Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 1: America Wanted to Take 1776 to the High Seas. North African Pirates Disagreed.

Key Battles of American History

History

4.7 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

In this new mini-series, Scott Rank is rejoined by James Early (his co-host on many other military history mini-series, covering the Civil War, World War One, and the Revolutionary War) to look at a little-known war that pitted the infant United States against the Barbary States of North Africa.

The Barbary Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and the Barbary States of North Africa (modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) from 1801 to 1815, fought over the piracy and tribute demands imposed on American ships. These wars marked the U.S. Navy's first significant overseas military engagements and helped establish American maritime power. We also see the birth of of the U.S. Marines and how they literally fought on the shore of Tripoli.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's
0:10.5	founding right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased
0:16.2	its size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.
0:24.0	Welcome to Key Battles of American History,
0:26.8	a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.
0:32.8	Here is your host, James Early.
0:43.6	Thank you. Your host, James Early. From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.
0:51.4	We fight our country's battles in the air, Atlantic Sea.
0:59.7	James, what happened?
1:00.8	Was there a press gang that came around and threw us into a brig, and now we've been recruited into the Marines without realizing it?
1:07.1	Where are we?
1:08.0	Oh, man, we are on a ship, yes, but we are actually headed for North Africa.
1:12.6	We are going to go and try to teach some pirates a lesson. So, and we're going to follow along
1:19.9	in this journey, and we're going to follow in the footsteps of people that went to more than
1:25.2	200 years before us. So it's going to be an exciting journey.
1:29.0	Yeah, and I'm not sure if you can get pressed into the Marines.
1:31.7	It seems a little bit more complicated in that,
1:33.6	but we're going to meet some people that definitely could get pressed into the Navy
1:36.6	if they had a little bit too much rum at a tavern.
1:39.1	And you wake up, you're on the deck of a ship,
1:42.0	someone throws water at you and tells you to get up landlubber and you have to swab the decks.
1:47.6	It's pretty rough being in the Navy 200 years ago, wouldn't you say?
	...

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