• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

bofski

First Lieutenant
9 Badges
Nov 6, 2009
217
0
  • Arsenal of Democracy
  • Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • For The Glory
  • Heir to the Throne
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • 500k Club
Today, Haiti is widely described as a failed state, plundered by Cleptocrats, hit by natural disasters such as the recent terrible earthquake and the disasterous hurricanes that devastate the country over and over again.
On his first voyage, Christopher Columbus discovered Hispaniola and left behind a group of men in a settlement he called La Navidad, which is now in Haiti. Hispaniola grew and became of major importance for the Spanish crown. But half of Hispaniola, the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, was ceded to France in the treaty of Rijswijk.
Soon, Haiti was the richest French colony, due to the immense profits of sugar and indigo production. Since the indigenious population was already extinct, the French forced Africans to work as slaves in their colony. The absolute monarchs set up the harshest regimes, the code noir, which provided terrible living conditions for the slaves. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, this also fired up a revolution in Haiti. But once it was taken by English and Spanish forces, France decided to work together with the rebels and abolished slavery in their colony.
Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haitis national hero, managed to take Haiti back very soon and to restabilize the colony which was now drifting away from France. Napoleon Bonaparte reacted to this and tried to retake it by force, but the French soldiers suffered from diseases. When they couldn't beat Toussaint L'Ouverture and his Haitian separatists, they lured him into a trap, asking him for a parley and then arrested him and sent him to prison in France.
However, the French still got beaten by Jean-Jaques Dessalines. The Haitians proclaimed independance on the 1st of January 1804.




800px-Flag_of_Haitisvg.png




That is where I will start.
Don't expect much, as I lack concentration, patience and skill.
I tweaked the Ending date of the game to 1.1.1900.
My main goal is to survive and my dream goal is to control every island in the caribic.
I will also support colonial uprisings.
All things are set to normal but without lucky nations, which I only find annoying.



747px-San_Domingo.jpg
 
If you haven't started, I might suggest grabbing the WWM mod. It extends play to 1918 with more military units for the 19th century.

Regardless, good luck! I don't think I've seen a Haiti AAR. It'll be very interesting to see how well you do!
 
Tried Haiti once without any sort of Mods
It's impossible to grow big in 20 years

Maybe an extended timeline would work?
 
He posted that he's playing through 1900. The mod Ilyani and I mentioned goes through 1918.
 
Last edited:
I can't use WWM as it would lagg terribly. My notebook is really not made for games and I bought it when I thought I would never play one (screw you EUIII :rofl:). When I tried MM2, I had fears that the Celeron processor would melt down.

Yes I extended the timeline to 1900. It should be enough, althoug I will get a problem with cores. I think there will be an early phase of consolidation where I can't do anything, but let's see about that.
 
haitibanner.jpg




Chapter One - La Naissance d'une Nation



Haïti, mon pays,
wounded mother I'll never see.
Ma famille set me free.
Throw my ashes into the sea.
(Arcade Fire - Haiti)


haiti-dessalines.gif

Jean-Jaques Dessalines, Father of Haiti



13 Janvier 2001
Ma cher Florence,

it is a great honor that you are writing me and trying to find out more about your ancestry. How is live in Montréal? I am fine in Port-au-Prince. Your uncle and aunt are also doing fine under the given circumstances.
I will tell you the true story of the naissance de Haiti now. It was in the year of 1803 when my grandgrandfather served in the Haitian revolutionary army. After Haiti successfully managed to slip out of the control of the French devil Napoleon, the Parisiens played a trick on our young army. They lured our brilliant commander Tuissant into a trap, kidnapped him and imprisoned him in France. We were desparate, but we never thought about giving up and becoming the slaves of the French dogs again. So Jean-Jaques de Dessalines took over and we succeeded.
Finally on the 1st of January 1804 our nation was born and independant. The first independant nation of former slaves and mulattos. Here is a map:



haiti1.jpg



Haiti needed to fear for its independance as the biggest superpowers England, Spain and France had a huge influence in the area. The only friends were the United States of America, also a very young nation and separtists movement in the colonies. However, Haiti needed to build up a new state and to live this glorious moments. The whole country had a gigantic festival for two weeks and everyone, whether landlord or former slave was happy. Dessalines was elected to be the Interims Ruler. The officers, my grandgrandfather as well decided that a monarchy would suit Haiti the best. So to enforce law and to be able to build up a new state, Dessalines had to rely on the military for the first few years and ruled as a despot. However when the time came, he stepped away from that and a constitution was enacted in Haiti. The USA and its president Thomas Jefferson greatly helped Haiti to work it out and so Haiti got the constitution, making it a constitutional, parliamentarel monarchy. The constitution was signed by all officers and every important person in Haiti. It also stated that the provinces should now be called Port-au-Prince and St. Dominique.
Still everyone trusted Dessallines and he quickly enacted the reforms he had promised. With the independance, the talents of the nation also shifted a lot. There was a huge wave of immigration from the other French unfree colonies (also my mother came in that wave) and everyone was ready to do their part of work to create a new paradise. With that wave, heretical influences came to Haiti, which disrupted the legitimacy of Dessalines. He made a pact with the church and more reforms were enacted.


