Jean-jacques dessalines emperor nero

Through his aptitude for military science and leadership he quickly earned the confidence of Toussaint L'Ouverture, commander of the revolutionary forces, and became his second in command. During the revolution, Dessalines proved himself to be a brilliant general. In he and his soldiers captured the fort at Crete-a-Pierrot, where they fended off twelve thousand French troops before escaping through enemy lines.

Yet only months later Dessalines followed Henri Christopheanother of L'Ouverture's principle officers, and deserted to the French side. Shortly after the defections, L'Ouverture was captured and shipped to the French Alps, where he died in prison. The Haitian people continued to fight against the French, and Dessalines soon came back to their side.

After returning to fight against the French, he ruthlessly squashed any opposition to his leadership. This earned him a reputation for brutality and eventually led to his ascendance to control of the Haitian army.

Jean-jacques dessalines emperor nero: JEAN-JACQUES Dessalines, slave, revolutionary, and first

He assumed command of the revolutionary army on July 5,and led the final charge to independence. On November 18,the revolutionaries scored a decisive victory over General Rochambeau's army at the Battle of Vertieres, forcing Napoleon to abandon his claims — not only to Haiti, but also to Louisiana and other French territories in the Americas.

Haitian independence was achieved on January 1, After independence, Dessalines attempted to consolidate his power over the war-ravaged state. Ironically this resulted in his sometimes emulating Napoleon. Among his first acts was changing the name of Haiti from its colonial moniker of Saint Domingue to its modern Arawak-derived name.

A product of the Atlantic slave system, Dessalines maintained a bitter hatred of whites. During the revolution, Dessalines equated independence with the elimination of whiteness from Haiti, and he even established the style of the modern Haitian flag by ripping the white section out of the French tri-color flag. After the revolution, Dessalines ordered the extermination of all remaining whites, though some clergymen, as well as the Poles and Germans who had defected from the French army, were spared.

Though they were phenotypically white, these soldiers were considered black in the Haitian racial schema, which was and is intimately connected to class. On the economic front, Dessalines oversaw the emergence of the peasantry that would drive subsequent Haitian history. Cambridge, Mass. Gaffield, Julia. The Haitian Declaration of Independence.

Port-au-Prince: Les Presses Libres, Girard, Philippe R. Jean-Baptiste, St. Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Eben-Ezer, Jenson, Deborah. Good work. It is often difficult to find detailed information on Dessalines. But there are many differentiating opinions about that. In regards to Dessalines rule… the generals of mixed race heritage controlled most of the land in Haiti, mostly due to inheritance from there European fathers.

This caused a rift when Dessalines called for people to produce their land titles. I believe it was Petion, of mixed race, that was the main conspirator in the assassination of Dessalines. Dessalines, Jean-Jacques c. Bibliography Bell, Madison Smartt. Dessalines: Now and Forever. Forthcoming, Share this: Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email. Like Loading Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia.

More From encyclopedia. Dessaignes, Victor. Desprez, Josquin. Desprez, Jean-Louis. Michel, B. Jean-Lesage Minister of Labor. Despotovich, Nada —. Despotovic, Vesna —. Dessalines, Jean-Jacques. Dessart, George Baldwin, Jr. Dessau, Bemhard. Dessau, Bernardo. Dessau, Hermann. Dessauer, Friedrich. Dessauer, John Hans. Dessauer, Josef.

Jean-jacques dessalines emperor nero: Abstract. This essay surveys

Dessaur, C. Dessalines served as an officer in the French army when Saint-Domingue was fending off Spanish and British incursions. Later he rose to become a commander in the revolt against France. InLouverture was betrayed and captured, and sent to prison in France, where he died. Saint-Domingue was declared independent on 29 November and then as the independent Republic of Haiti on 1 Januaryunder the leadership of Dessalines, chosen by a council of generals to assume the office of governor-general.

Fearing a new French military expedition and the annihilation of the black population, he ordered the Haitian massacre of the remaining French population in Haiti, resulting in the deaths of between 3, and 5, people, including women and children, and an exodus of thousands of refugees. As Emperor, Dessalines enforced plantation labor to promote the economy and began a dictatorship.

For much of the 19th century, Dessalines was generally reviled by Haitians for his autocratic ways. But by the beginning of the 20th century, Dessalines began to be reassessed as an icon of Haitian nationalism. The national anthem of Haiti, " La Dessalinienne ", written inis named in his honor. The names of Jean-Jacques's parents, as well as their region of origin in Africaare not known.

Most slaves trafficked to Saint-Domingue were from west and central West Africa. He later took the surname Dessalines, after a free man of color who had purchased him. Working in the sugarcane fields as a laborer, Dessalines rose to the rank of commandeuror foreman. He worked on Duclos's plantation until he was about 30 years old. Still enslaved, Jean-Jacques was bought by a man with the last name of Dessalines, an affranchi or free man of colorwho assigned his own surname to Jean-Jacques.

From then on he was called Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Dessalines kept this name after he gained his freedom. He worked for that master for about three years. When the slave uprising of began, it spread across the Plaine-du-Nord. This was an area of very large sugar cane plantations, where the mass of enslaved Africans lived and worked.

Mortality was so high that French colonial planters continued to buy more enslaved people from Africa during the eighteenth century. Dessalines became increasingly embittered toward both the whites and gens de couleur libres the mixed-race residents of Saint-Domingue in the years of conflict during the revolution. Haitian insurgents fought against French colonists and foreign troops in Saint-Domingue.

During the years of warfare and changing rule, these included French, British, and Spanish forces.

Jean-jacques dessalines emperor nero: Restrictions were placed on

All three European nations had colonies in the Caribbeanwhere their control and revenues were threatened by the Haitian Revolution. After the expulsion of French forces during the last phase of the Haitian Revolution, Dessalines ordered all remaining Europeans overwhelmingly French people [ 5 ] in the new Republic of Haiti to be killed, men, women and children, including those who had been friendly and sympathetic to the black population.

The couple had or adopted a total number of 16 children including Jacques' from the previous relationship. Innocent, one of his sons, has a fort named in his honor. It is still danced by Haitian families all over the country. Dessalines had two brothers, Louis and Joseph Duclos, who also later took the surname Dessalines. Two of his brothers' sons became high-ranking members of the post-Revolutionary Haitian government.

This rebellion was the first action of what would become the Haitian Revolution. Dessalines became a lieutenant in Papillon's army and followed him to Santo Domingooccupying the eastern half of the island, where he enlisted to serve Spain's military forces against the French colony of Saint-Domingue. He was fighting with Spanish forces on Hispaniola.

These men wanted above all to defeat slavery. Inafter the French declared an end to slavery as a result of the French Revolution, Toussaint Louverture switched allegiances to the French. He fought for the French Republic against both the Spanish and British, who were trying to get control of the lucrative colony of Saint-Domingue. Dessalines followed, becoming a chief lieutenant to Toussaint Louverture and rising to the rank of brigadier general by InDessalines quickly ended an insurrection in the north led by Louverture's nephew, General Moyse.

Dessalines gained a reputation for his " take no prisoners " policy, and for burning homes and entire villages to the ground. The rebellious slaves were able to restore most of Saint-Domingue to France, with Louverture in control. The French initially appointed him as governor-general of the colony. Louverture wanted Saint-Domingue to have more autonomy.

He directed the creation of a new constitution to establish that, as well as rules for how the colony would operate under freedom.