Tripoli, Libya, 1804. The U.S. Navy dropped its anchors in front of the city’s port. They tried to blow up the strongholds that protected the city, but in vain. In the winter of the following year, with the help of the Libyan rebels against the Paxa of Tripoli, they managed to land and take over the city of Derna. But because of the low efficiency of the U.S. Marines, and without the help of European powers such as the English at the time, which were hostile to them, they failed to fulfill their mission to remove the Pasha, and the Americans were forced to leave North Africa. It was only two decades since the Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence internationally, and thus this defeat was the first act of war by the Marines of the newborn country outside their borders. It wouldn’t be the last, of course.

Behind this military action 200 years ago there was still no oil, but there were economic interests. Between 1801 and 1805 there were conflicts in Mediterranean waters between Nelson's English fleet and Napoleon's navy, but there was an older problem: The pirates were operating under the protection of the North African authorities. The newborn U.S. immediately became interested in trading in the Mediterranean. To that end, a number of agreements had been signed with those coastal States to overcome the pirate obstacle. In 1787 the agreement was concluded with the Sultan of Morocco, in 1795 with the Mare de Algiers and, in 1797, with the Pasha de Tripoli. But in view of the Americans’ success, they immediately began to demand more money and, when President Monroe refused, the Tripoli paracha and other authorities began to attack American ships. Then they decided to attack Tripoli.

200 years later US ships are again off the coast of Libya and the capital is mentioned in the Marine Hymn: “From the walls of Moctezuma to the shores of Tripoli /we fight in the conflicts of our people, by land, by sea and by air.”