PC and WI : Toussaint Louverture, Marshall of France

[Yorel]

A friend of mine recently asked me if we had a thread on Toussaint Louverture becoming a Marshall of Napoleon on the board.

I told him that we didn't had one to my knowledge and that it didn't seem rather plausible given the OTL relationship between Napoleon and Toussaint Louverture. However, he seemed surprised and told me AH was based generally on "what if" and that I just needed to ask myself what would be needed for Napoleon to have Toussaint Louverture become one of his marshalls.

So, is there any possibility of making that scenario real?

And if so, what would be the consequences of Toussaint Louverture being the first black Marshall of France?

 

[Intosh]

A friend of mine recently asked me if we had a thread on Toussaint Louverture becoming a Marshall of Napoleon on the board.

I told him that we didn't had one to my knowledge and that it didn't seem rather plausible given the OTL relationship between Napoleon and Toussaint Louverture. However, he seemed surprised and told me AH was based generally on "what if" and that I just needed to ask myself what would be needed for Napoleon to have Toussaint Louverture become one of his marshalls.

So, is there any possibility of making that scenario real?

And if so, what would be the consequences of Toussaint Louverture being the first black Marshall of France?

To become Marshall of France, Haiti and Saint Domingue need to stay french and Toussaint Louverture friendly to France.

So Napoleon is not influenced by the Creole coterie of the Court and his wife Josephine. He don't reinstaure slavery in the caraibean and Antilles colonies, and Saint Domingue become the center of a french republican later imperial Outre-Mer.

During the Napoleonic Wars from 1805, Saint Domingue is invaded by the British and Toussaint Louverture is able to defeat a british force of around 20 - 30 thousands troops... He won then his baton of Marshall...

There will no consequences for the Napoleonic because a french victory in the Caraibes will not change the outcome of wars in Europe... Maybe the 35 thousands men, Napoleon lost in the Caribean had a consequences in Europe but not too much.

In fact, if blacks troops continue to exist after Napoleon reign, they will be used in the colonial adventures of France, in West Africa, in Mexico...

 

[Equuleus]

To become Marshall of France, Haiti and Saint Domingue need to stay french and Toussaint Louverture friendly to France.

So Napoleon is not influenced by the Creole coterie of the Court and his wife Josephine. He don't reinstaure slavery in the caraibean and Antilles colonies, and Saint Domingue become the center of a french republican later imperial Outre-Mer.

During the Napoleonic Wars from 1805, Saint Domingue is invaded by the British and Toussaint Louverture is able to defeat a british force of around 20 - 30 thousands troops... He won then his baton of Marshall...

There will no consequences for the Napoleonic because a french victory in the Caraibes will not change the outcome of wars in Europe... Maybe the 35 thousands men, Napoleon lost in the Caribean had a consequences in Europe but not too much.

In fact, if blacks troops continue to exist after Napoleon reign, they will be used in the colonial adventures of France, in West Africa, in Mexico...

Problem is Toussaint was hostile to the French and battled them when they landed for a few months.

 

[Falecius]

Problem is Toussaint was hostile to the French and battled them when they landed for a few months.

Just the other way round. The French turned hostile to him and sent an army to re-enslave the Haitians. At that point he chose to fight France, not without some difficulty it seems.

 

[archaeogeek]

Problem is Toussaint was hostile to the French and battled them when they landed for a few months.

He started out as a french revolutionary general IIRC. The first issues from what I heard came over disagreements with Sonthonax, over the return of the planters (Louverture wanted them back if they renounced their slaves because a lot had education and/or skills, Sonthonax didn't)

That said the main break with France was indeed during the rise of Napoleon later. Have the planters betray to the british early and you could probably have the Haitians remaining in the french camp...

It would probably be easier if the deep south rather than Quebec-Nova Scotia had remained british (merely thinking in terms of having more colonies retaining slavery)