0:00:00.570,0:00:04.100 Where we left off in the last[br]video, Toussaint L'Ouverture 0:00:04.100,0:00:09.250 had just been betrayed, on some[br]level, first by some of 0:00:09.250,0:00:13.310 his right-hand men, because[br]they joined the side of 0:00:13.310,0:00:16.020 Leclerc-- or essentially they[br]gave up rebelling against 0:00:16.020,0:00:18.750 Leclerc-- convinced that Leclerc[br]wasn't that bad, that 0:00:18.750,0:00:21.850 he had no intention of[br]reinstating slavery or taking 0:00:21.850,0:00:26.100 away the civil rights of the[br]freemen of African descent. 0:00:26.100,0:00:28.960 This is another picture of[br]Leclerc, right here. 0:00:28.960,0:00:31.820 This is Leclerc. 0:00:31.820,0:00:35.410 So he had to essentially give[br]up his arms. He went to 0:00:35.410,0:00:38.590 negotiate with Leclerc, Leclerc[br]imprisoned him, put 0:00:38.590,0:00:41.150 him on a boat, and sent him to[br]France and he died the next 0:00:41.150,0:00:42.120 year in 1803. 0:00:42.120,0:00:43.370 So he was betrayed. 0:00:50.230,0:00:53.570 And he really was, on a lot[br]of levels, one of the most 0:00:53.570,0:00:56.400 important leaders not[br]just in Haitian 0:00:56.400,0:00:57.500 history, but in general. 0:00:57.500,0:01:00.990 When he took power, as I said[br]before, he didn't take revenge 0:01:00.990,0:01:02.390 on the white population. 0:01:02.390,0:01:07.840 He helped the economy of Haiti[br]get back up and running. 0:01:07.840,0:01:11.630 He actually helped defend[br]what is now Haiti, but 0:01:11.630,0:01:16.550 Saint-Domingue against the[br]British Royal Navy. 0:01:16.550,0:01:18.400 I forgot to mention that. 0:01:18.400,0:01:28.300 Defended against the British[br]Navy, which at the time was by 0:01:28.300,0:01:30.850 far the dominant navy[br]in the world. 0:01:30.850,0:01:33.960 So this is what really earned[br]his reputation as a great 0:01:33.960,0:01:37.620 general, on top of being a great[br]leader in terms of not 0:01:37.620,0:01:40.620 exacting revenge, in terms of[br]not having slash and burn 0:01:40.620,0:01:44.430 tactics, in terms of not just[br]ravaging his enemies. 0:01:44.430,0:01:48.580 So he was betrayed, and then[br]just to make it clear that 0:01:48.580,0:01:54.620 Leclerc really does deserve[br]devil horns of a sort-- 0:01:54.620,0:01:57.340 although we're about to meet[br]someone who deserves much 0:01:57.340,0:01:59.880 bigger devil horns, or maybe[br]that he was actually the 0:01:59.880,0:02:03.400 henchman for someone who[br]deserves devil horns-- in May 0:02:03.400,0:02:14.470 of 1802, Napoleon signs a law[br]that reinstates slavery where 0:02:14.470,0:02:15.720 it has not disappeared. 0:02:25.780,0:02:27.720 And so it was a little[br]bit ambiguous. 0:02:27.720,0:02:30.860 There were some areas where[br]slavery had still not 0:02:30.860,0:02:32.250 disappeared. 0:02:32.250,0:02:39.430 Those include the French[br]colonies at Martinique, at 0:02:39.430,0:02:43.620 Saint Lucia, at Tobago. 0:02:43.620,0:02:47.090 But in Haiti-- or[br]Saint-Domingue, at that time-- 0:02:47.090,0:02:48.680 things were a little[br]ambiguous. 0:02:48.680,0:02:52.600 Had slavery truly disappeared,[br]or had it not disappeared yet? 0:02:52.600,0:02:54.440 Apparently, slaves were[br]free in Haiti. 0:02:54.440,0:02:58.660 So it wasn't clear exactly what[br]this meant for Haiti, but 0:02:58.660,0:03:00.180 at the same time, the[br]Haitians didn't even 0:03:00.180,0:03:01.020 know this was happening. 0:03:01.020,0:03:03.750 This was May of 1802. 0:03:03.750,0:03:09.500 But just to make things clear,[br]Napoleon actually sent Leclerc 0:03:09.500,0:03:13.630 a secret memo to essentially[br]reinstate slavery when the 0:03:13.630,0:03:14.880 time was right. 0:03:26.800,0:03:29.540 So these guys, they[br]were no jokers. 