The Barbary Wars

Discover the captivating history of the first American wars in Africa!

In this book, you'll learn about the Barbary Wars of 1801 to 1805 and 1815, the first American wars outside of North America. The enemies were the Muslim Barbary pirates of the North African coast.

Discover how American sailors were captured and turned into slaves in Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Why did this happen? And why didn't the US Navy do more to stop it? Discover the answers to these in this comprehensive guide!

You'll also learn about the origin of the Barbary corsairs who made slave raids on Europe for 250 years and traveled as far as Ireland and Iceland. You'll find out the embarrassing history of how the US Congress authorized paying protection money to these pirates and how American taxes subsidized pirate ships.

Discover how the pirates captured a big American frigate and its crew and threatened to burn them alive if they weren't paid a ransom. Learn how one of the most courageous special operations in Navy history stopped a ship from becoming a pirate ship.

There is so much to unpack in this book. Some of the things you will be captivated to learn about include the following:

How an American warship carried a harem, a zoo, a hundred slaves, and treasure to Istanbul

Why the United States decided to build a navy

Why a big pirate ship was built in New Hampshire and delivered to Algiers

Where that phrase in the "Marines Hymn" "to the shores of Tripoli" comes from

Why the US Navy borrowed ships from Sicily

And so much more!