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cahnUnfortunately, there was then at Berlin a King who pursued one policy only, who deceived his enemies, but not his servants, and who lied without scruple, but never without necessity.
(from The King's Secret - by Duke de Broglie, grand-nephew of the subject of the book, Comte de Broglie, and grandfather of the physicist) )
(from The King's Secret - by Duke de Broglie, grand-nephew of the subject of the book, Comte de Broglie, and grandfather of the physicist) )
Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-11 07:23 pm (UTC)Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life by Philippe Girard (2016)
This had been on my ereader for years, probably bought on some ebook sale; I picked it up now because it's a part of the 18th century I knew little about. The only thing I knew beforehand was that Toussaint Louverture (which my dictation program picks up as "to some liberty", very fitting) led a successful revolt against slavery on Haiti around the time of the French Revolution. He seems to have been a complicated man!
It's interesting how the 18th century politics I already know about played out in Saint Domingue (which became Haiti). At first, it was the white colonizers who wanted independence from France (because they were afraid the French revolution would take their privileges away), and the enslaved black people fought as royalists! I guess this is not as surprising as you might think--people often seem to hate their immediate overlords the most (peasants their feudal landlord, enslaved people their slave drivers and owners) while the king appears as a far-off benevolent figure who would fix things if only he knew. And in fact the French king had enacted some legislation to try to rein in cruelties in slavery, under the pressure of abolitionists. But over time, Toussaint Louverture and other leaders shifted over to "rights of man" arguments, similar to the French revolutionaries, and he seems to have been fiercely resentful of racism.
I can't help but note some of the arguments of the plantation owners, because plus ca change: "Actually our slaves are perfectly happy and would never revolt if not for OUTSIDE AGITATORS!" "Actually WE are the slaves, because government wants to take our liberties [i e our property rights, i e our right to own people] away!"
It's also interesting how racism increased during the 17th and 18th centuries--at first, social station/class sometimes trumped race, such that people of color could be plantation owners, and poor white people were classed with poor free people of color. But at the end of the period, there was a crackdown on wealthier free people of color, who often owned enslaved people of their own or aspired to it, to keep them down economically and socially. Toussaint Louverture was born enslaved but was freed later on, so he was part of that class.
I can see why he was often called "the black Napoleon" at the time – he was a military leader in a revolutionary war, and after his side had won, he installed himself as military dictator for life. Also he became the richest man on the island, which does not surprise me, because getting private gain from public office is pretty much the standard for 18th century elites. He upheld the abolition of slavery, but he also ordered the former field slaves back to the same work on their previous estates and used the army to enforce his labor laws. At first, people could switch estates once a year, but after a while this was not allowed. The sale of small plots of land was forbidden, to prevent people from setting up small farms of their own. This is admittedly better than being enslaved (you can’t be bought and sold, and you’re at least supposed to get a wage) but the field workers revolted against these conditions, and Louverture had several thousand of them killed. (The book notes that white French abolitionists might have used a similar system, had they had control of the island—it’s not slavery, after all…)
So why did he do this? Obviously he stood to gain from it financially since he now owned many of these estates, but it seems he mainly wanted to prove that a country with black leadership could hold its own economically – the main export was sugar which apparently required large plantations and refineries. When Napoleon (temporarily) conquered the island back after a few years, his representative said "I will more or less follow Toussaint’s labor code, which is very good, and so strict, that I would never have dared to propose one like this on my own."
After reading the book, I read four reviews of it in peer-reviewed journals, since after all I don’t know this subject and don’t know if the book could be biased. The reviews all agree that the book is based on thorough archival research which has uncovered many new sources which were not known before, and they don’t disagree with any facts. Two of the reviews however don’t agree with the author about some of his interpretations of Louverture’s motivations, and don’t think he’s generous enough towards him. It doesn’t surprise me that interpretations vary – a figure like this is bound to be controversial.
Mildred: there's very little info on the military aspects of the revolution (clearly not the author's interest), except that the author says that Louverture quite deliberately used disease as a factor on his side--he would delay such that yellow fever and other diseases would decimate the soldiers newly come from France. And it killed a LOT of them.
Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-11 07:26 pm (UTC)Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-13 06:37 pm (UTC)Yeah, it's an interesting discussion in the book, which you comment on too, how profitable the plantations with enslaved labor on Haiti actually were? In a broad sense, millions of people today are stuck in various forms of forced labor, even if they are not slaves who are bought and sold; it's hard to imagine that exploiters would do this if it wasn't profitable. But maybe that makes the question too broad—a sugarcane plantation must be a very specific enterprise, with large investments that perhaps the owners went into debt to pay, and the enslaved workers are all in large groups, where maybe it’s easier to develop ways to malinger… Probably the question is hard to answer.
(I got curious about how old the method of getting sugar from sugar beets is, and apparently that only got going in the 19th century.)
Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-14 06:38 am (UTC)Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-14 09:32 am (UTC)Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-12 04:45 pm (UTC)It's also interesting how racism increased during the 17th and 18th centuries--at first, social station/class sometimes trumped race, such that people of color could be plantation owners, and poor white people were classed with poor free people of color. But at the end of the period, there was a crackdown on wealthier free people of color, who often owned enslaved people of their own or aspired to it, to keep them down economically and socially.
Yes, I found that fascinating as well. Both that early in the 18th Century, a white guy could count himself lucky if he managed to marry the daughter of a rich free man of color/planatation owner, and that most of the wealthier pocs were 100% on board with slavery, and that post 7 Years War, the heavy racism where all poc had to wear distinctive clothing and got heavy restrictions etc. showed up.
Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-13 06:09 pm (UTC)Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-14 06:50 am (UTC)(They are: - British Revolution/Civil War (i.e. Cromwell and pals)
- American Independence
- French Revolution
- Haiti Revolution
- South American Revolution (Simon Bolivar as the main character of the later half)
- July Revolution (1830)
- 1848 European Revolutions
- Paris Commune (1872)
- Mexican Revolution(s)
- Russian Revolution
One season per Revolution, though the Paris Commune just gets a miniseries, so to speak. And the French and Russian Revolutions, by contrast, get giganto seasons.
Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-15 08:27 am (UTC)Re: Toussaint Louverture
Date: 2023-09-15 03:36 am (UTC)I can't help but note some of the arguments of the plantation owners, because plus ca change: "Actually our slaves are perfectly happy and would never revolt if not for OUTSIDE AGITATORS!" "Actually WE are the slaves, because government wants to take our liberties [i e our property rights, i e our right to own people] away!"
AGH, this... made me feel very pessimistic about being human :P
It's also interesting how racism increased during the 17th and 18th centuries
Ah, I didn't know this, this is interesting!
When Napoleon (temporarily) conquered the island back after a few years, his representative said "I will more or less follow Toussaint’s labor code, which is very good, and so strict, that I would never have dared to propose one like this on my own."
Gosh. That is a really telling remark.
the author says that Louverture quite deliberately used disease as a factor on his side--he would delay such that yellow fever and other diseases would decimate the soldiers newly come from France. And it killed a LOT of them.
That is diabolical! I rather admire that level of ruthlessness. From a distance :)