Today is Evacuation Day, a public holiday in Tunisia. This holiday commemorates the retreat of last French soldiers from Bizerte on this day in 1963.
France occupied Tunisia in 1881, as part of a partition plan of the Western powers, led by Great Britain and France, known as the ‘scramble for Africa’. The French more or less occupied the Maghreb region of North Africa.
Following independence from France in 1956, France had maintained control of the city of Bizerte, a strategic location south of Sicily. France also kept land farmed by colonists in Tunisia’s most fertile areas. In July 1961, Tunisian forces blockaded the city in an attempt to wrest control of the city from France. After a few days of fighting, the French took control of Bizerte.
Evacuation Day commemorates the eventual retreat of the last French soldiers from Bizerte on October 15th 1963, when French Admiral Maurice Amman left the city, announcing the end of the French colonial phase in Tunisia.
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On this day in 1973, Dolly Parton released ‘Jolene’ as the first single and title track from her album of the same name. According to Parton, the song which peaked at No. 1 on the Country charts was inspired by a red-headed bank clerk who flirted with her husband Carl Dean at his local bank branch when they were newly married. ‘Jolene’ is the song most recorded by other artists, out of all the songs Parton has written. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0eeSoU35wM
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