to
12792-481: The arrival of Kálmán Darányi , his successor, ended Hungary's involvement in pursuing a trilateral axis. Contentious negotiations between the Italian foreign minister, Galeazzo Ciano , and the German ambassador, Ulrich von Hassell , resulted in a Nine-Point Protocol , signed by Ciano and his German counterpart, Konstantin von Neurath , in 1936. When Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed
12956-533: The assassination and issuing orders to dissolve all ties between the German Nazi Party and its Austrian branch, which Germany claimed was responsible for the political crisis. Italy effectively abandoned diplomatic relations with Germany while turning to France in order to challenge Germany's intransigence by signing a Franco–Italian accord to protect Austrian independence. French and Italian military staff discussed possible military cooperation involving
13120-496: The blockhouses and casemates had embrasures for automatic weapons. In 1938 work the Mareth line was so important that work on coast defences was stopped and in 1939 the line was occupied by colonial divisions and some locally raised units. After the outbreak of the war, a line of advanced positions ( avant-postes ) was built on high ground at Aram 6.2 mi (10 km) south of the main line. The Second World War began in 1939 but
13284-409: The border into Algeria caused the deaths of several Algerians, and four French, providing a pretext for the French. By mid-April, French troops had landed in Tunisia and, on 12 May 1881, forced Bey Muhammad III as-Sadiq to sign the Treaty of Bardo granting France a protectorate over Tunisia. Although soldiers took until May 1882 to occupy the whole country and stamp out resistance, Tunisia had become
13448-414: The capital. In 1896, similar courts were instituted in the provinces, also under French supervision. The protectorate introduced new ideas in education. The French director of public education looked after all schools in Tunisia, including religious ones. According to Perkins, "Many colonial officials believed that modern education would lay the groundwork for harmonious Franco-Tunisia relations by providing
13612-606: The case of an unprovoked war against Italy. Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940. Italy justified its intervention against Greece in October 1940 on the allegation that the Kingdom of Greece was being used by Britain against Italy, Mussolini informed this to Hitler, saying: "Greece is one of the main points of English maritime strategy in the Mediterranean". Italy justified its intervention against Yugoslavia in April 1941 by appealing to both Italian irredentist claims and
13776-698: The creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued a strategic alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. Prior to becoming head of government in Italy as leader of the Italian Fascist movement, Mussolini had advocated alliance with defeated Germany after the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) settled World War I . He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France. In early 1923, as
13940-436: The date was not yet chosen. His senior military leadership unanimously opposed the action because Italy was unprepared. No raw materials had been stockpiled and the reserves it did have would soon be exhausted, Italy's industrial base was only one-tenth of Germany's, and even with supplies the Italian military was not organized to provide the equipment needed to fight a modern war of a long duration. An ambitious rearmament program
14104-701: The demand. In response, Hitler promised that he would accept Austria's independence for the time being, saying that due to the internal tensions in Germany (referring to sections of the Nazi Sturmabteilung that Hitler would soon kill in the Night of the Long Knives ) that Germany could not afford to provoke Italy. Galeazzo Ciano told the press that the two leaders had made a "gentleman's agreement" to avoid interfering in Austria. Several weeks after
14268-614: The early 1920s . In 1923 the French occupied the Ruhr region when Germany defaulted on its reparations payments. Although Germany began to improve economically in the mid-1920s, the Great Depression created more economic hardship and a rise in political forces that advocated radical solutions to Germany's woes. The Nazis, under Hitler, promoted the nationalist stab-in-the-back legend stating that Germany had been betrayed by Jews and Communists. The party promised to rebuild Germany as
14432-425: The early 1930s stressed the importance of "decisive weight", involving Italy's relations between France and Germany, in which he recognized that Italy was not yet a major power, but perceived that Italy did have strong enough influence to alter the political situation in Europe by placing the weight of its support onto one side or another, and sought to balance relations between the three. In 1933, Adolf Hitler and
