Metropolitan agents without troops repeatedly failed in Saint-Domingue
Evidence
Hédouville was in a delicate situation, however, as he had no French troops accompanying him. He disembarked at Santo Domingo, on the Spanish half of the island (which was nominally under the control of a few French administrators stationed there), presumably out of fear of the reception he would receive in Le Cap. During his stay there, the French officer François Kerverseau counseled Hédouville that the only way for him to carry out his mission was to secure the forces he lacked by creating an “intimate link” with Louverture. “With him, you can do everything; without him, nothing.” But Hédouville did not follow this advice. In 1798, as so many times before, metropolitan plans were undone in Saint-Domingue. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 757
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- XREF: Parallels the repeated failure of absent metropolitan power over local strongmen seen across Atlantic revolutions, e.g. earlier chapters on commissioners.