Much has been written from the historical point of view about that unique and pacesetting revolution called ‘The Haitian Revolution’. It is unique and pacesetting because it is the only successful slave revolution known to human history. The Haitian revolution was a many faceted and long drawn out conflict between privilege and liberty. There were several unequal groups in Haiti. The first group, made up of those who had privileges of both birth and position, clung desperately to their position and privilege in Haitian colonial society. This group did not want to lose any of their privileges which they took as their inalienable birthright. These were the landed French gentry. They did not want any of the other groups to join them, or share in their privileges. They were free men who also owned other men as slaves.

Overview, Class and Racial Divisions in Haiti

The second broad group was made up of those who by accident of birth became a bridge between master and slave. They were the mulattoes. These were the product and consequence of the concupiscence of white male colonists for their black female slaves. Mulattoes were free men and could and did inherit properties of their white fathers. These properties of course included black African slaves bought by their white fathers. However, there was a limit to their freedom and privilege. They could not participate in the political process of governing Haiti. Initially, this was all the deprivation which the mulattoes suffered. When the Mulattoes started agitating for equality with their ‘lily white’ half brothers, additional roadblocks were put on their way. They were banned from such prestigious vocations as Law and Medicine.

The Third group which occupied the bottom rung in colonial Haitian society comprised black African slaves owned by the other two groups. These had neither freedom nor privileges. They were regarded as disposable commodity by their owners. The struggle by the mulattos to attain equality with the whites set the stage for conflict between the first two groups on the one hand. The desire of the black slaves to throw off the yoke of slavery, and attain freedom and some modicum of human dignity, was the platform for war with the two privileged, slave owning groups. Then add to the equation the untenable position of the runaway slaves, called Maroons, who were being hunted like wild animals by their former owners; and you have a perfect recipe for a murky conflict in which alliances kept changing from one day to the next.

Initial Skirmishes

Hostilities between the three broad racial groups in Haiti predates the year 1791, when full scale rebellion broke out in what is generally hreferred to as the "Slave Rebellion". Right from the onset of massive importation of black Africans as slaves in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, enslaved men and women had always wanted to regain their freedom from the dehumanizing state of slavery. Before the general uprising of 1791, there were some notable rebellions which could be said to be direct preludes to the main Haitian revolution. The main revolution in Saint Dominique beginning in the year 1791 and culminating in declaration of independence for Haiti on January 1, 1804, cannot be fully appreciated, unless we look at social developments in Saint Dominique in the period preceding 1791.

The Maroon Challenge

The runaway slaves, otherwise called Maroons, were the arrowhead of the Haitian Revolution. But for the Maroons, led by capable men like Makandal, Boukman, Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, it was doubtful whether the Haitian Revolution would have succeeded. After running away from the plantations and their cruel and inhumane masters, the slaves blended together in communities hidden in the virtually inaccessible mountains and forests of Hispaniola. From their hideouts, Maroons bands emerged in the dead of night to terrorize their erstwhile slave masters. They burnt down ‘white’ owned plantations and slaughtered their owners.

With their knowledge of herbal preparations, Maroon leaders like Makandal, poisoned crops and animals on the plantations, in addition to dealing severely with plantation owners. The French colonists on their part showed the same degree of vicious cruelty to any Maroon leader who was unfortunate to be captured. They were hanged in the public square and their heads displayed on stakes as an example and a warning to other would be rebels. The clashes between Maroons and French colonists continued for a very long time until the showdown of 1791.

The Mulatto Challenge

As offspring of the same white fathers, and being equally educated as the whites, if not better, the mulattoes could not understand why they were being treated as second class citizens by the whites. They therefore challenged the status quo, sometimes through peaceful means, and at other times through armed rebellion. The French colonists ignored the peaceful approach, and when mulattoes resorted to armed conflict, their rebellion was forcefully and brutally put down, and their leaders hanged in the public square. Being so outsmarted and outgunned by the whites, the mulattoes were conveniently obliged to embrace the equally rebellious Maroons. This marriage of convenience evolved into the biggest and most efficient fighting force in human history at that period.

Prosecution of the Revolutionary War

The Haitian Revolution was truly a war of liberation. In order to claim equal rights with their white French half brothers, the Mulattoes sought total emancipation from the role of second class citizens. The domestic and plantation slaves of Saint Dominique along with their runaway brothers, the Maroons, wanted nothing less than total liberation from the shackles of degrading, dehumanizing slavery. The three groups, Mulattos, Maroons and docile slaves thus had a common cause, which required a common approach, armed confrontation with white French colonists.

Each group spawned great military strategists as leaders. The Mulatto forces under the capable leadership of André Rigaud, Alexandre Pétion, captured the west and south of the colony. The Maroon forces were initially led by Boukman. Upon his death, overall control of all black fighting men fell to François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture. The colonial army was reinforced by thousands of troops from France. The war campaign was vicious. Each of the antagonists came up with a policy of taking no prisoners. With a battle cry taken straight from the revolutionary mouth of Thomas Paine "give me liberty or give me death" the forces of black liberation eventually went on to win freedom and liberation for the slaves of Saint Dominique. From the ruins and ashes of war torn Saint Dominique, the first Black Republic was born and christened ‘Haiti’ taken from the Arawack name for the island: Ayiti.