14596-642: The example of the Sfaxiens. In August, Kairouan was taken over by the rebels. The Kef military camp was besieged by 5,000 fighters led by the chief of the Ouled Ayar tribe, Ali Ben Ammar. Near Hammamet , a French military force was harassed by 6,000 insurgents between 26 and 30 August and lost 30 soldiers. European civilians were not spared. On 30 September, the Oued Zarga station was attacked and nine employees were massacred. Following this massacre, Tunis
14760-471: The fact of Albanian , Croatian , and Macedonian separatists not wishing to be part of Yugoslavia . Croatian separatism soared after the assassination of Croatian political leaders in the National Assembly of Yugoslavia in 1928 including the death of Stjepan Radić , and Italy endorsed Croatian separatist Ante Pavelić and his fascist Ustaše movement that was based and trained in Italy with
14924-611: The fact that it had continuously been involved in conflict since 1935, first with Ethiopia in 1935–1936 and then in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Francisco Franco 's Nationalists . Mussolini refused to heed warnings from his minister of exchange and currency, Felice Guarneri , who said that Italy's actions in Ethiopia and Spain meant that Italy was on the verge of bankruptcy. By 1939 military expenditures by Britain and France far exceeded what Italy could afford. As
15088-589: The fall of France. Despite his commitment to terminate the French protectorate, the pragmatic independence leader Habib Bourguiba had no desire to exchange the control of the French Republic for that of Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany , whose state ideologies he abhorred. He feared that associating with the Axis would bring short-term benefit at the cost of long-term tragedy. Following the Second Armistice at Compiègne between France and Germany,
15252-455: The far south and at Sfax continued until December. The Bey was soon compelled to come to terms with the French occupation of the country, signing the first of a series of treaties. These documents provided that the Bey continue as head of state, but with the French given effective control over a great deal of Tunisian governance, in the form of a protectorate . With her own substantial interests in Tunisia, Italy protested but would not risk
15416-485: The gaps between the strongpoints in the main line. Some of the flanking casemates for machine-guns covering the gaps were connected by galleries; strongpoints on the plain and in hills had anti-tank positions. An anti-tank obstacle of vertical rails was built along the front of the line and the sides of Wadi Zigzaou were steepened. Eight artillery casemates, forty infantry casemates or blockhouses and fifteen command posts were built. The eastern sector had twelve strongpoints in
15580-447: The gaps either side of Djebel Melab and those between Djebel Tebaga and the Matmata Hills. The Mareth Line consisted of casemates surrounded by barbed wire and built for all-round defence in the main and reserve lines, the obstacles being doubled on the fronts and sides. The strongpoints in the main line included flanking machine-gun casemates and anti-tank gun positions; in the reserve line artillery emplacements provided covering fire in
15744-602: The general population. The government had to negotiate a new loan from foreign bankers. In 1867, an attempt to secure money failed; government revenues were insufficient to meet annual interest payments on the national debt. Tunisia plunged towards bankruptcy. Two years later France, Italy and Britain set up an international finance commission to sort out Tunisia's economic problems and safeguard Western interests. Their actions enjoyed only partial success, largely because of opposition from foreign traders to increases in customs levies. In 1873, Khaznadar again undertook reforms and attacked
15908-423: The hills to the sea, including the bigger Wadi Zeuss and Wadi Zigzaou. Inland, the sources of the wadis are steep and rocky, widening near the coast, the beds having streams or muddy bottoms, with firmer areas traversable by vehicles. In January 1934 planning began on the new fortifications; Infantry officers selected the sites for strongpoints to dominate the ground in front with overlapping fields of fire. In 1936,
16072-491: The idea of invading the country in the 1860s. Italian was the lingua franca of Tunisian diplomacy well into the 19th century, and of the various expatriate communities in Tunis who did not speak Arabic. For this reason, the first foreign policy objective of Benedetto Cairoli 's government was the colonisation of Tunisia , to which both France and Italy aspired. Cairoli, like Agostino Depretis before him, never considered to proceed to occupation, being generally hostile towards
