Similarity between the Independence Wars

The American continents are famous for their wars for independence from European colonists. The successful outcome of the events in the War for Independence of the United States of America inspired other nations. The Haitians and Mexicans were both under the control of the European colonists. The territory of Mexico was under the control of the Spanish Empire.

The Haitians did not have the freedom due to the French colonists. Both of these nations were deprived of their rights of freedom and served as a work power. Both nations were in hard conditions and sought to get their right for freedom. The fight for the freedom of these two nations started almost at the same time and brought the successes and independence to them. However, they obtained victory with the great losses.

Many people died during the military conflicts. For the brave actions of the Mexicans and Haitians, today, we have two independent nations with their own history. San Domingo was one of the most important European colonies, which produced 40% of the sugar in the world. The production of the sugar was provided by the extensive manual labor.

The labor work was provided by enslaved black population from Africa. In Haiti, there were at least five hundred thousand black slaves. The leaving conditions were very heavy. The mortality rate was high and led to the fact that the number of slaves were declining by 2-5% annually. Leading positions in the society were hold by French white settlers. There were also many colored people who were rich and owned plantations.

The owners of the plantations were afraid of the rebellion. They did everything possible to keep their slaves under the control and threatened them all the time. Thereby, the process of uprising was coming near and near. The same hard and uneven conditions were created in Mexico. The growth of separatist sentiment in New Spain was due to the circumstances of the internal and external orders.

On the one side, landowners, artisans, Indians were suffering from the colonal oppression. They were not satisfied with the discrimination and political disenfranchisement. On the other side, the events in Europe, the French revolution, the struggle of British colonies were contributing to the development of anti-colonial tendencies among population. The hard living conditions for Haitians and Mexicans were the similar reasons for both nations to start the war for independence.A few years before the war began. Mulattoes demanded equalization of rights of white and colored people of Haiti.

Something similar we can observe before the war for independence in Mexico, where people started to claim the rights for freedom. The first step to uprising in the Haiti was made by Vincent Oge. He demanded a right to vote for mulattoes. When the governor of Santo Domingo refused to meet these demands, Vincent led the revolt. However, he was captured by the colonial authorities and executed.

His death and ideas served as a trigger for the beginning of the war. The same role for Mexico played a priest Miguel Hidalgo. He was sure that events of the Peninsular War were good reasons to start a rebellion against colonial government. The rebels were demanding the release of slaves, the abolition of the poll tax and the return of land confiscated from the Indians. The development of the wars was the same in both rebellions. Rebels formed groups and were looking for the ways to take and try to hold the position in the cities.

The military combats were severe and with many losses for rebels and colonists. When rebel forces made some successful steps, they announced their rules. The colonists did not want to accept the position of the rebels. “The planter-dominated assembly refused to deal with “rebel negroes”.

Speaking as if they were still powerful masters, they told the insurgents that if they returned to their plantations and showed themselves to be repentant, they might be forgiven” (Dubois, 126). However, the power of the rebellion forces was so strong that it wwas difficult for European conquerors to keep them under control. They had to make some steps forward to claims of rebels. France declared the abolition of slavery in its colonies, including Haiti.

San Domingo remained the possession of the France, but received autonomy. Toussaint L'Ouverture became a governor. In Mexico, the leader of the rebellion forces issued decrees to abolish the poll tax, the liberation of slaves, the abolition of the monopoly on the production and sale of gunpowder, tobacco, wine and return the lands to Indians. The wars for independence were close to fail in both cases. In Haiti case, Napoleon Bonaparte refused to recognize the constitution and sent to the island the army to restore the French power. Many allies of Toussaint moved on the side of the French troops.

Toussaint had been promised freedom in exchange for his adherence to the French army. He agreed, but was betrayed and arrested. He was sent to France and died in prison. After this, the island was for several months under the control of French colonists. In the case of Mexico, from 1815 to 1821 pro-independent forces consisted mainly of individual sections.

Spain wanted to regain control over the situation. It issued a decree to forgive every rebel, ready to lay down their arms. The war for independence was close to collapse. Despite all of this, the people of these two nations found power to overcome their enemies and win their freedom from colonists. All leaders that started these wars were killed.

In both cases, they play a significant role in the rising of people to fight for their rights.The history of the world knows many examples of the nations which fought for their rights for freedom and independence. The wars for independence of Haiti and Mexico had many common things. Both wars were started with the desire to escape slavery from the European colonists and get the independence as a free country.

As a result, these two nations were recognized as independent over the years.