0:03:29.540,0:03:31.020 They knew the situation. 0:03:31.020,0:03:35.260 They knew that they needed the[br]help of some of Toussaint 0:03:35.260,0:03:39.570 L'Ouverture's former generals,[br]former right-hand men, in 0:03:39.570,0:03:41.860 order to keep control[br]of Haiti. 0:03:41.860,0:03:44.670 But the intention the entire[br]time was, when they have the 0:03:44.670,0:03:49.090 upper hand, to actually clamp[br]down, reinstate slavery, and 0:03:49.090,0:03:53.350 take away the civil rights[br]of the freemen of color. 0:03:53.350,0:03:56.000 Now these guys weren't[br]stupid either. 0:03:56.000,0:03:58.450 So you might remember[br]Dessalines. 0:03:58.450,0:04:00.560 This was one picture of him. 0:04:00.560,0:04:05.560 He was also a former slave, one[br]of Toussaint L'Ouverture's 0:04:05.560,0:04:09.560 right-hand men, very[br]effective general. 0:04:09.560,0:04:12.840 And, as you remember, near the[br]end of the fight against 0:04:12.840,0:04:15.850 Leclerc, he gave up the fight[br]against Leclerc and to some 0:04:15.850,0:04:18.410 degree you could say he turned[br]on Toussaint L'Ouverture. 0:04:18.410,0:04:22.140 But he and some of the other[br]former followers of 0:04:22.140,0:04:24.170 L'Ouverture saw the writing[br]on the wall. 0:04:24.170,0:04:26.320 They didn't even have to[br]intercept that secret memo. 0:04:26.320,0:04:31.750 They got word from Martinique[br]and Tobago and Saint Lucia 0:04:31.750,0:04:35.120 that slavery was being[br]reinstated. 0:04:35.120,0:04:38.030 The French at this time were not[br]people that you wanted to 0:04:38.030,0:04:42.360 deal with or trust when it came[br]to issues of slavery. 0:04:42.360,0:04:50.720 So Dessalines and his comrades[br]re-took up arms. And 0:04:50.720,0:04:54.210 Dessalines was a very different[br]character than 0:04:54.210,0:04:56.080 Toussaint L'Ouverture. 0:04:56.080,0:04:59.760 The one similarity is that they[br]were both very effective 0:04:59.760,0:05:01.220 military men. 0:05:01.220,0:05:05.390 The big difference between the[br]two was that Dessalines was 0:05:05.390,0:05:06.900 not one to hold back. 0:05:12.380,0:05:17.665 He wasn't afraid to essentially[br]take an eye for an 0:05:17.665,0:05:18.660 eye, so to speak. 0:05:18.660,0:05:22.670 So here you had Dessalines in[br]charge of what was, I guess 0:05:22.670,0:05:25.200 you could call, the[br]slave rebel army. 0:05:25.200,0:05:28.800 And then on the other side of[br]it, you have Leclerc with the 0:05:28.800,0:05:33.540 40,000 troops that he showed[br]up, with Napoleon. 0:05:33.540,0:05:37.830 But lucky for Dessalines,[br]yellow fever-- 0:05:37.830,0:05:38.660 and it's not lucky. 0:05:38.660,0:05:40.910 I mean, people died[br]across the board. 0:05:40.910,0:05:46.900 But this did really turn the[br]tide of war in favor of the 0:05:46.900,0:05:49.370 people of African descent[br]on the island. 0:05:49.370,0:05:58.595 Yellow fever struck the island,[br]it killed Leclerc, and 0:05:58.595,0:06:02.000 it also took out twenty[br]something thousand-- or the 0:06:02.000,0:06:06.670 number I read was 24,000-- of[br]the actual French soldiers, 0:06:06.670,0:06:08.430 and another 8,000 were[br]hospitalized. 0:06:08.430,0:06:11.270 So that's 32,000 out of[br]commission, so you're 0:06:11.270,0:06:15.485 essentially only left[br]with 8,000 soldiers. 0:06:15.485,0:06:17.910 So all of a sudden, it[br]completely turned the tide, 0:06:17.910,0:06:22.530 completely changed the numbers[br]in terms of what types of 0:06:22.530,0:06:27.370 forces the rebel army had[br]to fight against. 0:06:27.370,0:06:32.030 But it wasn't all good at this[br]point because Leclerc-- I 0:06:32.030,0:06:35.110 mentioned, I gave him little[br]devil horns-- he was replaced 0:06:35.110,0:06:41.440 by someone who deserves very[br]big devil horns named 0:06:41.440,0:06:42.690 Rochambeau. 