16236-474: The impasse with Italy over Austria by sending Hermann Göring to negotiate with Mussolini in 1933 to convince Mussolini to press Austria to appoint Austrian Nazis to the government. Göring claimed that Nazi domination of Austria was inevitable and that Italy should accept this, as well as repeating to Mussolini of Hitler's promise to "regard the question of the South Tyrol frontier as finally liquidated by
16400-449: The industrial Ruhr region of Germany. When war between Germany versus Britain and France appeared likely in May 1939, Hitler declared that the Netherlands and Belgium would need to be occupied, saying: "Dutch and Belgian air bases must be occupied ... Declarations of neutrality must be ignored". In a conference with Germany's military leaders on 23 November 1939, Hitler declared to the military leaders that "We have an Achilles heel ,
16564-863: The international community in the first place. The response to the pact was met with similar division in Germany; while the proposed pact was popular amongst the upper echelons of the Nazi Party, it was opposed by many in the Foreign Ministry, the Army, and the business community who held financial interests in the Republic of China to which Japan was hostile. On learning of German–Japanese negotiations, Italy also began to take an interest in forming an alliance with Japan. Italy had hoped that due to Japan's long-term close relations with Britain, that an Italo-Japanese alliance could pressure Britain into adopting
16728-540: The local level, the work of the Resident-General, closely supervising the qaids and sheikhs. After 1884, a network of contrôleurs civils overlay the qaids' administration throughout the country, except in the extreme south. There, because of the more hostile nature of the tribes and the tenuous hold of the central government, military officers, making up a Service des Renseignements (Intelligence Service), fulfilled this duty. Successive Residents-General, fearing
16892-623: The main line and eleven in the reserve line. The western sector had eleven strongpoints in the main line and seven in the reserve line. In the Matmata hills, Ksar el Hallouf covered an anti-tank ditch which continued the position beyond the main line which ended on the foothills. An infantry position was dug into the Matmata hills at Ksar-el-Hallouf and in the Dahar beyond, a strongpoint at Bir Soltane had two 75 mm turrets, removed from Char 2C tanks built in 1918. At Ben Gardane an advanced position
17056-424: The main road from Medinine to Mareth, around Aram and at Bahira. The Mareth Line was refurbished for occupation by the Panzerarmee and by March 1943, more than 62 miles (100 km) of barbed wire , 100,000 anti-tank mines and 70,000 anti-personnel mines had been laid, bunkers had been reinforced with concrete and armed with anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. The Axis forces opposing the Eighth Army were renamed
17220-470: The masses. At the end of World War I, German citizens felt that their country had been humiliated as a result of the Treaty of Versailles , which included a war guilt clause and forced Germany to pay enormous reparations payments and forfeit territories formerly controlled by the German Empire and all its colonies. The pressure of the reparations on the German economy led to hyperinflation during
17384-458: The mid-1930s. The first step was the protocol signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, after which Italian leader Benito Mussolini declared that all other European countries would thereafter rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis". The following November saw the ratification of the Anti-Comintern Pact , an anti-communist treaty between Germany and Japan; Italy joined
17548-531: The military force encouraged the country to take up arms. The signal for the revolt was given by Sfax on 27 June. The local authorities were overwhelmed and the Europeans have to evacuate the city in disaster. The rebellion was put down by marines from the Mediterranean squadron who retook the city on 16 July after four hours of street fighting, as well as Gabès on 30 July. The whole country imitated
17712-471: The mobilization of the Tunisian people. The occupation of the country in 1942 by Germany and the deposition of Moncef Bey in 1943 by the French authorities reinforced the exasperation of the population. After three years of guerrilla warfare, internal autonomy was granted in 1955. The protectorate was finally abolished on 20 March 1956. In 1859, Tunisia was ruled by the Bey Muhammad III , and
17876-577: The monarch signed the treaty at 7:11 pm. However, he managed to prevent the French troops from entering the capital. By this text, France deprived the Tunisian State of the right of active legation by entrusting diplomatic and consular agents of France in foreign countries with the protection of Tunisian interests and nationals of the Beylik. As for the Bey, he can no longer conclude any act of an international nature without having first informed
