Advance apologies for multiple questions in one week, but I can’t pass up the head of state what ifs. How different would Haitian history have been if Toussaint Louverture was never captured?

warsofasoiaf:

I think @racefortheironthrone would be a better person to answer this question. I’m rather rusty on the Haitian Revolution except for the actual war itself and he’s far better at the history of revolution than I am.

Thanks for the question, Yusuf.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

I’m not an expert in the Haitian Revolution either, but it seems to me that the main difference would be that it probably would have been Toussaint and not Dessalines who led Haiti to independence and then led the new republic. That might have made a significant difference both to policy (Dessalines was more of a Bonapartist and ended up declaring himself Emperor, whereas Toussaint was a Jacobin) and to the stability of the state (since Dessalines’ imperial rule was ended by his assassination, which then led to the division of Haiti between Christophe and

Pétion until Boyer managed to reunite Haiti in 1820).

Another major question is whether a more stable Haiti under

Louverturian lines would have been able to avoid the indemnity that Haiti was forced to pay France starting in 1825, which had long-term negative impacts on Haiti’s economic and political development.