haiti2.jpg


The Vatican didn't see this pact as legitimated, because not the Pope had signed it, but the local clerics. The pope sent delegates to Port-au-Prince. In talks, which heated up in just a few days, Dessalines got mad about the Pope's delagates, who wanted to take more control of Port-au-Prince and its believers by building Vaticanical Administrations which would have undermined the new state. Dessallines kidnapped the delegates and in a most cruel way, they were murdered. Like the Europeans had drowned the slaves, they should be drowned and in the midst of the Carribean, they were put in a sinking nutshale.
The USA, by definition an anti colonial and anti papal country at that time, saw the worsening relations with delight and granted Haiti military access. They also signed, together with Haiti the Anti-Piracy act. Dessalines had hoped for better relationships with the USA to enhance the trade. Haitian traders should bring home a vast amount of money, desparately needed to rebuild the poor country.



haiti3.jpg



In 1805, the first born son of Dessalines was born. The Haitians got anxious about a dynasty of Dessalines. They couldn't openly fight their national hero and successful ruler as Haiti was getting wealthier and wealthier. Instead the richest landowners in Haiti started promoting a republic. They had witnessed how the French Republic got torpedoed by Napoleon and feared that Dessalines would also become a new Caesar. But noone wanted to play the Brutus, not even my grandgrandfather as Dessalines was extremely powerful and popular among the Haitians.
Also, Haiti was a very innovative country. They even took up the books and teachings of a famous and radical Scot, Adam Smith, which greatly enhanced the sugar production in Haiti, especially in the agricultural north.


haiti4.jpg

Dessalines did not care about the tendencies. He was at the height of his powers. His Cabinet, in which my father Marcél was the minister of interior and religion, was doing extremely well. They could even survive the great Sugar Corruption Scandal of 1806. Paul de Maret, minister for trade had secretly seized all British ships who tried to import rum and sugar from the Lesser Antilles. He bribed Dessalines, but Marcél, my father got behind that conspiracy and revealed it. But Dessallines did not care much and passed the importation of sugar and rum act of 1806 which legalized his and Maret's actions expost. To help the farmers, they also introduced subsidies for sugar plantations. The reason for this was of course, that the minister of agriculture owned huge farms in Haiti.
On the other hand, the first schools were introduced, well, the church was allowed to have sunday schools. But at least something was taught. Also, the advancement of the true religion was enforced. Missions should convert all those new immigrants who were not Catholic.
When the French government saw this persecution, plans were revealed that had the aim to retake Haiti and to execute Dessalines by using the Haitian Military in a coup d'état. Dessallines cooly answered with the Militia act and every Haitian from 17 to 18 had to be a conscript in the new defense force with an oath to Dessallines. All generals who were named in that conspiracy were ousted and their land was taken and given to young officers who were most loyal to Dessalines.
In the fall of 1806, together with the USA, Dessalines had a new plan. Both young nations planned on building a new state in the state. Haitian former slaves were resettled to Africa if they wanted to or if they were political enemies of Dessalines. My uncle had to do that too, because he was one of the officer's named in the French plot. The city where they settled was called Monrovia and the country was named Liberia. The USA sent money and ships for this action which should widen their influence on Africa. Some time before, the USA had started to invade Morocco and taken land there. However, the project wasn't too successful. Soon the colonist revolted against the lack of autonomy, as the government in Haiti made wrong decisions due to the missing information about the colony. They even forced the Liberians to reintroduce Slavery in their colony. Also, the Natives weren't that happy about their new neighbours and attacked Monrovia several times.




haiti6.jpg



I mentioned the problems with the Catholic church before. Dessallines was a pragmatist. And it didn't serve him that the church was controlled by the far away Rome.Also the relationship between the holy see and Haiti were realy bad. But he also risked losing a lot of support and popularity, which then happened of course, when he decided to part away from the Latin Church and to create the Church of Haiti, a protestant Lutheran movement. He confiscated all the property and with this overnight action, Haiti became rich. The statue of restraint appeals as introduced, as well as church taxes and the test act. To stop the papal influence, all conspirational catholics were persecuted and sent to Liberia, which was still occupied by the revolting colonists. However this costed Dessallines a lot of his power, but in general one can say, that this is the root of the legendary Haitian wealth.



