The Haitian Revolution
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The Haitian Revolution
"The Battle of Santo Domingo", a painting by Januarius Sukhodolsky depicting a clash between Polish troops in French service and Haitian rebels Date August 22, 1791 January 1, 1804
Place of Haiti
The result is the emergence of an independent state of Haiti
Opponents
Haiti France
Great Britain
Commanders
Toussaint Louverture,
Jean Jacques Dessalines Charles Leclerc,
Donacien Marie Joseph de Rochambeau,
Napoleon I Bonaparte
Forces of the parties
Regular army: up to 55,000
Volunteers: up to 100,000 Regular Army: 60,000,
86 ships
Losses
Military: unknown
Civilians: up to 100,000 killed Military: 57,000 killed (37,000 in combat, 20,000 from yellow fever)
Civilians: about 25,000 killed
Audio, photo, video on Wikimedia Commons
Dessalin on the obverse 250 gourds 2004
The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave uprising in history that took place in the French colony of San Domingo in 1791-1803, as a result of which the colony (which changed its name to Haiti) gained independence from France.
Great Britain tried to take away her colony from France, but the British army was also defeated.
The arriving flotilla of Napoleon also failed to suppress the uprising.
Haiti became the first republic under the rule of former slaves.
Content
1 Haiti to the beginning of the revolution 2 Revolution 3 Results 4 See also 5 References
Haiti to the beginning of the revolution[edit / edit wiki text]
By 1789, San Domingo was one of the most important European colonies, producing 40 % of the world's sugar.
There were at least 500,000 black slaves in Haiti — about half of the total number of slaves on the Caribbean islands.
Living conditions were very difficult, high mortality led to the fact that the number of slaves decreased by 2-5% annually.
The leading position in society was occupied by 40,000 French white colonists (with all administrative positions held by whites born in France), in addition, there were 28,000 free "colored" people on the island, many of whom became rich and owned plantations.
Revolution[edit / edit wiki text]
A few years before the start of the uprising, the mulattoes began to demand equal rights for the white and colored population of Haiti, especially after the Great French Revolution.
In 1789-1790, the rich mulatto planter Vincent Auger visited Paris, where he interpreted the laws adopted by the Constituent Assembly of France as giving equal rights to white and rich mulattoes.
When he returned, Auger demanded that the Mulattoes be given the right to vote.
When the governor of San Domingo refused to meet these demands, Auger rebelled in early 1791, but was captured by the colonial authorities and executed.
Although Auger's demands did not include the abolition of slavery, his rebellion was the impetus for a larger uprising, in which slaves played a major role.
On August 22, 1791, a slave uprising began in the northern part of the island, which soon engulfed the entire colony.
In the first two months, 2,000 whites were killed by rebellious slaves and 280 plantations were destroyed.
On April 4, 1792, the equality of all free people regardless of their skin color was proclaimed in France and its colonies, and a commission was sent to San Domingo, which tried to simultaneously resist the local white elite and suppress the slave revolt.
Soon Francois Dominique Toussaint Louverture became the leader of the rebels.
After the National Convention proclaimed the abolition of slavery in February 1794, the French general Etienne Laveau convinced Louverture to go over to the side of France.
Great Britain and Spain, at war with revolutionary France, tried to seize the rich colony, but Louverture defeated the British expeditionary forces in 1798 and in 1794-1801 occupied Santo Domingo the eastern part of the island belonging to Spain.
Louverture also defeated the commissioner of the French Directory, Gabriel d'edouville, who tried to restore slavery (1798), and was able to suppress the mulatto uprising led by Generals Andre Rigaud and Alexandre Petit.
In July 1801, the colonial assembly adopted a constitution, according to which San Domingo remained a possession of France, but received autonomy, and Toussaint Louverture became governor for life.
Napoleon Bonaparte refused to recognize the constitution and sent an army under the command of his relative Charles Leclerc to the island to restore the power of France, which was joined by the mulattoes Rigaud and Petion.
Many of Toussaint's allies, including Jean Jacques Dessalines, defected to the government forces.
Toussaint was promised freedom in exchange for joining his army to the French, to which he agreed in May 1802, but was deceived, arrested and taken to France, where he soon died in prison.
For several months, the island was under French control, but when it became clear that the French intended to restore slavery, Petion and Dessalines rebelled again in October 1802.
At this time, an epidemic of yellow fever began, from which Leclerc died (the Vicomte de Rochambeau became the new commander) and a significant part of his army, in addition, the British blockade deprived the French of the possibility of delivering reinforcements to the island.
Napoleon lost interest in the colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
As a result of all this, de Rochambeau's army was in a very difficult situation and on November 18, 1803, it suffered a final defeat.
Results[edit / edit wiki text]
Toussaint Louverture on gourdes 1992 and 2001
On January 1, 1804, the creation of a new state was proclaimed — the Republic of Haiti; the eastern part of the island returned to Spanish control.
Dessalines became the head of state and in October 1804 proclaimed himself Emperor Jacques I, creating the first Empire of Haiti.
The new Constitution of 1805 confirmed the abolition of slavery.
In 1804, there was a massacre of the white population, which amounted to about 42 thousand people, as a result of which only mulattoes and Negroes numbering about 500 thousand people remained in the country.[1]
Nevertheless, the standard of living among the black population remained extremely low, and in the new elite of society there was a conflict between Mulattoes and blacks, whose leaders were respectively Alexander Petion and Henri Christophe.
As a result, the state split into two parts, which were reunited in 1822.
Dessalines was killed by the conspirators in 1806.
The French colonial Empire (which in 1803 was also forced to sell Louisiana to the United States of America) was dealt a serious blow.
The Haitian uprising became a role model for many black slaves in America, including in the United States, although no slave uprising has managed to achieve such success.
In 1825, the Republic of Haiti agreed to pay compensation of 150 million francs to former slave owners (in 1838, the amount was reduced to 60 million francs), in exchange for which France recognized the independence of Haiti in 1834.
See also[edit / edit wiki text]
Polish Legions
Links[edit / edit wiki text]
The History of the Revolution (eng.)
The Louverture Project wiki project dedicated to the revolution in Haiti (English) History of Haiti
↑ Haiti (article in the popular science encyclopedia " Circumnavigation"
Source — "https://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Haitian Revolution&oldid=74975413"
Categories: Wars of the XVIII century Wars of the XIX century Wars of France The Great french revolution Wars of independence Uprisings History of Haiti Slave revolts 1790s 1800s
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