The struggle of Tunisia until independence

02The struggle of Tunisia until independence

• The leaders of the national movement tried to put the Tunisian case before the Peace Conference on the basis of the right of self-determination, and they met the same refusal to be heard that the Egyptian delegation met.
• Between the two wars the leadership of Habib Bourguiba was distinguished by combining Arab and French culture in mobilising the masses.
• France's defeat at the start of the Second World War weakened its position towards national movements; for that reason the arrest of the national leaders gathered in a national congress in 1946 caused a world uproar.
• The Tunisian question was put before the United Nations in 1952, and France, under pressure from the national struggle and from Arab and world support, was obliged to declare its agreement to the independence of Tunisia (March 1956) — but it kept the naval base of Bizerte, which it finally evacuated in 1963.