0:06:45.310,0:06:48.770 Not to be confused with his[br]father, who goes by the same 0:06:48.770,0:06:52.380 name who was a hero of the[br]American Revolution. 0:06:52.380,0:06:56.810 He fought for France on the[br]side of the Americans. 0:06:56.810,0:07:00.040 And he, as far as I can tell,[br]seemed like a decent guy. 0:07:00.040,0:07:03.570 But his son was really evil. 0:07:03.570,0:07:06.690 And there are very few people[br]in history that you can say 0:07:06.690,0:07:08.990 are unambiguously evil. 0:07:08.990,0:07:10.700 He is one of them. 0:07:10.700,0:07:15.090 Now that he was kind of[br]desperate, his forces were 0:07:15.090,0:07:19.120 ravaged by yellow fever, he's[br]going against a fairly 0:07:19.120,0:07:25.990 aggressive enemy, he did things[br]like-- let me write 0:07:25.990,0:07:28.180 these down because[br]they are evil. 0:07:28.180,0:07:33.035 He would bury African--[br]or I guess I 0:07:33.035,0:07:34.070 should say African Americans. 0:07:34.070,0:07:37.605 He would bury former slaves, or[br]people of African descent-- 0:07:37.605,0:07:44.985 bury in, bury alive in[br]pits of insects. 0:07:47.960,0:07:50.440 He would boil people[br]alive in molasses. 0:07:58.580,0:08:01.650 I read one account that says[br]that at one point he held a 0:08:01.650,0:08:07.670 ball where he invited all of[br]the prominent mixed-race 0:08:07.670,0:08:11.630 people to a party essentially at[br]his place and at the stroke 0:08:11.630,0:08:12.920 of midnight he announced[br]that all of the 0:08:12.920,0:08:14.170 men are to be murdered. 0:08:18.980,0:08:22.710 The only bounds on his cruelty[br]was the people that he could 0:08:22.710,0:08:26.000 get his hands on, especially the[br]people of African descent. 0:08:26.000,0:08:30.480 The one positive of his cruelty[br]is that he for the 0:08:30.480,0:08:36.549 first time really unified the[br]population of African descent 0:08:36.549,0:08:37.419 on the island. 0:08:37.419,0:08:49.280 So he unified both the slaves,[br]the former slaves, and the 0:08:49.280,0:08:50.530 mixed-race. 0:08:56.530,0:09:03.160 And at the same time,[br]we're now in 1803. 0:09:03.160,0:09:05.090 And, I've said it before, we're 0:09:05.090,0:09:06.340 still at war with Britain. 0:09:11.120,0:09:14.500 And Britain is-- and I've[br]mentioned it before-- they had 0:09:14.500,0:09:17.000 the most dominant navy[br]in the world. 0:09:25.600,0:09:30.200 This guy, despite how evil and[br]how cruel he was, he needed 0:09:30.200,0:09:33.210 reinforcements from Napoleon[br]if he had to take on 0:09:33.210,0:09:34.360 Dessalines. 0:09:34.360,0:09:37.390 And let me be very[br]clear about this. 0:09:37.390,0:09:40.800 Dessalines, as I mentioned, he[br]was not hesitant to take an 0:09:40.800,0:09:42.150 eye for an eye. 0:09:42.150,0:09:47.670 In one incident, Rochambeau[br]buried 500 rebel prisoners 0:09:47.670,0:09:52.790 alive, then Dessalines went and[br]hung 500 French prisoners. 0:09:52.790,0:09:55.600 So he wasn't someone[br]to kind of shy away 0:09:55.600,0:09:58.540 from, I guess, blood. 0:09:58.540,0:10:01.610 And this is very different[br]to Toussaint L'Ouverture. 0:10:01.610,0:10:02.470 It's kind of a lesson. 0:10:02.470,0:10:05.980 If you are fighting an enemy,[br]if you get rid of the more 0:10:05.980,0:10:13.850 reasonable leaders of your[br]enemy, you might end up 0:10:13.850,0:10:18.050 getting maybe a leader more[br]similar to yourself and your 0:10:18.050,0:10:22.620 cruelty, if you betrayed the[br]more reasonable ones. 0:10:22.620,0:10:25.330 But anyway, enough[br]of my commentary. 0:10:25.330,0:10:27.470 So the stage is set. 0:10:27.470,0:10:28.340 War with Britain. 0:10:28.340,0:10:31.940 Britain owns the seas,[br]especially the Caribbean. 