18040-404: The most important figures in local administration. At the outset of the protectorate, some sixty of them had the responsibility of maintaining order and collecting taxes in districts either defined by tribal membership, or by geographical limits. The central government appointed the qaids , usually choosing a person from a major family of the tribe or district to ensure respect and authority. Below
18204-413: The mountain tribes who resisted until 26 May. Encouraged by the inertia of the Tunisian army, which had not moved to defend the town of Le Kef against the French attack, Jules Ferry decided to send a force of 6,000 soldiers under the command of General Jules Aimé Bréart to land at Bizerte from 1 May 1881. The city had no resistance and on 8 May 8, the military force took the road to Tunis . On May 12,
18368-699: The north side of Wadi Zigzaou for about 50 km (31 mi) south-westwards from the Gulf of Gabès to Cheguimi and the Djebel (mountain) Matmata on the Dahar plateau between the Grand Erg Oriental (Great Eastern Sand Sea) and the Matmata hills. The Tebaga Gap , between the Mareth line and the Great Eastern Sand Sea, a potential route by which an invader could outflank the Mareth line,
18532-409: The northeast, and the other half were nomadic shepherds who roamed the interior. There were several towns, including Tunis with nearly 100,000 inhabitants, and Kairouan with 15,000, where traders and artisans were active, despite being severely affected by foreign competition. The traditional Tunisian textile industry couldn't compete with imported goods from industrialized Europe. The financial world
18696-466: The northern edge of the Matmata range, further complicating this approach. At the far northern end of the Matmata Hills is the Tebaga Gap . From the Mediterranean the coastal plain rises gently to the Matmata Hills. The plain consists of gravels and sands, with salt flats between the sandy areas, which turn into bogs after light rain becoming impassable to wheeled vehicles. There are numerous wadis from
18860-709: The peace treaties". In response to Göring's visit with Mussolini, Dollfuss immediately went to Italy to counter any German diplomatic headway. Dollfuss claimed that his government was actively challenging Marxists in Austria and claimed that once the Marxists were defeated in Austria, that support for Austria's Nazis would decline. In June 1934, Hitler and Mussolini met for the first time, in Venice . The meeting did not proceed amicably. Hitler demanded that Mussolini compromise on Austria by pressuring Dollfuss to appoint Austrian Nazis to his cabinet, to which Mussolini flatly refused
19024-476: The percentage of gross national product (GNP) devoted to military expenditures. Nearly one-quarter of Germany's GNP was committed to the war effort in 1939, and this rose to three-quarters of GNP in 1944, prior to the collapse of the economy. In 1939, Japan committed 22 percent of its GNP to its war effort in China; this rose to three-quarters of GNP in 1944. Italy did not mobilize its economy; its GNP committed to
19188-625: The population. These circumstances made the Tunisian government unable, despite all levies and demands, to collect the tax revenues they deemed necessary to modernise Tunisia. The Congress of Berlin, held in 1878, convened to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 , which had been won by Russia . At the Congress arrangements were also understood, e.g., by Germany and Britain , wherein France would be allowed to incorporate Tunisia. Italy
19352-539: The powerful Prime Minister, Mustapha Khaznadar , who according to Wesseling "had been pulling the strings ever since 1837." Khaznadar was minister of finance and foreign affairs and was assisted by the interior, defence, and naval ministers. In 1861, Tunisia was granted a constitution with a clear division of ministerial powers and responsibilities, but in practice, Khaznadar was the absolute sovereign. He pursued reformist policies promoting economic development, specifically aimed at improving infrastructure, communication, and
19516-479: The property believed the deal had been completed, but a British citizen, ostensibly representing neighbouring landholders, preempted the sale and occupied the land (though without paying for it). A judge sent by London to investigate discovered that the British purchaser was acting on behalf of the Bey's government and Italian businessmen; moreover, he discovered that the Briton had used fraud to stake his claim. The sale
19680-459: The qaids were cheikhs, the leaders of tribes, villages, and town quarters. The central government also appointed them but on the recommendation of the qaids. After the French invasion, most qaids and cheikhs were allowed to retain their post, and therefore few of them resisted the new authorities. To keep a close watch on developments outside the capital, Tunisia's new rulers organised the contrôleurs civils. These French officials replicated, at
