Early life of Habib Bourguiba

This article is part of a series about Habib Bourguiba
Ancestry Early life Personal life Political career Tunisian national movement Bourguibism Chronology 1930 to 1934 1934 to 1939 1939 to 1945 1945 to 1949 1949 to 1956 L'Action Tunisienne Naturalization issue Neo Destour Ksar Hellal Congress Independence Premiership Code of Personal Status President of Tunisia Presidency Bizerte crisis Socialist Destourian Party Arab Islamic Republic Bread riots Operation Wooden Leg 1987 coup d'état Later life Legacy Bibliography
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Habib Bourguiba was officially born on August 3, 1903, in Monastir to Ali Bourguiba (1850–1925) and Fattouma Khefacha (1861–1913). Being their eighth and last child, his birth was a shame to his mother and a worry to his father, who conceived him in an advanced age. Born into a modest family, the young Habib was raised in a female environment and was marked by gender inequality. Despite his financial conditions, Ali Bourguiba decided to invest his money in the education of his son and therefore, avoid him his fate of being enrolled in the army. Likewise, he sent his son to Tunis, c. 1907, to live with his brother M'hamed, in order to study in elementary school of Sadiki. Separated from his mother at 5, he lived in modest conditions in the capital city, and the Jellaz Affair made a deep impression on him. In 1913, he obtained his Certificat d'études primaires to the relief of his father, exempting him from military service and permitted him to pursue his secondary education in Sadiki. However, in the same year, he lost his mother at the age of 10, which marked his entire life.

While Bourguiba began his secondary education, World War I started. If his was studious, he soon had health issues in his final year of studies because of the budget restrictions imposed by the school to support war effort. In order to heal, he was sent to his brother Muhammed, who lived in Kef. Influenced by colonial inequalities, he decided to pursue with law studies and therefore, fight against the French protectorate. Supported by his brother Mahmoud, who enrolled him in the French Lycée Carnot. Two events in which he was part during his youth made a strong impression on him: The return of Abdelaziz Thâalbi from exile and the protests of April 5, 1922, which increased his nationalist aspirations. In 1924, he got his baccalaureate, as valedictorian and flew to Paris in order to pursue his Higher education.

In the French capital city, he enrolled in the Law school of Sorbonne and spent his time discovering the colonial civilization to "arm himself intellectually" against it. There, he met Mathilde Lefras, a fourteen-year older widow, with whom he had a relationship. In 1927, when he obtained a law licence, Mathilde gave birth to their son, Habib Jean Bourguiba. When he returned to Tunisia, Bourguiba married Moufida and searched for a job as a lawyer, to provide the needs of family. He quickly started a journalistic career in order to defend the Tunisian personality.