Chapter 469 Haiti and Dominican Republic (Part 1)

On February 7, 1844, a riot broke out in the Dominican Republic, overthrowing the regime established by Haiti there and seriously injuring Governor Degroat.

As the first independent black country in history, Haiti has many things to be praised, but this does not include its treatment of its neighbors.

22 years ago, it annexed the Dominican Republic by force, setting a precedent in modern history for black countries to invade and enslave white countries.

However, the black uncles seemed to be only keen on rebellion. After there was no threat from Europe, they started an unlimited fighting competition in Haiti.

The whole situation is similar to refining Gu, with all kinds of warlords, so-called kings and leaders emerging in an endless stream.

These guys are qualified in internal fighting, but they are really blind in the economic field. The black people in Haiti, in line with the style of relying on the mountains to eat the mountains and the water to eat the water, require the enslaved whites and mixed-race people to hand in food to provide the necessities of the civil war.

In addition, the so-called "Peasant Code" there is actually equivalent to restoring the serf system, and this kind of perverse behavior will naturally not have any good results.

The warlords who could not collect taxes could only indulge in looting to prevent soldiers from mutinying. As a result, the new independent country not only failed to live a "good life", but also let the fields become barren and plunged the country into hunger.

The production of white sugar fell by 95%, and cacti were rampant. A French missionary's diary recorded:

"Cacti have invaded cities, villages, pastures, and fields. Residents ignore them, and livestock will not eat these plants. How the ruined cities and lush green plants seem to be a mockery of this civilization."

Affected by the warlords' melee, legal provisions have become a dead letter, and public security is out of the question. So there is a saying that farming is not as good as robbery, and having money is not as good as having guns, and the Dominicans who are enslaved by them are even more miserable.

After all, all the warlords in Haiti think of the same way to solve the economic situation in their country, that is, to transfer the domestic crisis to foreign countries.

Eventually, the Dominicans could no longer bear it, but they also knew that it was impossible to defeat this powerful black country on their own.

So the drama of asking for intervention from the great powers was staged again, but in fact Haiti was too busy to take care of itself and had no intention of sending troops to invade the Dominican Republic again.

At this time, Juan Pablo Duarte was the ruler of the Dominican Republic and a naive liberal. His supporters actually controlled the country, but he insisted on free elections.

Because his presidency was recommended by everyone, in his eyes it was just a temporary agent rather than a formal one.

But if it was just about the presidency, it would be fine, but this naive liberal was still too young; he hoped that all official positions in the country would be elected by free elections, including officers, so he violated the interests of many people.

Franz knew very well that the biggest challenge facing the interim president was not from the outside but from the inside, but he did not intend to help, after all, the empire's control over overseas was limited, at least not now.

And it is obvious that such a ruler can really govern the country well. Even if there is no ambitious Pedro Santana, there will be others. Of course, it might be worse, such as being invaded by Haiti again and becoming a colony of blacks.

In fact, Juan Pablo Duarte and his motherland were both useless to the great powers. At that time, no large copper mines were found in the Dominican Republic, and no one found gold. There were only corn and sugar, the most famous of which was a blue gem called "sea stone".

While there was no output, they had to face a "powerful" neighbor - a barbaric black country.

At that time, the major European powers had basically been defeated by this black country, so naturally no one wanted to "relive the old dream" again.

At this time, France was still deeply mired in the quagmire of El Salvador in Central America, and Louis Philippe and other high-level officials in Paris had no intention of provoking a thankless war again.

Portugal and Spain were also unable to start a war alone. As for the British, they actually hated this country with a strong religious atmosphere, and they also did not want to fight with the black people in Haiti. The strategic value of the Dominican Republic was really not as great as Juan Pablo Duarte imagined.

On the other hand, although the Haitians have not yet decided on the leader, their verbal threats have never stopped, which makes the newly born Dominican Republic uneasy. After all, the former has invaded the latter, and it is not impossible to do it again.

So the external pressure allowed Juan Pablo Duarte to temporarily retain his presidency. Although Franz did not want Austria to be involved now, he still conveyed his "goodwill" through Archbishop Rauscher.

The religious power of the Dominican Republic is very strong, and it is also willing to see the religious "brothers" in Europe come to help.

At the same time, Franz also suggested to Prime Minister Metternich to recognize the new regime of the Dominican Republic. The latter knew that the former often got involved with religious elements, so he was not surprised.

Moreover, recognizing the Dominican regime and sending troops to help are completely different things. Although there is some fear of Haiti, it is only a fear of sending troops there.

If Haiti dares to send troops to attack Austrian warships or colonial ships, it will be a completely different matter.

Austria was the first to recognize the Dominican Republic rather than Juan Pablo Duarte, which did not cause any dissatisfaction to the latter. On the contrary, he felt that it was the former that fulfilled his reputation.

Franz couldn't help but sigh that it was great to do business with such a person who was good at thinking.

The Dominican Republic was preparing for war, so it naturally needed a large number of weapons and uniform military uniforms and other urgently needed materials. After all, the industrial level of this place was almost zero, and it could be said that everything except food needed to be imported from abroad.

But this country had neither money nor goods to exchange; because the fields were already largely barren due to the war, the remaining ones were either taken away by the Haitians or kept by the locals to feed themselves.

And no country believed that such a piece of rotten land could have any future. Even if it was received by its own country as a colony, it would be too hot to handle, because there was a black country next to it that had defeated the powers several times.

The same political instability also forced European businessmen and politicians to think carefully. As a result, no one was willing to take such a risk, because the benefits were completely disproportionate to the cost.

But Franz was different. He knew very well that this small Dominican Republic would become the largest economy in Central America in the future.

But he prefers to support weak liberals rather than hardline conservatives, after all, the latter prefer and are more suitable to be agents, especially naive idealists like Juan Pablo Duarte.

This man has countless beautiful blueprints, and he has painted a beautiful and prosperous future to his supporters, but he does not have a feasible solution.

In history, this man was only president for five months before he was overthrown. It is sad that he ended up in exile abroad after such a good start.