haiti7.jpg


With the money, he collected from the clerics, he built a huge market and a huge trading port. It was the biggest project seen in the Carribean and when it was finally finished, nearly all of the money was gone again. Some of it certainly wandered into Dessaline's pocket. But Haiti had a huge Center of Trade. Merchants from the whole world gathered in Port-au-Prince and began a golden era for the city. Roads were built and also post offices. The population was finally conducted and the Land was reformed. The buildings shined and the streets were plastered with golden cobblestones. A shining new palace was errected and ships from all over the Carribean brought their goods to Port-au-Prince. It was magic.



haiti8.jpg





haiti9.jpg



I hope you learned something today about the glorious days of Haiti which are now in vane. I will send you an additional letter in a few days but now, I will go to the bistro pour avoir une daiquiri.

My best wishes to you and the rest of the family,

Pierre
 
Last edited:
haitibanner.jpg




Chapter 2 - L'avancement d'une republique​



Tous les morts-nés forment une armée,
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.
(Arcade Fire - Haiti)​






28 Janvier 2001
Ma chère Florence,

Is it still snowing in Montréal? I heard that a Blizzard passed Québec. Merci pour ta response. I can only support your interest in your family's history. I will tell you today how my father helped to create Haiti new and how he stopped Jean-Jaques Dessalines. As I told you, Haiti was rich and the richest man was the Haitian king Dessalines. He was popular and very influential, an intelligent men who had helped to free Haiti. Now after the great trading port of Port-au-Prince was built, it enabled that in the whole Carribean people could flee to Port-au-Prince, which was very central and could still live in peace and in wealth there. Especially from the Spanish colonies in the Carribean, people came to Port-Au-Prince - former slaves, who fled the colonies, and Mulattos, but also protestants and politically persecuted people. Dessallines had the plan to send them to Liberia. But unfortunately, the Natives in Liberia were upset about the influx of Haitians and had destroyed Monrovia again.
Dessalines then ordered the people to leave to the Spanish Santo Domingo on the other side of Hispaniola. But the immigrants were too many and they were upset. My grandgrandfather, who had helped in the war for liberty was also upset about the despotic way Dessalines used his powers. It also hurt his business that all the plantation workers were sent away and were persecuted. So he organized rebell republican forces which attacked Dessaline's loyalist on the day of independance, 1st of January, in the year 1909. The coup was brillant. They caught and captured Dessallines and not much blood was shed. Postmen and troops who tied to alarm the garrissons on the other parts of the country were caught in the woods by guerilla troops. Dessaline was isolated and had to lie down the crown. A new constitution was presented and he had to sign it, making Haiti a Constitutional Republic, like their brothers, the United States of America.




haitianrevolution_illustra.jpg



After that, a new government was elected. Dessalines, the fox, managed to secure the major part of the votes, so he could become president, however he lost the control, which now lay in the hands of the parliament. The high house immedeatly made a decision on the matter of the immigrants. They would support the liberation of the colonies in the Carribean. Finally, the puppet state of Venezuela declared it's independance freeing the islands Curacao and Trinidad (&Tobago). Many of the immigrants returned or immigrated to the new country to build it up and much of the social pressure, that had lasted on Haiti was gone. The Republic had made it through it's fire probe.




haiti11.jpg



However, problems with the new state occured very soon. The puppet state wanted more independance. They tried their luck with alliances with German countries. But then, Venezuela commited a fatal fault. Curacao and Trinidad were strongholds of the Carribean sugar production. Venezuela desperately needed moeny to build up an army and a fleet. So they broke arrangements with their mother Haiti about the sugar trade and lowered the sugar price in order to sell more and be profitable. The Haitian government immedeatly consulted Washington D.C. over this and the measure it should take. While Washington supported a trade embargo, Haiti's pride was badly hurt and also its finances. So my father, a high minister, and his colleagues convinced Jean-Jaques Dessallines to declare war on Haiti. The USA joined Haiti, while Prussia let Venezuela fall like a hot potatoe. The forces invaded Curacao and did not meet any resistance. Venezuela couldn't even afford fortification. The Haitian and US fleet roamed in the Carribean and captured every Venezuelan trade ship, they could find. Soon, Venezuela was ready to accept any conditions. It had to give up any relationships with German states, to prevent that the Germans would take influence in the Carribean. Furthermore, Curacao was ceded to Haiti and it was written down, that the sugar price of Venezuela had to be named by the Haitian ministry of agriculture, which clearly meant that the Venezuelan sugar industry was ruined.