19844-487: The railway linking Tunis with the coast put their company up for sale. An Italian concern successfully bid for the enterprise, leaving France worried about possible Italian intervention. Another incident, also in 1880, concerned the sale of a 100 000 hectare property by a former Tunisian prime minister. Negotiations involved complicated arrangements to forestall preemption of the sale by the Bey's government or by proprietors of adjacent tracts of land. A French consortium buying
20008-555: The return of the deposed Bey and institutional reform. In 1945, the two Destour parties joined other dissident groups to petition for autonomy. The following year, Habib Bourguiba and the Néo-Destour Party switched their aim to independence. Fearing arrest, Bourguiba spent much of the next three years in Cairo , where in 1950, he issued a seven-point manifesto demanding the restitution of Tunisian sovereignty and election of
20172-512: The right to station military troops within its territory. The Conventions of La Marsa , signed in 1883, by Bey Ali Muddat ibn al-Husayn , formally established the French protectorate. It deprived the Bey of Tunis of control over internal matters by committing him to implement administrative, judicial, and financial reform dictated by France. In Tunisia: Crossroads of the Islamic and European World , Kenneth J. Perkins writes: "Cambon carefully kept
20336-541: The same time Germany was preparing for a war with Poland and was secretly preparing the German minority in Poland for a war. A diplomatic crisis erupted following Hitler demanding that the Free City of Danzig be annexed to Germany, as it was led by a Nazi government seeking annexation to Germany. Germany used legal precedents to justify its intervention against Poland and annexation of the Free City of Danzig (led by
20500-496: The same vantages as French colonists. Italo-French relation dangerously fractured . Among the hypotheses weighed by the Italian military staff, a possible invasion of the Italian Peninsula by French troops was not excluded. Taking the pretext of border incidents between the Algerian tribe of Ouled Nahd and the Tunisian tribe of Kroumirs on 30 and 31 March 1881, the French government led by Jules Ferry decided to send
20664-489: The sizable colony of Tunisian Italians. Direct attempts by the French to negotiate with the Bey their entry into Tunisia failed. France waited, searching to find reasons to justify the timing of a preemptive strike, now actively contemplated. Italians would call such strike the Schiaffo di Tunisi . Italy had a strong interest in Tunisia since at least the early 19th century, and the Kingdom of Italy had briefly entertained
20828-462: The soldiers' tendency toward direct rule – which belied the official French myth that Tunisians continued to govern Tunisia – worked to bring the Service des Renseignements under their control, finally doing so at the end of the century. Shoring up the debt-ridden Tunisian treasury was one of Cambon's main priorities. In 1884, France guaranteed the Tunisian debt, paving the way for the termination of
20992-555: The south but French-built anti-tank gun positions were too small for Axis anti-tank guns which had to be sited elsewhere. The Battle of Medenine (6 March 1943) against the Eighth Army was a costly failure. At the Battle of the Mareth Line (16–31 March 1943) the Eighth Army was contained within the Mareth Line defences. An outflanking move west and north of the Mareth Line was followed by Operation Supercharge II which broke through
21156-464: The strengthening of Ottoman authority in the east, and was therefore not too unhappy in 1830 when another country, France, had settled on his western borders. According to Wesseling, the bey considered the conquest of his country by the Porte would be worse than a possible conquest by France. At the time, Tunisia had just over a million inhabitants. Half of these were sedentary farmers who lived mainly in
21320-479: The surrounding countryside. In the spring of 1881, they raided across the border into French Algeria, attacking the Algerian Ouled-Nebed tribe. On 30 March 1881 French troops clashed with the raiders. Using the pretext of droit de poursuite (right of pursuit) France responded by invading Tunisia, sending an army of about 36,000. Their advance to Tunis was rapidly executed, though tribal opposition in
21484-583: The time Japan was unwilling to make an alliance against the United Kingdom and France, Oshima informed von Ribbentrop of Japan's interest in forming a German–Japanese alliance against the Soviet Union. Von Ribbentrop expanded on Oshima's proposal by advocating that the alliance be based in a political context of a pact to oppose the Comintern . The proposed pact was met with mixed reviews in Japan, with
