The Haitian Revolution - The War of Knives - Extra History - Part 5

poor top house 1796 the British soldiers come ashore and die come ashore and die one of the largest expeditions to this point in British history 20,000 men and thousands of German mercenaries disembark within four months most are cut down by yellow fever back in Britain troops riot upon the announcement of a deployment to Santa ma British forces end up hiring 7,000 black mercenaries to fight for them some reports will claim that 60% of the British expedition 15,000 men will die and those that make it to the interior of the island find something frightening the troops

of Brigadier General Toussaint L'Ouverture and his ally Andre Rico fighting like professional soldiers they do after all have years of combat experience but soon instead of fighting the British they will fight each other with general emancipation declared and the departure of the Spanish things started to level out for Tucson not calm down necessarily I mean he was still fighting but with the British pinned to the coast and rivals fighting low-intensity conflicts he could turn to actually governing he was in control of the north province while his ally and rival Andre rego a free person of

color who long taken part in the group's insurrection controlled the south thus the colony was essentially divided into two rival administrative centres that would ultimately come to blows in what would be known as the war of knives but in 1793 the word was consolidation finally to saw had a chance to enact his vision for an integrated post-slavery society one that brought the white free people of color and black populations into a peaceful functioning hole which would prove difficult part of that difficulty was that some to mom's economy was dysfunctional by design France had wanted the

colonists to be dependent on France and had therefore restricted industry to the point that the island was solely focused on producing sugar coffee and indigo it was restricted from making any moves that might make it self-sufficient in fact it had to import food to sustain its population so the only system that worked was to continue producing sugar coffee and indigo but a few problems there first the destruction of the plantation infrastructure early in the revolution meant that major rebuilding would need to take place second many of those plantations still had living owners many of them

refugees and could not simply be given away under French law they had to be managed in trust and finally no one wanted to go back to doing the same awful work they'd been forced to do when they were enslaved but to saw an Drago sold that last situation using the same means everyone in this conflict always used military force they used troops to force people back onto the plantations now this was not slavery it was forced work the difference being that the workers were paid physical punishment was forbidden and no one's spouse or children were

getting sold away they also had rights and protections as citizens including the right to legally marry this is a stain on to Saul's legacy as were the violent repression C unleashed on those who rose against this forced labor program but into cells estimation this and other autocratic actions he would take were necessary to guard the freedoms that they had one he knew that Santa ma fairly or not would be seen as a test case for abolitionism and what happened there would send a message across the world about whether freed slaves could not only be integrated

into a wider society but could build and sustain their own government if Santa Mon collapsed not only might slavery return in fact there were big whites in Paris advocating for just that but opponents would draw the conclusion that abolition had been a mistake and such a determination would have global consequences and to saw increasingly believed he was the only one that could secure the revolution and the freedom stayed one as he fought the British his power growing he began to edge out political rivals even allies when one longtime rival rebelled and captured the colony's governor

accusing him of trying to reinstate slavery - Sol rescued the man and got named lieutenant governor for the service during the election for the colonies representatives in France - saw steered his rival to victory so that then they would be forced to live in France far from his developing power center he would get himself declared Governor General shortly afterward and in 1798 he started conducting his own diplomacy he concluded a secret peace with the British where they would withdraw their troops and naval blockade from San Tomas in exchange for the return of French Royalists and

a promise that to song would not export the uprising to Barbados that concluded he sent a representative to the United States striking a deal with John Adams so the undeclared naval war between the US and France would not affect trade with Santa ma because you see another running theme to think about and you're keeping track of all of these right was that Santa mom was always a piece in a larger game the United States was right next door as was British Barbados and France supported whatever leader in their estimation best served their interests and that

interplay of various powers sponsoring or intervening in the islands affairs will become a major part of Haitian history all the way to present day in other words to saw was increasingly behaving like the leader of an independent nation though he did so with the veneer of French support he was after all a Brigadier General of the Republic and would remain so as long as the French upheld their abolition of slavery in fact to saw had essentially ejected the previous governor meanwhile relationships between Tucson and Rigo began to sour partially due to that expelled governor playing

political games about which one was higher ranking and partially due to the fact that they both wanted total control soon Rigo appealed to france casting himself as the loyal revolutionary and to saw as a dictatorial usurper who wanted independence ii saw by contrast began claiming that Rocco planned to reimpose slavery a slender ago turned back on him of course neither wanted that but there were factions on both sides willing to believe it too saw had invited back many plantation owners in order to rebuild the economy so it seemed plausible from that angle and Rigo had

rebuilt the southern province with a caste system with the free people of color on top so again people could imagine it both leaders had alienated supporters with their forced work policies and those alienated groups started believing that the other leader would never treat them like that and both accused the other of perpetrating a race war even though there were representatives of all of the islands groups on both sides strip away the rhetoric though and this was a struggle between two leaders for supremacy On June 6th 1799 or a ghost sent four thousand troops to seize

several border towns and negotiate the defection of one of two saws veteran regiments the act triggered a small uprising into Sal's northern territory and he dodged two assassination attempts in one to saw had his hat shot off and an aide killed in another his carriage was peppered with a volley of bullets though by pure chance he was not inside thus began a civil war that would come to be known as the war of knives and it earned that title through blood both sides offered no quarter and prisoners when taken at all rarely lasted long at

the outset of the conflict Rico's forces better trained and equipped made quick gains against who saw but the northern general had an enormous numerical advantage and the increasingly open support of the United States not only were the Americans shipping to saw arms at times the United States Navy intervened directly providing fire support during sieges and blockading ports the American Consul even issued passports to do sol ships allowing them to pass the blockade when Rico ships could not and during this vicious fighting one of two cells commanders rose to prominence Brigadier General Jacques de Saline a

former slave who had fought through the Revolution and who was known for massacring prisoners and rebels with such vindictiveness that to Saul censored him for it though in fact it is possible to saw actually ordered these reprisal killings using dessaline as a willing scapegoat to avoid ruining his carefully crafted image of generosity and kindness the war ground to a stalemate Rigo besieged in pinned but to saw unwilling to expend the casualties necessary to dislodge him and then another commission arrived from France yeah another one announcing another change in government general Napoleon Bonaparte had overthrown the

political system and declared himself consul his message to reaffirm that in the eyes of France to Seoul was the leader of Santa ma the war ended basically overnight with two saw allowing Rigaud to slip away into exile in France which left who saw free to invade Santo Domingo while technically still French was still administered by the Spanish he claimed it was to prevent his free citizens from getting kidnapped and sold into slavery there but it may have actually been a bid to bolster his forces through liberation and control all of the islands ports because Napoleon's

representatives also brought word of a new constitution what rescinded the idea that colonies should have the same laws as France instead they would have special laws you know tailored to their unique conditions in other words Napoleon planned to bring back slavery in response to saw grow his own constitution his own special laws stating that sound to mom was a sovereign black state one that rejected slavery outright and one where he was governor for life he all but declared independence and then prepared for invasion special thanks to our educational tier patrons Ahmed Zayat Turk Joseph Blaine

and Dominic Valenciana [Music]