Bizerte crisis

The Bizerte Crisis (French: Crise de Bizerte, Arabic: أحداث بنزرت‎ ʾAḥdāth Bīzart) occurred in July 1961 when Tunisia imposed a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte, Tunisia, hoping to force its evacuation. The crisis culminated in a three-day battle between French and Tunisian forces that left some 630 Tunisians and 24 French dead and eventually led to France ceding the city and naval base to Tunisia in 1963.

After Tunisia gained independence from France in 1956, France remained in control of the city and its naval base, a strategic port on the Mediterranean, which played an important part in French operations during the Algerian War. France had promised to negotiate the future of the base, but had so far refused to remove it. Tunisia was further infuriated upon learning that France planned to expand the airbase.

In 1961, Tunisian forces surrounded and blockaded the naval base in hopes of forcing France to abandon its last holdings in the country. After Tunisia warned France against any violations of Tunisian airspace, the French defiantly sent a helicopter. Tunisian troops responded by firing warning shots. In response to the blockade, 800 French paratroopers were sent in. As the paratroopers landed on the airfield, Tunisian troops sprayed them with machine gun fire. In response, French jets armed with rockets, and 105mm howitzers blasted the Tunisian roadblocks, destroying them. French tanks and armored cars then rolled into Tunisian territory, and fired into the town of Menzel-Bourguiba, killing 27 soldiers and civilians.

Bizerte

Bizerte (Tunisian Arabic: بنزرت‎  Benzart); historically: Phoenician: 𐤄𐤉𐤁𐤅 𐤀𐤊𐤓𐤀‎ Hippo Acra, Latin: Hippo Diarrhytus and Hippo Zarytus), also known in English as Bizerta, is the capital city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia and the northernmost city in Africa. Located 65 km (40mil) north of the capital Tunis, the city had 142,966 inhabitants in 2014.

History

Bizerte is known as the oldest and most European city in Tunisia. It was founded around 1100 BC by Semitic Phoenicians from Tyre. It is also known as the last town to remain under French control after the rest of the country won its independence from France.

Historical names

The city has several very different names in ancient authors. Scylax of Caryanda, who first mentioned the names Hippo Acra and Hippo Polis, these names are derived from the Punic: 𐤄𐤉𐤁𐤅 𐤀𐤊𐤓𐤀‎ Hippo Acra during the period of the Carthaginians. The name of Hippo is certainly derived from a Phoenician word and not Ancient Greek, found in simple or compound state across North Africa to Spain, (as Hippo Regius in Numidia now Annaba in Algeria, not far from Bizerte). According to Polybius, the ancient Greeks added to Hippo, the nickname Diarrhytos, which means: "Divided by the water" (canal of Bizete); Hippo Diarrhytos :("Ἱππὼν διάρρυτος"). During the periods of the Romans, the Vandals and the Byzantine Empire ; the city kept its names Hippo Diarrhytus and Hippo Zarytus. Its current Arabic name: (Banzart/بنزرت), drift of a phonetic transformation of its antique name.