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Always good to see a labour historian giving the #HaitianRevolution its due!
We need to talk about the role that disease played in the revolution, though. https://twitter.com/ErikLoomis/status/1296810185902698497
We need to talk about the role that disease played in the revolution, though. https://twitter.com/ErikLoomis/status/1296810185902698497
In this thread, @ErikLoomis suggests that it was the combined force of yellow fever and malariathat really defeated the French, not the revolutionary forces. Its a common trope. https://twitter.com/ErikLoomis/status/1296810101123227649
Over and over again, accounts of the revolution emphasize the role of disease, and downplay the agency and strategy of the formerly-enslaved. https://medium.com/@caroline_67183/yellow-fever-was-just-as-important-as-toussaint-louverture-in-the-haitian-revolution-caf5b644a6d2
Its a narrative that stems from a refusal to to acknowledge that black slaves could ever defeat the superior French - a trope of banalization and erasure, to borrow MR Trouillot's words.
Not every writer these days intends to leverage the trope of disease in that way - I certainly don't think @ErikLoomis means to suggest that - but there are those (particularly of the "alt-right" fascist bent) who intentionally play up that narrative as a way to dismiss the rev.
To be sure, disease was an important factor in the revolution. Some estimates suggest that of the 60-65,000 troops that France sent to Saint Domingue, about 50-55,000 died; of those, 35-45,000 were killed by yellow fever, malaria, and other diseases.
To focus just on the disease, however, is to miss the ways that the Haitians intentionally built it into their strategy.
As J.R. McNeill wrote, the European powers "had the misfortune to confront a strategist who understood the differential resistance to yellow fever and malaria: Toussaint Louverture."
Throughout the conflict, the Haitians developed a strategy that took advantage of how disease spread through the French (& British) troops. It was not something that the Haitians were unaware of.
So while yellow fever and malaria are an important factor in how the Haitian Revolution unfolded, to dwell on that more than on the agency and strategy of the Haitians themselves is a disservice to the rebels.
And, if our goal is to highlight the collective action and agency of those who were enslaved, to focus more on disease than on them misses the point.
