Cause:
Tunis under the government of the Beys formed part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1862 Italy began to take an interest in Tunis. A triple British, French, and Italian control over Tunisian finances was established in 1869. In 1878, at the Congress of Berlin, Great Britain came to a secret understanding to allow France a free hand in Tunis in return for French acquiescence in the British lease of Cyprus.