21648-693: The time, he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in the dispute over the Free State of Fiume . The term was used by Hungary 's prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany and Italy in the early 1930s. Gömbös' efforts did affect the Italo-Hungarian Rome Protocols , but his sudden death in 1936 while negotiating with Germany in Munich and
21812-463: The turning point of the war in 1943. After the war, Quisling and other collaborators were executed . Quisling's name has become an international eponym for traitor . Duce Benito Mussolini described Italy's declaration of war against the Western Allies of Britain and France in June 1940 as the following: "We are going to war against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of
21976-487: The two peoples closer together. French was the medium of instruction in these Franco-Arab schools, and their curriculum imitated that of schools in metropolitan France . French-speaking students who attended them studied Arabic as a second language. Ethnic mixing rarely occurred in schools in the cities, in which various religious denominations continued to run elementary schools. The Franco-Arab schools attained somewhat greater success in rural areas but never enrolled more than
22140-421: The war effort remained at prewar levels. Italy and Japan lacked industrial capacity; their economies were small, dependent on international trade , external sources of fuel and other industrial resources. As a result, Italian and Japanese mobilization remained low, even by 1943. Among the three major Axis powers, Japan had the lowest per capita income, while Germany and Italy had an income level comparable to
22304-698: The war was lost. Hitler in 1941 described the outbreak of World War II as the fault of the intervention of Western powers against Germany during its war with Poland, describing it as the result of "the European and American warmongers". Hitler had designs for Germany to become the dominant and leading state in the world, such as his intention for Germany's capital of Berlin to become the Welthauptstadt ("World Capital"), renamed Germania . The German government also justified its actions by claiming that Germany inevitably needed to territorially expand because it
22468-590: The widespread financial abuses within the bureaucracy. The results were initially promising, but bad harvests and palace intrigue led to his downfall. The Bey reigned over Tunisia, whose southern borders were ill-defined against the Sahara. To the east lay Tripolitania , province of the Ottoman Empire, which had made itself practically independent until Sultan Mahmud II successfully restored his authority by force in 1835. The Bey of Tunisia became worried of
22632-578: Was 258.9 million, while the Allied population (excluding the Soviet Union and the United States, which later joined the Allies) was 689.7 million. Thus the Allied powers outnumbered the Axis powers by 2.7 to 1. The leading Axis states had the following domestic populations: Germany 75.5 million (including 6.8 million from recently annexed Austria), Japan 71.9 million (excluding its colonies), and Italy 43.4 million (excluding its colonies). The United Kingdom (excluding its colonies) had
22796-491: Was Moncef Bey who took advantage of the weakening of the French to publicize the Tunisian cause. Little suspected of having collaborated with the Axis powers , he can only be blamed for the decorations awarded on 12 April to German and Italian generals. He was however deposed by a decree of the general of Free France , Henri Giraud , on 13 May 1943 and exiled to Laghouat in the Franco-Algerian South. He
22960-511: Was a debate about the reliability of the news about a possible French action in Tunisia, a twenty-thousand-men expeditionary corps was preparing in the Toulon arsenal . On 3 May a French contingent of two thousand men landed in Bizerte , followed on 11 May by the rest of the forces. The episode gave an ulterior confirm of the Italian political isolation, and rekindled the polemics that had followed
23124-575: Was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies . Its principal members were Nazi Germany , Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan . The Axis were united in their far-right positions and general opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion. The Axis grew out of successive diplomatic efforts by Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in
23288-485: Was agreed that the fortification of the Mareth Line, Bizerte, Medenine, Ben Gardane and Foum Tataouine (Tataouine) must be completed. Medenine, Ben Gardane to the west and Tataouine to the east, were south of the proposed line, Tataouine being the place where the routes to Mareth passed through the bottleneck between the Matmata Mountains and the sea. The line was divided into eastern and western sectors with