0:10:31.940,0:10:37.900 This guy needs reinforcements[br]going against a very strong 0:10:37.900,0:10:42.160 leader of the former[br]slave rebels. 0:10:42.160,0:10:45.890 But Napoleon, he's known to[br]be one to cut his losses. 0:10:45.890,0:10:47.380 He did it with his[br]troops in Egypt. 0:10:47.380,0:10:49.970 He's really not someone who[br]really cares, I think, about 0:10:49.970,0:10:50.495 the individual. 0:10:50.495,0:10:54.280 He cares much more about[br]his ego and his power. 0:10:54.280,0:10:55.910 So Napoleon leaves[br]them hanging. 0:11:02.790,0:11:03.800 Napoleon saw the writing[br]on the wall. 0:11:03.800,0:11:06.655 He wouldn't be able to get[br]through the British fleet. 0:11:06.655,0:11:08.460 And at the same time, Napoleon's[br]fighting all of 0:11:08.460,0:11:09.550 these wars in Europe. 0:11:09.550,0:11:11.720 As you remember, the whole[br]French Revolution was 0:11:11.720,0:11:14.090 precipitated by France[br]being broke. 0:11:14.090,0:11:17.010 So Napoleon, not only does he[br]give up on this guy-- and he 0:11:17.010,0:11:19.400 essentially got what he[br]deserved-- Napoleon gives up 0:11:19.400,0:11:23.910 on maintaining all of their[br]colonies or any major presence 0:11:23.910,0:11:25.150 in the Western Hemisphere. 0:11:25.150,0:11:30.320 So essentially to raise funds,[br]Napoleon also sells Louisiana 0:11:30.320,0:11:31.346 to the Americans. 0:11:31.346,0:11:34.300 Now when I say Louisiana, I'm[br]not talking about just the 0:11:34.300,0:11:36.930 state of Louisiana in its[br]present state, which 0:11:36.930,0:11:37.900 is about that big. 0:11:37.900,0:11:39.800 That's actually where[br]I was born. 0:11:39.800,0:11:42.080 We're talking about the whole--[br]this is like 1/3 of 0:11:42.080,0:11:44.180 the United States today. 0:11:44.180,0:11:45.580 Sold all of this. 0:11:48.140,0:11:51.780 And he was clearly desperate. 0:11:51.780,0:11:56.330 He sold it for $15 million,[br]or that's the 0:11:56.330,0:12:03.350 equivalent of F60 million. 0:12:03.350,0:12:06.220 And I've been told, in today's[br]money, that would be on the 0:12:06.220,0:12:10.480 order of $10 billion. 0:12:10.480,0:12:13.720 You know, if someone said for[br]$10 billion, you could own 1/3 0:12:13.720,0:12:15.470 of the land of the United[br]States, you would say that's a 0:12:15.470,0:12:16.850 pretty good deal. 0:12:16.850,0:12:19.100 $10 billion in today's money. 0:12:19.100,0:12:23.120 So $15 million 1803, $10 billion[br]today, that's still 0:12:23.120,0:12:24.730 not a lot of money, but[br]he was desperate. 0:12:24.730,0:12:27.660 He realized that he couldn't[br]maintain control of something 0:12:27.660,0:12:30.920 halfway around the world when[br]Britain owned the seas and he 0:12:30.920,0:12:34.300 was busy having his own[br]troubles in Europe. 0:12:34.300,0:12:36.410 So the Americans got[br]a good deal. 0:12:36.410,0:12:38.580 And frankly, if he didn't sell[br]it to the Americans, either 0:12:38.580,0:12:40.860 the British or the Americans[br]could have probably 0:12:40.860,0:12:43.890 just taken it anyway. 0:12:43.890,0:12:48.510 So being left to hang to dry[br]by Napoleon, Dessalines is 0:12:48.510,0:12:55.230 able to destroy Rochambeau[br]and essentially declare 0:12:55.230,0:13:00.410 independence for[br]Saint-Domingue. 0:13:00.410,0:13:09.250 And it 1804, January 1. 0:13:09.250,0:13:13.830 Dessalines declares independence[br]for, and he names 0:13:13.830,0:13:17.560 the new country Haiti, which[br]is the indigenous peoples' 0:13:17.560,0:13:18.640 name for the island. 0:13:18.640,0:13:21.010 It means land of[br]the mountains. 0:13:21.010,0:13:26.380 Now I want to just leave with[br]one note, because you may or 0:13:26.380,0:13:27.100 may not be aware. 0:13:27.100,0:13:32.030 Haiti is still a very, very,[br]very, very poor country. 