Discuss the factors that contributed to the success of the Haitian Revolution

(a) The perfect timing: By far, the Haitian Revolution had one thing over most of the Rebellions in the Caribbean and that was a perfect timing. In 1789, there was the outbreak of the French Revolution. Since the colonies were affected by anything that had occurred in the metropole, the planters were discontent and focused most of their attention at the interruption of the French economy. By 1791, the free-coloured led a revolt and so this again mad it almost impossible for the planters and the whites overall, to predict a revolt or even so, noticed a planning. By 1792, when the Rebellion had begun the whites were confused and surprised. The rebellion thus had the element of surprise and on top of that, it was well planned. (b) The acquisition of weaponry: Most Rebellion in the Caribbean could not gain success because of the lack of weapons. With this, the troops were faster and more advanced and this led to the rapid failure of such uprisings. In 1791 when the free-coloured were rebelling against the high level of inequality, the whites gave the slaves weapons to fight for them. These weapons were taken and wren never given back. (c) The presence of an external force (the United States): By as early as the 1800s, the leader, Toussaint, had signed treaties with the United States and so weaponry on behalf of John Adams, the president of the United States at the period, was sent to the island. The slaves thus had outside assistance, one thing that no other rebellion had. (d) The desire of the slaves (the abolition of slavery in 1793 by France): The slaves had the determination to fight and this must be commented. At no time was there any form of disunity that affected the fighting force of the rebels. As compared to the Jamaica Rebellion (1831) and Cuffys Revolt (1763), the only two rebellion that even came close to a victory, there was no level view point as there was still a lot of disunity among them. One may argue that this determination was strengthened by France granting freedom to the slaves in 1793. The slaves now having the freedom to

do as they pleased refused to allow any other European or even France to come and take it back. This made them even more willing to fight and on top of that made them more alerted for any sudden actions by the metropolitan countries. (e) The disunity among the whites: There was a high level of disunity among the whites. The French militia not only had to be fighting the rebels, but other European nations such as Spain and Britain who had came to take the island away from France. Even so, the planters refused to fight and many of the whites fled the island to other islands when it was clear that the slaves had an advantage. (f) The presence of diseases that affected the Europeans: The series of diseases and food poisoning of Le Clerc troops was of vital importance. Yellow fever, malaria and yaws killed most of them. Furthermore, some of the soldiers caught fish and they were cooked over Oleander plant. Scientist lists this plant as one of the top deadly plants and this is logically why most of them were killed by diseases because the toxic from the plant had weakened their immune system. Military Campaigns (a) The bold military campaigns of the slaves: they employed their weapons well and the natural environment around them. They used guerrilla warfare and they merged themselves into the forest using green and brown pigments. (b) A series of well competent leaders: The slaves were lead accordingly by Boukman, Dessaline, Christopte and the most important of all Toussaint, who had organized the slaves into a fighting force. These leaders did well to displace disunity and made effective plans that were easy to understand and stick to. (c) The military abilities of Toussaint: He organized the slaves into a strong fighting force and he acted as an opportunist fighting for the Spainish and then for the British and changed sides when necessary. In the end, they defeated the Spanish, the French

and the English with the few arms they had remained. (d) Orders were maintained and plans went accordingly. Each rebel had a set of orders to maintain in the battlefield and they worked together. They all employed such strategies as fake deaths, distractions, misguiding and even deceptions.