The Haitian Revolt
The Haitian uprising, which is currently regarded as the only historically successful slave insurrection, was a significant development for colonial and revolutionary forces all over the world. It was one of the French empire's longest wars, lasting from August 1791 through January 1804.
The fact that slavery and colonialism were considered incompatible with the revolution's principles and outlawed in France while being widely practiced for labor and profit in the American colonies made it the ideal illustration of the inherent contradictions in revolutionary French society. It was a particularly strange situation for the Haitians.
Whatever the case, the uprising was based on essentially the same tenets: liberty for all, the separation of church and state, land reform for the general benefit, and religious freedom. It's debatable whether such objectives were eventually accomplished, but at least they tried, much as the French Revolution that served as its model and ultimately failed and gave rise to an even more authoritarian monarchy of the Bonapartists.
Date; 21 August 1791 – 1 January 1804(12 years, 4 months, 1 week and 4 days)
Location: Saint-Domingue
Result: Haitian victory
- French colonial government expelled
- Massacre of the French
Territorial changes: Independent Empire of Haiti established
