European invaders recruited slave insurgents as allies to conquer Saint-Domingue cheaply.

Evidence

Though wounded by slave insurrection and internal warfare, Saint- Domingue remained an extremely valuable colony. But given the difficulties of colonial warfare and the susceptibility to disease of European troops, both Spanish and English military leaders understood that the best way—perhaps the only way—to conquer Saint-Domingue was to take advantage of the internal dissension there and to rally part of the population to their side. They hoped to “gain an enormous prize at relatively little cost.” In another island, or at another time, this objective would have involved inviting the white planters into alliance. But in Saint-Domingue in 1793, power was fragmented, and the slave insurgents, as well as the armed free-coloreds, were just as important as potential allies as the divided white population. Indeed, “as soon as war was declared, all parties immediately looked to the slaves for assistance.” — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 527

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A pivotal turning point in the narrative arc: imperial powers actively recruiting the enslaved, which transforms the conflict’s logic and sets up the later abolitionist alliance.