When the United States won its freedom from Great Britain, it gained the ability to choose its own destiny. It also lost the protection of the Royal Navy. Now you wouldn't think that to be a bad exchange, but for a young nation who foolishly cashiered off its own navy after the war, this proved to be a bit of a detriment.

You see, along the northern coast of Africa were several states that were run by local war-lords called by different names, but still war-lords. These were people of Muslim faith who saw absolutely nothing wrong with piracy on the seas and enslavement of Christians. These non-Mulsims were infidels and so it was perfectly OK to do with them as they saw fit. This white slavery meant years of abuse and often death. It also enraged European nations (who ironically saw nothing wrong with enslavement of black Christians but that is another story). Among those was Great Britain who sent the Royal Navy to bombard and put siege on these states until they agreed not to endanger British ships.

However, freedom from the British meant a loss of protection, so the young United States lost some of that freedom in the requirement to pay tribute to these Barbary states to keep their ships from being attacked and their crews enslaved. Not only that, but some of this tribute was in the form of weapons and warships.

Meanwhile, the US government saw the foolishness of disbanding the Navy and reinstated it and a ship building program. Not to ruin a great story, the war with the Barbary States brought many names to the American historical records. Men such as Bainbridge and Decatur; ships such as Intrepid and Enterprise.

The author has done a superb job of telling a most interesting saga in the early history of a young United States. These events saw the rise of the US Navy and the US Marine Corps as the country realized that it needed more than coastal defense to be a player (albeit a small one) on the world stage. These battles were the first power projection and set a standard that is still kept to this day.

Part of Osprey's 'Essential History' series, this is a superlative book filled with art work of the period for illustration and excellent maps to help us envision the operations against these pirates. It is a book that I found thoroughly engrossing and I'm sure you will as well.

November 2006

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