23452-476: Was built consisting of a square redoubt inside an anti-tank ditch with casemates on the flanks and concrete infantry shelters. Small triangular strongpoints at the corners were surrounded by anti-tank rail obstacles that continued around the position. The Mareth line was equipped with obsolescent 75 mm and 47 mm naval guns for anti-tank defence and a few new 25 mm anti-tank guns and infantry small arms. The artillery casemates with 75 mm guns and most of
23616-436: Was cancelled, and French buyers got the property. Paris moved to protect French claims, as London and Berlin gently warned that if France did not act, they might reconsider their go-ahead for French occupation. French diplomats scrambled to convince unenthusiastic parliamentarians and bureaucrats, all the while looking for a new incident to precipitate intervention. In March 1881, a foray by Tunisian Khroumir tribesmen across
23780-480: Was disappointed with the Italian military's performance, he maintained overall favorable relations with Italy because of his personal friendship with Mussolini. On 25 July 1943, following the Allied invasion of Sicily , King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest, and began secret negotiations with the Western Allies. An armistice was signed on 8 September 1943, and four days later Mussolini
23944-518: Was dominated by Tunisian Jews , while a growing number of Europeans, almost exclusively Italians and Maltese, settled in Tunisia. In 1870, there were 15,000 of them. The economic situation of Tunisian townsmen may accordingly have been under pressure, but it was flourishing in comparison with that of the fellahin , peasants who laboured under a whole series of taxes and requisitions. From 1867 to 1868, crop failure, subsequent famine, and epidemics of cholera and typhus combined to kill some 20 percent of
24108-512: Was expected to launch attacks on Egypt and Tunisia as soon as war was declared, with the Italian Navy securing supply and blocking any substantial Anglo-French relief. With a force of six divisions, a fortress division and a cavalry division to defend Tunisia, capable of only local operations with limited objectives. The French army considered the construction of a " Maginot Line in the desert" ( ligne Maginot du désert ). Central Tunisia
24272-406: Was facing an overpopulation crisis that Hitler described: "We are overpopulated and cannot feed ourselves from our own resources". Thus expansion was justified as an inevitable necessity to provide lebensraum ("living space") for the German nation and end the country's overpopulation within existing confined territory, and provide resources necessary to its people's well-being. Since the 1920s,
24436-598: Was forced to accept German dominance in the two occupied countries. Furthermore, by 1941, German forces in North Africa under Erwin Rommel effectively took charge of the military effort ousting Allied forces from the Italian colony of Libya , and German forces were stationed in Sicily in that year. Germany's insolence towards Italy as an ally was demonstrated that year when Italy was pressured to send 350,000 "guest workers" to Germany who were used as forced labour. While Hitler
24600-540: Was garrisoned by the 136th Infantry Division "Giovani Fascisti" from the coast to Zarat, the 101st Motorised Division "Trieste" covering the Gabès–Mareth road around Mareth and Aram, the 90th Light Division to the south of the "Trieste" Division at Aram and Sidi el Guelaa cutting the road and covering Wadi Zeuss, 80th Infantry Division "La Spezia" south of the 90th Light Division, the 16th Motorised Division "Pistoia" . South of "La Spezia", near Beni Kreddache covering
24764-486: Was generally dismissive, viewing a German–Japanese alliance against the Soviet Union as imperative while regarding an Italo-Japanese alliance as secondary, as Japan anticipated that an Italo-Japanese alliance would antagonize Britain that had condemned Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. This attitude by Japan towards Italy altered in 1937 after the League of Nations condemned Japan for aggression in China and faced international isolation, while Italy remained favourable to Japan. As
24928-626: Was impossible because of Italy's limited reserves in gold and foreign currencies and lack of raw materials. Mussolini ignored the negative advice. By 1941, Italy's attempts to run an autonomous campaign from Germany's, collapsed as a result of military setbacks in Greece, North Africa , and Eastern Africa ; and the country became dependent and effectively subordinate to Germany. After the German-led invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece, that had both been targets of Italy's war aims, Italy
25092-476: Was not interested in South Tyrol. Hitler in Mein Kampf had declared that South Tyrol was a non-issue considering the advantages that would be gained from a German–Italian alliance. After Hitler's rise to power, the Four Power Directorate proposal by Italy had been looked at with interest by Britain, but Hitler was not committed to it, resulting in Mussolini urging Hitler to consider the diplomatic advantages Germany would gain by breaking out of isolation by entering
