The visual above shows a French soldier seemingly threatening a Haitian soldier in the war for Independence. The French soldier looks like he is ready to kill the soldier by throwing him overboard.We also see multiple other dead Haitians in the photo overboard who have been killed by the French. The French and Haitians fought violently, which was the cause of many years of hatred and rage from both sides. By the look of the boats in the background there were heavy casualties in this photo and this represents the brutality each side had. In the text below it says “The mode of exterminating the black army, as practiced by the French”. The overall goal of the French army was not only to destroy the revolt but also, reinstall their dominance in Saint Domingue but to kill and conquer over the Haitians rebels. France wanted to dominant Saint Domingue and bring back slavery so they can gain lucrative profit from its plantations.
There were many reasons why the fighting was ferocious in Saint Domingue. Decades of hate between the slaves and French had brought rage upon the slaves. Saint Domingue was a key financial resource in the French Empire. The French’s most valuable financial asset in its empire was Saint Domingue. It was so precious that after France was defeated in the seven years war, they gave up Canada in order to keep it. France focused on keeping up with Britain, Spain and Portugal’s influence in the new world. With the threat of the other nations slaves were brought in by the thousands to Saint Domingue, to the point where most of the population in the country was slaves. The slaves however did not have any revolts until the declaration of rights of man in 1789. This document persuaded slaves to begin revolts against their owners and fight for their freedom. This was the first few signs of Independence. The slaves’ aggression started in 179, and it was in the Northern part of the colony.There they killed over 4,000 white men and burned over 180 slave plantations. They also brutally killed these men too, by hangings, stabs and other forms of executions. The revolt would come to halt in 1793 but start back up again in 1803. During that time slaves were free for a little and a war was fought against Britain and Spain. When the revolution started back up again in 1803 it seemed more personal between the French and Haitians. The Haitians were angered that French tried to reinstall slavery and dominant the colony and the French whom where now more focused on Saint Domingue tried to get payback for the brutal executions the Haitians had on the French.
The visual just shows how brutal it got, men were thrown overboard and killed in terrible ways. This revolt would go down as being very gruesome and deadly. The Haitians would go on and win the revolution in 1804.
Work Cited:
“The Mode of Exterminating the Black Army, as Practised by the French.” Edited by J. Barlow, The Mode of Exterminating the Black Army, as Practised by the French. – JCB Archive of Early American Images, 1805, https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~577~230089:The-Mode-of-exterminating-the-Black?sort=image_date%2Csubject_groups&qvq=q%3A06847%3Bsort%3Aimage_date%2Csubject_groups%3Blc%3AJCB~1~1&mi=2&trs=9#.