History UsefulNotes / BarbaryCoastWars

These conflicts have been almost entirely forgotten in modern times, given other major events taking place around the same time which overshadowed them[[note]]Nevertheless, the Barbary Wars as a historical subject, in the 21st century, [[https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=barbary+wars have gained some currency among historians]] largely due to their similarities to the then-contemporary wars in Muslim-majority countries such as UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}} and UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}} as part of the UsefulNotes/WarOnTerror[[/note]]. Perhaps the only reason it is even slightly remembered at all is a single line in the [[SemperFi US Marine Corps Hymn]] (the bit about "the Shores of Tripoli"), referring to the Marines' contribution to this conflict, which included an overland march from Egypt to lay siege to the city, as well as a daring raid on the captured USS ''Philadelphia'' to rescue her officers and burn the ship to deny it to the Tripolitans. Even then, most Americans have no idea what this line actually means.

This was no small matter; pirate raids reached as far away as Iceland, and over the centuries millions of people were captured and sold in North African slave markets. Large parts of the European Mediterranean coast were uninhabited due to the danger of pirate raids. During the early modern era this trade was steadily becoming less respectable. However, Europeans throughout this era were too busy fighting each another, and the pirates did not present a military threat, merely preying on isolated and undefended coastal settlements. When a European frigate would appear, they fled. Every once in a while one of the larger powers would be [[BullyingADragon sufficiently annoyed]] to send a fleet to punish them, but on the whole the smaller powers and even the larger ones had neither the time nor the money to deal with them once and for all.

These conflicts have been almost entirely forgotten in modern times, given other major events taking place around the same time which overshadowed them[[note]]Nevertheless, the Barbary Wars, in the 21st century, [[https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=barbary+wars have gained some currency among historians]] largely due to their similarities to the then-contemporary wars in Muslim-majority countires such as UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}} and UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}} as part of the UsefulNotes/WarOnTerror[[/note]]. Perhaps the only reason it is even slightly remembered at all is a single line in the [[SemperFi US Marine Corps Hymn]] (the bit about "the Shores of Tripoli"), referring to the Marines' contribution to this conflict, which included an overland march from Egypt to lay siege to the city, as well as a daring raid on the captured USS ''Philadelphia'' to rescue her officers and burn the ship to deny it to the Tripolitans. Even then, most Americans have no idea what this line actually means.

These conflicts have been almost entirely forgotten in modern times, given other major events taking place around the same time which overshadowed them. Perhaps the only reason it is even slightly remembered at all is a single line in the [[SemperFi US Marine Corps Hymn]] (the bit about "the Shores of Tripoli"), referring to the Marines' contribution to this conflict, which included an overland march from Egypt to lay siege to the city, as well as a daring raid on the captured USS ''Philadelphia'' to rescue her officers and burn the ship to deny it to the Tripolitans. Even then, most Americans have no idea what this line actually means.

A series of spinoffs of either the European-Turkish wars or the [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars Napoleonic Wars]], depending on how you look at it. Since the late Middle Ages, a number of city-states centered themselves on the "Barbary Coast," stretching from Morocco to Libya, based on a singular industry: piracy and slavery. These were collectively called the "Barbary Corsairs." This was no small matter; pirate raids reached as far away as Iceland, and over the centuries millions of people were captured and sold in North African slave markets. Large parts of the European Mediterranean coast were uninhabited due to the danger of pirate raids. During the early modern era this trade was steadily becoming less respectable. However, Europeans throughout this era were too busy fighting each another, and the pirates did not present a military threat, merely preying on isolated and undefended coastal settlements. When a European frigate would appear, they fled. Every once in a while one of the larger powers would be [[BullyingADragon sufficiently annoyed]] to send a fleet to punish them, but on the whole the smaller powers and even the larger ones had neither the time nor the money to deal with them once and for all.