The Haitian Revolution, 1791--1803. Race, slavery, and the balance of power: A comparative analysis

This researcher will explore the reactions of the imperialist powers France, England and Spain vis a vis the Saint Domingue Revolution, and the influence of the embryonic Haitian state on the International Balance of Power. The investigator will concentrate on the period 1791--1803 of which four distinctive phases are discernible: Initial Reactions (1791--1792), Military Interventions (1793--1798), Black Rule (1798--1801), and the War of Independence (1802--1803). The researcher will draw upon in-depth analyses of a variety of sources, including: diplomatic, military and commercial papers of the imperialist powers toward the nascent republic; national libraries; newspaper reports, official dispatches, records, and private letters. Particular attention will be paid to distinct and oftentimes concerted efforts of the imperialist powers to calibrate their policies toward the black revolution and the burgeoning republic when the International Balance of Power was upset.;This study is divided into four chapters. The first is devoted to the initial reactions of the imperialist powers---notably England and Spain---to the Saint Domingue Revolution as they were France's fiercest commercial competitors in this mercantilist era. Chapter two deals with the concurrent military interventions in Saint Domingue by England in the West and Spain in the East as war broke out in Europe, as well as France's final effort in Saint Domingue with its Civil Commissions and the eventual abolition of slavery in 1794. The third chapter discusses the military defeats of England, Spain, and the French by the black general Toussaint Louverture and the subsequent establishment of Black Rule, with Haiti perceived as a potentially new black state within the International Balance of Power. Chapter four explores the peace of Europe and how England and Spain in concert sanctioned Napoleon's military invasion of Saint Domingue in fine tuning the International Balance of Power and the decisive naissance of Haiti as the first black republic in modern times.