First Barbary War

USS Enterprise fighting the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli by William Bainbridge Hoff, 1878

Date	10 May 1801 – 10 June 1805
Location	Off the Mediterranean coast of Tripoli; Derne
Result	Swedish-American victory; peace treaty

Belligerents

United States

Sweden (1801–02)

Kingdom of Sicily (incl. the Malta Protectorate)

Portugal

Morocco

Eyalet of Tripolitania

Morocco (1802–04)

Commanders and leaders

Strength

United States
First Squadron:
4 frigates
1 schooner
Second Squadron:
6 frigates
1 schooner
Third Squadron:
2 frigates
3 brigs
2 schooners
1 ketch
Swedish Royal Navy:
3 frigates
William Eaton's invasion:
8 US Marines, William Eaton, 3 Midshipmen, and several civilians
Approx. 500 Greek and Arab mercenaries

Various cruisers
11–20 gunboats
4,000 soldiers

Casualties and losses

United States:
35 killed
64 wounded
Greek & Arab mercenaries:
killed and wounded unknown

Estimated 800 dead, 1,200 wounded at Derne plus ships and crew lost in naval defeats

The First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Tripolitanian War and the Barbary Coast War, was the first of two Barbary Wars between the United States, Sweden and the four North African states known collectively as the "Barbary States". Three of these were nominal provinces of the Ottoman Empire, but in practice autonomous: Tripoli, Algiers, and Tunis. The fourth was the independent Sultanate of Morocco. The cause of the war was pirates from the Barbary States seizing American merchant ships and holding the crews for ransom, demanding the U.S. pay tribute to the Barbary rulers. United States President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay this tribute, in addition Sweden had been at war with the Tripolitans since 1800.

Barbary corsairs and crews from the North African Ottoman provinces of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the independent Sultanate of Morocco under the Alaouite dynasty (the Barbary Coast) were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and enslaving or ransoming their crews provided the Muslim rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power. The Roman Catholic Trinitarian Order, or order of "Mathurins", had operated from France for centuries with the special mission of collecting and disbursing funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates. According to Robert Davis, between 1 and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries.

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