Dominican War of Independence
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The Dominican War of Independence was a 19th century conflict in which the Dominican Republic revolted from Haiti, and established its own nation on the island of Hispaniola[1] .
The date traditionally named the Dominican Republic's independence day is February 27, 1844.
The leaders of the Dominican revolt were Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, and Ramón Matías Mella. They used their own money to buy weapons [citation needed]. the Dominican revolution came after a 20 year merger of Spanish Haiti and French Haiti into simply Haiti [2].
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The Beginnings of a Revolution
The Dominican War of Independence was inspired by Juan Pablo Duarte who is now considered the father of the Dominican Republic. On his return to his home from schooling in Europe, he found that the conditions of the people living in Santo Domingo had sharply fallen since he had left. He decided to found the La Trinitaria (the Trinity) to resist the Haitian government that was bearing down on the Dominicans. Duarte soon had many followers, but his society was betrayed to the Haitian government, forcing him to change the name of his organization to La Filantropica. Along with gaining many followers and supporters, the Dominicans also overthrew the current Haitian president, Jean-Pierre Boyer, in 1843 giving them a boost to their movement. The new president, Charles Riviere-Herard, cracked down on any liberal Haitians and with them he also prevented any movements by Duarte and his followers. This caused Duarte to travel to the Latin Americas to find outside supporters of his cause.
The Battle for the Capiatal
During his travels, Duarte caught a very violent disease, and when he did not return by February 1844, the rebels launched an uprising under Fransisco del Rosario Sanchez and Ramon Mella. On February 27th, 1844 the rebels seized a fortress in the capital city of Santo Domingo. After 2 days, all Haitian government officials had left Santo Domingo. On March 14th, a healthy Duarte returned home and entered the capital with great celebration.
The Young Dominican Republic
More conflict would follow as they fought to protect the young Dominican Republic from Haitian retaliation. Duarte was nominated for president of the republic, but he had to run against the military director, Pedro Santana. Duarte lost the election and was banished for many years. Under Santana’s rule, the Dominican Republic fended off all Haitian forces and developed a constitution based upon that of the United States. Throughout the entire revolution, each side lost around 1000 men, but the rebels had more soldiers amd more support than the Haitians.
Citations
[3]www.123exp-history.com/t/03764490812/
[4]www.onwar.com/aced/data/delta/dominican1844.htm
[5]www.colonialzone-dr.com/people_history-Duarte.html