I'm just putting this out there, but what about an ATL where the Haitian Revolution is more successful, with the split between L'Ouverture and Rigaud and the subsequent War Of Knives never taking place? ITTL, without the internal divisions ripping the fledgling nation apart, might it be feasible for the Haitians to repel Leclerc's expeditionary force, gaining international recognition and securing its independence in the same manner as the USA (with Haiti encompassing the Dominican Republic as well at this stage)? ITTL, could the Caribbean people potential unify themselves, rather being unified for administrative purposes by a more dominant colonial power. Their success would encourage more slave revolts across the Caribbean, with any other slave populations who do carry out successful rebellions being offered a place in L'Ouverture's new Caribbean Federation. It may be far-fetched, but I do still feel that it's marginally feasible, and it would certainly be an interesting TL.
In 1804, there was basically no way Haiti could get international recognition. The last thing the Western world wanted to see at that time was a black republic.
It still succeeded in 1804 even IOTL though, didn't it? And without the War of Knives, with unified leadership, how much better placed would the Haitian Republic be to resist French aggression? Don't discount the possibility just because they'd be a 'black republic'...
The black republic thing can't be hand-waved away. Seeing Haiti succeed was the last thing slaveholding countries wanted. Haiti was completely isolated diplomatically for decades.
The Haitian Revolution succeeded in the very specific context of a war against a colonial power that was undergoing its own series of regime changes and which was at war itself with the leading maritime power (Britain), whose naval blockades made it difficult to send in reinforcements. Even then, were it not for the yellow fever epidemic of 1802-03, France probably would have defeated the Haitian forces. (All things considered, the story of the Haitian Revolution reads like an AH timeline.)
Britain was willing to muck things up for the French on Saint-Domingue, but it had no plans whatsoever to recognize Haitian independence, and certainly would have crushed any Haitian attempt to try to conquer neighboring islands. How is a Haiti that has no navy, and no money to create one, going to conquer Cuba or Jamaica? The most Haiti could realistically hope to conquer was what it did in 1821, when it conquered the eastern part of Hispaniola (which it went on to lose in 1844).
I'm not suggesting that they would be able to conquer other islands. I'm just suggesting that a more successful Haiti (/Hispaniola), one which isn't crippled by war debts to the French for the first 150 years of its existence, may be capable of eventually unifying them, once the other islands do inevitably achieve independence on their own. Think of it as a Caribbean contemporary to Gran Columbia or the United States of Central America; or alternatively, as a version of CARICOM which comes into being before the EU, and achieves political union in the same manner as the proposed East African Federation prior to the present day. Isn't this at least slightly feasible?
OK, that is somewhat plausible, but I don't think we could see much more than a very loose arrangement, like the European Community before it became the EU. The diversity of languages/cultures in the Caribbean would make political union pretty hard to imagine. Even the anglophone islands alone couldn't make the West Indies Federation work out.
Unless anyone else can come up with their own better suggestions to fulfil this AHC, rather than simply dismissing it as impossible...?
Admittedly, the thought of Fidel Castro being elected president of the Caribbean Republic is fun for me.
1. Go back further in history when the Taino are still around. Develop the Taino to Aztec and Inca levels of civilization. Perhaps an outside threat conquers them, but the Greater Antilles maintain clear ethnic Taino majority populations, speak the Taino language, and eventually join together. The Lesser Antilles come along for the ride in attempt to pacify the Caribs. Island Carib is derived from the Taino language anyway, so it wouldn't be too difficult to bring them into the fold.
2. A harsher and more reluctant United Kingdom pisses off its Caribbean colonies, which turn to some kind of powerful Fidel Castro / Che Guevara / Muammar Qaddafi figure hailing from Cuba or the Dominican Republic for support in revolutionary movements. Somewhere down the line you get a league of Caribbean countries forming an EU-like organization that eventually becomes a unified country (like the vision that Qaddafi had for Africa), with Cuba or the Dominican Republic in the lead.
International recognition is one thing, securing British and French colonies is a whole different issue, one which I don't see how is possible.I'm just putting this out there, but what about an ATL where the Haitian Revolution is more successful, with the split between L'Ouverture and Rigaud and the subsequent War Of Knives never taking place? ITTL, without the internal divisions ripping the fledgling nation apart, might it be feasible for the Haitians to repel Leclerc's expeditionary force, gaining international recognition and securing its independence in the same manner as the USA (with Haiti encompassing the Dominican Republic as well at this stage)? ITTL, could the Caribbean people potential unify themselves, rather being unified for administrative purposes by a more dominant colonial power. Their success would encourage more slave revolts across the Caribbean, with any other slave populations who do carry out successful rebellions being offered a place in L'Ouverture's new Caribbean Federation. It may be far-fetched, but I do still feel that it's marginally feasible, and it would certainly be an interesting TL.
That's not entirely true; Gran Colombia recognized Haitian independence and actively traded with Haiti for the duration of its existence. Despite Simon Bolivar's initial hesitance, this proved to be a general boon for both countries.The black republic thing can't be hand-waved away. Seeing Haiti succeed was the last thing slaveholding countries wanted. Haiti was completely isolated diplomatically for decades.