No description available.

As early as the 18th century, the Ottoman provinces, of which the Beylik of Tunis was one, entered into a period of decline from which the West emerged the principal beneficiary. These circumstances forced the Regency of Tunis to redefine itself a redefinition which initially took the shape of military reforms. If it is true that this restructuring was a reply to the nascent imperialism of the West, it is also true that it has a context within the relations which Tunis maintained with Istanbul. In order to understand these reforms one must examine them in the light of the internal evolution of the Tunisian military institutions. Therefore, following a review of the literature on the subject, chapter 2 surveys the relations of the Beylik of Tunis with the West and with the Sublime Porte, while chapters 3 and 4 describe, respectively, the military institutions before the reforms and the military reforms themselves.