Bridging the gaps of the past: the story of the Haitian Revolution

Abstract

To better understand the events that made the independence of the island of Saint-Domingue possible, it is appropriate to analyze two other important revolutions that occurred during the same historical period, on two territories lapped by the same ocean. As will be seen later in this dissertation, the common characteristic of these territories of being part of the Atlantic zone is not an insignificant factor, but on the contrary is an essential variable in the analysis of the causes and effects of the three events. Initially, the three Atlantic revolutions will be briefly recounted in their most salient episodes, given the chronological succession of each. Subsequently, commonalities and events that mutually influenced the paths will be discussed. The concept of "transoceanic revolution" will be used as a new way of looking at what might appear to be a series of independent events. Within the analysis of the Haitian Revolution itself, however, multiple elements will be explored, from a geopolitical study of the uprising to a more social one of the different racial groups that were involved in it. The motivations that moved it will thus be investigated and the true architects of the insurrection will be revealed through an objective and disenchanted study of the facts. Indeed, in order to achieve the goal of this research, it is necessary that the investigation not be conditioned by the interpretative needs of both the historiography of the territories involved and the need of contemporary times to support common ideologies. For this reason, in the last part of the dissertation, information will be gathered on those who did not necessarily make the revolution, but underwent it.