25256-408: Was not surveyed until 1938. After the French Armistice of 22 June 1940 , the Mareth Line was demilitarised under the supervision of an Italo-German commission . Tunisia was occupied by Axis forces after Operation Torch in 1942 and the line was refurbished and extended by Axis engineers into a defensive position by building more defences between the line and Wadi Zeuss 3.5 mi (5.6 km) to
25420-447: Was occupied on 7 October by French troops to reassure the foreign population. Troops are sent as reinforcements from French Algeria. On 26 October, Kairouan was recaptured from the insurgents by the French forces. Ben Ammar's fighters were routed on 22 October; the last resisters were surrounded on 20 November. The last fighting stops at the end of December 1881. In northwest Tunisia, the Khroumir tribe episodically launched raids into
25584-431: Was promised Tripolitania in what became Libya. Britain supported French influence in Tunisia in exchange for its own protectorate over Cyprus (recently "purchased" from the Ottomans), and French cooperation regarding a nationalist revolt in Egypt . In the meantime, however, an Italian company apparently bought the Tunis-Goulette-Marsa rail line; yet French strategy worked to circumvent this and other issues created by
25748-471: Was put in place allowing the acquisition or the confiscation of land to create lots of colonization resold to the French colonists. The first nationalist party, Destour , was created in 1920, but its political activity decreased rapidly in 1922. However, Tunisians educated in French universities revived the nationalist movement. A new party, the Neo Destour , was created in 1934 whose methods quickly showed their effectiveness. Police repression only accentuated
25912-405: Was quickly cleaned up, which made it possible to launch multiple infrastructure construction programs (roads, railways, ports, lighthouses, schools, hospitals, etc.) and the reforms that took place during the Beylik era contributed to this, which completely transformed the country above all for the benefit of the settlers, mostly Italians whose numbers were growing rapidly. A whole land legislation
26076-447: Was replaced by Lamine Bey who accepted the throne despite the conditions under which his predecessor was forced to abdicate. Rejected by a large part of the Tunisian population, he only gained his legitimacy on the death of Moncef on 1 September 1948, which put an end to the hopes of Tunisians to see the Nationalist Bey return to the throne. Decolonisation proved a protracted and controversial affair. In Tunisia, nationalists demanded
26240-406: Was rescued by the Germans in Operation Oak and placed in charge of a puppet state called the Italian Social Republic ( Repubblica Sociale Italiana /RSI, or Repubblica di Salò ) in northern Italy . In order to liberate the country from the Germans and Fascists, Italy became a co-belligerent of the Allies; as result, the country descended in Civil War , with the Italian Co-Belligerent Army and
26404-412: Was satisfied with the presence of the anti-Marxist government of Engelbert Dollfuss in the First Austrian Republic , and warned Hitler that he was adamantly opposed to Anschluss. Hitler responded in contempt to Mussolini that he intended "to throw Dollfuss into the sea". With this disagreement over Austria, relations between Hitler and Mussolini steadily became more distant. Hitler attempted to break
26568-436: Was terminated which further paved way for Tunisian independence, as decolonisation gained pace. The next year, the French revoked the clause of the Treaty of Bardo that had established the protectorate in 1881 and recognised the independence of the Kingdom of Tunisia under Muhammad VIII al-Amin on 20 March. Axis powers The Axis powers , originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis ,
26732-456: Was territorial expansion at the expense of their neighbors. In ideological terms, the Axis described their goals as breaking the hegemony of the plutocratic Western powers and defending civilization from communism . The Axis championed a number of variants on fascism , militarism , conservatism and autarky . Creation of territorially contiguous autarkic empires was a common goal of all three major Axis powers. The Axis population in 1938
26896-441: Was the name given to the territories of occupied Poland that were not directly annexed into German provinces , but like Bohemia and Moravia was considered within the sovereign territory of Germany by the Nazi authorities. Reichskommissariats were established in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway, designated as places the "Germanic" populations of which were to be incorporated into the planned Greater Germanic Reich. By contrast
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