0:13:32.030,0:13:35.230 And besides, after Dessalines,[br]they had many, many, many-- 0:13:35.230,0:13:38.620 and eventually, I'll do videos[br]on it-- rounds of one dictator 0:13:38.620,0:13:39.280 after another. 0:13:39.280,0:13:41.120 And the people have really[br]been through a lot. 0:13:41.120,0:13:42.880 But I just want to make it clear[br]that they really got 0:13:42.880,0:13:45.330 started off on a[br]horrible foot. 0:13:45.330,0:13:51.660 Because even though Dessalines[br]declared independence in 1804, 0:13:51.660,0:13:55.230 the French did not recognize[br]Haiti until 0:13:55.230,0:14:04.730 1805-- sorry- 1825. 0:14:04.730,0:14:08.490 And you might say, well, who[br]cares about recognition? 0:14:08.490,0:14:11.180 Who cares what the former[br]colonial masters think? 0:14:11.180,0:14:12.890 But until they recognized them,[br]they were essentially 0:14:12.890,0:14:14.050 embargoing Haiti. 0:14:14.050,0:14:16.000 They weren't allowing[br]any trade to 0:14:16.000,0:14:17.740 actually go on with Haiti. 0:14:17.740,0:14:20.130 So it was really on the[br]front of a barrel gun. 0:14:20.130,0:14:27.030 And in order to be recognized,[br]Haiti had to agree to F90 0:14:27.030,0:14:33.710 million of debt to France. 0:14:39.290,0:14:42.680 And just to be clear how much[br]money this is, here's a small 0:14:42.680,0:14:50.440 island-- or half of an island--[br]of newly freed slaves 0:14:50.440,0:14:55.330 and they were forced to owe[br]France-- and this actually was 0:14:55.330,0:14:58.850 further reinforced[br]by the United 0:14:58.850,0:15:00.140 States and Great Britain. 0:15:00.140,0:15:03.460 So it goes to show you, even[br]former enemies can kind of 0:15:03.460,0:15:06.210 agree when it comes to[br]a oppressing small 0:15:06.210,0:15:08.100 impoverished islands. 0:15:08.100,0:15:14.090 But they had to owe France the[br]equivalent of 1 and 1/2 times 0:15:14.090,0:15:18.240 what the United States paid for[br]the Louisiana Purchase. 0:15:18.240,0:15:19.530 This was F60 million. 0:15:19.530,0:15:20.720 They got all of Louisiana. 0:15:20.720,0:15:24.830 Now France is telling Haiti,[br]you owe us F90 million. 0:15:24.830,0:15:28.470 Or that's roughly the equivalent[br]of $14 or $15 0:15:28.470,0:15:33.580 billion in today's terms. And[br]this is for a population of 0:15:33.580,0:15:36.230 essentially half a million[br]freed slaves. 0:15:36.230,0:15:37.970 So it's kind of a horrendous[br]amount of debt. 0:15:37.970,0:15:41.290 And just to be clear, this[br]wasn't like the crazy 0:15:41.290,0:15:46.150 colonials in the early 19th[br]century, forcing to do this. 0:15:46.150,0:15:58.720 This debt was not paid off with[br]the interest until 1947. 0:15:58.720,0:16:00.480 They were continuing[br]to pay the debt. 0:16:00.480,0:16:05.580 And just to add insult to[br]injury, the reason for the 0:16:05.580,0:16:09.740 debt, they claim, was[br]for lost property. 0:16:09.740,0:16:12.420 So that's why France claimed[br]that Haiti owed them the 0:16:12.420,0:16:13.775 money, for lost property. 0:16:17.690,0:16:20.840 Where, included in the[br]list of lost property 0:16:20.840,0:16:23.300 was land and slaves. 0:16:23.300,0:16:26.860 Essentially, now that you've got[br]your freedom, you owe us a 0:16:26.860,0:16:31.480 ton of money for us losing[br]the rights to own you. 0:16:31.480,0:16:32.890 So it's just insult to injury. 0:16:32.890,0:16:34.810 And actually, I was shocked the[br]first time I learned this 0:16:34.810,0:16:38.310 number, that they were forced to[br]continue to pay debts from 0:16:38.310,0:16:43.360 one poor country, one small poor[br]country, right over here, 0:16:43.360,0:16:46.830 they had to continue to pay[br]debts to a Western developed 0:16:46.830,0:16:53.200 nation until 1947, essentially[br]to buy their freedom.