A very well written narrative of the Haitian Revolution. As Dubois points out, this was the only successful slave revolt in human history, with its success brought about by a unique convergence of turmoil in Haiti and the collapse of the French government associated with French Revolution. While Dubois focuses on events in Haiti, he does very in relating the relevant developments in French politics crucial to understanding events in Haiti. Dubois starts by describing the complex situation in Haiti on the eve of the revolution. The most productive colony of the French empire, the population of Haiti was dominated by slaves, most recently or relatively recently arrived from Africa. In addition to the small white planter class, Haiti also contained small by significant populations of free blacks, mixed raced people of color, some of them affluent plantation owners and merchants, and landless whites. In the second half of the 18th century, increasing hardening of social and racial barriers and efforts of the French government to extend control produced significant strains in Haiti. At the same time, the penetration of Enlightenment ideas of rights provided an intellectual framework for alternative ways to organize society. The collapse of the French government and the French Revolution with its attachment to relatively radical ideas of human rights and equality produced an opportunity for groups within Haiti to take control of the colony. White plantars struggled to impose their own oligarchy on the island, free people of color struggled to achieve social and political equality, and the slaves would seize the opportunity to overturn any form of the existing order. Dubois nicely lays out the complex events in Haiti, the interaction with the developments in France, and the important roles of international rivalries in the Caribbean. The end result would be a Haiti dominated by a native controlled military led by blacks and men of color. The most of important of these figures being the remarkable Toussaint, who became the preeminent figure in Haiti. The success of the revolution, however, resulted in further complex and ironic developments.
The prosperity of Haiti was dependent on continuation of the plantation regime. Toussaint and other inheritors of power in Haiti attempted to reconstruct the plantation economy, to a great extent by using coercive labor laws. Like the white planters he overthrew, Toussaint also wished to maintain a very wide scope of autonomy for Haiti, allowing open trade with Britain and the USA, and maintaining native control of the colony. This resulted in conflict with Napoleon's government, resulting in a French attempt to reconquer the colony and reimpose slavery. Greatly assisted by tropical diseases, the Haitian insurgents were able to beat back the French effort and become an independent nation. Again, Dubois does very well in narrating this complex and often brutal story.
Dubois also does well in describing some of the consequences of the Haitian revolution. Its effects in US history were great. The failure of the Napoleonic effort at reconquest resulted in the Louisiana purchase. The Haitian revolution also had a great effect on Southern slaveholders, greatly increasing their insecurity and generating the anxiety that often led to over-reactions to American abolitionism. A bit more analysis of the background and context of the Haitian Revolution, however, would have improved this book. The efforts of the pre-Revolution French government to extend control over Haiti was typical of efforts was a pan-European phenomenon. Similarly, the increasing social stratification of Haitian society, occurring at the same time as Enlightenment ideals of reason, rights, and equality were spreading, was also typical of metropolitan France. Where does Haiti fit into some of the other revolts against authority that occurred across the Atlantic world in roughly this time frame?