Haitianindigotier.jpg





haiti14.jpg



Despite the failure in installing a puppet state in Venezuela, Haiti kept its line in supporting colonial upriing, just for the sake of weakening the big European powers. In 1813, the next revolution sparked up and quickly, Nouveau Espagne was in flames, when the nation of México was proclaimed. It was really a badly prepared revolution. But still Dessallines decided to fund them with war subsidies. Sadly, México lost to Spain, but could still maintain their coreland in Guatemala. From there, they could prepare their takeover.



haiti12.jpg



Venezuela was severely hit by the peace treaty. In 1816, they decided not to care about it anymore, which was another fatal fault of the young state. Haitian forces had been suspiciously patrolling the lesser Antilles for some time and as soon as Venezuela showed rebellious tendencies against Haiti, Dessalines sent those forces to occupy Trinidad. This time, some German nations helped Venezuela, but they did not even own ships, nor did they come in time to save the government. Only one month after the declaration of war by Haiti, Venezuela was occupied and annexed. Trinidad was now officially an autonomous province of Haiti.



haiti15.jpg



In the year of 1817, a new election came up. This was a very special presidential election. My grandgrandfather was also a candidate and tried to campaign against Dessallines who had been in office since he put down the crown. Haiti never had another ruler then Dessalines. However, Haiti was extremely wealthy and had expanded and annexed Curacao and Trinidad. Haitian merchants were trading in India, China and Persia and Port-au-Prince was surely, one of the wealthiest cities in the world. So the only topic in the election campaign was religious unity. Dessalines had to manage to introduce the Church of Haiti in both provinces in Hispaniola. He promised to return religious autonomy to Haiti and would step down being the leader of the church, which was widely unpopular among the Haitiennes. Haitiennes therefore supported Dessalines and my father who's main focus was colonizing more provinces in Africa was of no real matter, lost to Dessalines.



haiti17.jpg



Dessalines couldn't concentrate for long on religious matters, as in the year of 1818, Cuba revolted from the Spaniards. They procliamed the United Provinces of Central America. Seeing what Haiti had done to their brothers in Venezuela, the relationship between both countries was rather bad at start. To be more precise, the president of the radical revolutionary republic had announced to erradicate Haiti from the map should the UPCA ever be able to construct a boat. Also Cuba was too close to the USA for a radical revolutionary republic to exist. So in 1819, Haiti and the USA declared a preemptive war on the UPCA. But the adventure was badly planned. After occupying Guantanamo and Moron, the forces led by Dessalines were lured into a trap and were totally anhillated. Dessalines was captured. The USA landed in the Bay of Pigs. there they ran into the roaring guns of the UPCA. Soon all of the US attacking forces were dead. It was a desasterous war. So my father, vice-president decided to blocade the ports of Cuba and to let them starve until they would hiss the white flag. Also Spain, reclaiming the island joined the blockading forces. When the effort didn' show any signs of success, my father made the decision to lead a last exploration force to free Dessallines, who was kept in Guantanamo Bay. They landed there, took Guantanamo and the UPCA saw that they didn't have any chances anymore. They were running out of ammunition and weapons and could only hide in their forts. Haiti also didn't want to continue the war as the people at home refused to support the intervention. So both nations signed a peace deal, which basically made the UPCA to cede Guantanamo. The province was renamed to Cuba Haitienne.



haiti18.jpg



Now that's it for today. I will add a map of Haiti, when they had the provinces Liberia, Trinidad, Curacao, Port-au-Prince, St. Dominique and Le Cuba Haitienne.

My best wishes,

Pierre​



haiti19.jpg




haiti20.jpg
 
Last edited:
i'm not entirely clear what's going on all the time, but you are certainly off to a good start.

let's see if the slave republic can sustain it's momentum!
 
I very much liked this AAR, bofski, and I beg you to continiue posting and updating it regardless of any troubles that might happen. It is a sad thing that tons of young and good AARs die of savefile corruption, PC loss or author's lack of free time. Don't let your AAR join those lost!

I hope you will like this little present, just as I liked mine.
Haiti, Mon Pays as the Weekly AAR Showcase 18/01/2010

Congratulations!
 
I very much liked this AAR, bofski, and I beg you to continiue posting and updating it regardless of any troubles that might happen. It is a sad thing that tons of young and good AARs die of savefile corruption, PC loss or author's lack of free time. Don't let your AAR join those lost!

I hope you will like this little present, just as I liked mine.
Haiti, Mon Pays as the Weekly AAR Showcase 18/01/2010

Congratulations!

Thank you very much. Either I will play the last 79 years or I will totally fail at it, but it is looking good right at the moment.

@Yakman: I will try to write in a less cryptic style :p