Early life of Habib Bourguiba and education. In 1973, Bourguiba testified on this controversy that had been his political start: Bourguiba had also reacted to the statement of Maurice Viollette, governor-general of Algeria, who proclaimed "North Africa is an integral part of France and that it was impossible for France to abandon a bit of it". 1930 was the peak of French colonization in North Africa, which led France to celebrate the centenary of the French conquest of Algeria, by organizing a eucharistic congress in Tunisia. On this occasion, millions of Europeans invaded the capital city and went to the Saint-Lucien de Carthage cathedral, disguised
Habib Bourguiba Bourguiba decided to react by sabotaging Thaalbi's meetings. In Mateur, the fight ended with numerous deaths and injured but Bourguiba succeeded in strengthening his positions and appearing as the unique leader of the nationalist movement, rejecting, once and for all Pan-Arabism and anti-occidentalism. The split up was, therefore, final between both parties. Fearing attacks, the Destourian party gave up public meetings, using newspapers to respond their opponents. However, Bourguiba chose moderation regarding the relation with France. Meanwhile, within the party, two factions appeared: The first one, moderate, was led by El Materi, Guiga and Sfar, favoring dialogue while the second