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The Haitian Revolution is seen as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in history. It was the only rebellion that led to the formation of a state. By the end of the 18th century men and women were wealthier than the French artisans but the plantation owners were the wealthiest. This led to the organized resistant movements throughout St. Dominic. L'Ouverture became the leader of this revolution that began with slaves attacking the planters. The British withdrew in 1798 and in 1801 Haiti invaded Santo Domingo and abolished slavery.

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THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION and why it is important to you in 5 minutes

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Brazil was raised to an equal partner in the Empire forming the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarve's. Brazil was then expanded by invading Uruguay in 1816. An assembly of nobility and important people demanded that John had to return to Portugal. He promised to uphold the new constitution, he put his son Pedro to rule his place in Brazil. Brazil was made just economy and all provisional governments would be subordinates of Portugal. This broke up Brazil and they could only trade with Portugal once. Cortes and Portugal wanted to demolish all the reforms his government made, this made Pedro declare independence. He traveled back to Rio and took the title Emperor.

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Brazilian Independence | 3 Minute History

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After the fall of Rome, the peninsula of Italy was divided among a lot of independent states. Then, Napoleon came along when he invaded Italy, when he was defeated Italy just reverted back to independent states. Giuseppe Mazzini founded a revolutionary group of young Italians. Many battles happened but it led to Italy merging. Italy eventually created their own empire later on but they upset the balance of power in Europe.

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This art is showing everyday life in Italy during 1861. Houses by mountains are seen with people walking on a path.

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An everyday scene. Two people painting a scene of what they are seeing.

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Shows an accurate view of the word at the time without any artificialness.

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Toussaint L’ouverture led a revolt of slaves and set the slaves free in the French colony of Haiti. He was a former military leader and he turned the colony into a country governed by prior slaves. He then made himself the ruler of Hispaniola.

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Toussaint Louverture, Louverture also spelled L'Ouverture, original name (until c. 1793) François Dominique Toussaint, (born c. 1743, Bréda, near Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue [Haiti]-died April 7, 1803, Fort-de-Joux, France), leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution (1787-99). He emancipated the slaves and negotiated for the French colony on Hispaniola, Saint-Domingue (later Haiti), to be governed, briefly, by Black former slaves as a French protectorate.

Rise to power

Toussaint was the son of an educated slave. He acquired through Jesuit contacts some knowledge of French, though he wrote and spoke it poorly, usually employing Haitian Creole and African tribal language. Winning the favour of the plantation manager, he became a livestock handler, healer, coachman, and finally steward. Legally freed in 1776, he married and had two sons. Toussaint was homely, short, and small framed. He was a fervent Roman Catholic, opposed to Vodou (Voodoo). He dressed simply and was abstemious and a vegetarian. Although he slept little, his energy and capacity for work were astonishing. As a leader he inspired awe and adulation.

When a sudden slave revolt began in the northern province (August 1791) and soon spread to encompass thousands of slaves across the colony, Toussaint was at first uncommitted. After hesitating a few weeks, he helped his former master escape and then joined the Black forces who were burning plantations and killing many Europeans and mulattoes (people of mixed African and European ancestry). He soon discerned the ineptitude of the rebel leaders and scorned their willingness to compromise with European radicals. Collecting an army of his own, Toussaint trained his followers in the tactics of guerrilla warfare. In 1793 he added to his original name the name of Louverture; the name's exact significance is unknown, but its meaning in French, "opening," may have referred to his tactical ability as a military commander.

When France and Spain went to war in 1793, the Black commanders joined the Spaniards of Santo Domingo, the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic). Knighted and recognized as a general, Toussaint demonstrated extraordinary military ability and attracted such renowned warriors as his nephew Moïse and two future monarchs of Haiti, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe. Toussaint's victories in the north, together with mulatto successes in the south and British occupation of the coasts, brought the French close to disaster. Yet, in May 1794, Toussaint went over to the French, giving as his reasons that the French National Convention had recently freed all slaves, while Spain and Britain refused, and that he had become a republican. He has been criticized for the duplicity of his dealings with his onetime allies and for a slaughter of Spaniards at a mass. His switch was decisive: the governor of Saint-Domingue, Étienne Laveaux, made Toussaint lieutenant governor; the British suffered severe reverses; and the Spaniards were expelled.

By 1795 Toussaint Louverture was widely renowned. He was adored by Blacks and appreciated by most Europeans and mulattoes, for he did much to restore the economy. Defying French Revolutionary laws, he allowed many émigré planters to return, and he used military discipline to force the former slaves to work. Convinced that people were naturally corrupt, he felt that compulsion was needed to prevent idleness. Yet the labourers were no longer whipped: they were legally free and equal, and they shared the profits of the restored plantations. Racial tensions were eased because Toussaint preached reconciliation and believed that Blacks, a majority of whom were African born, had to learn from Europeans and Europeanized mulattoes.

Elimination of rivals

Though he worked well with Laveaux, Toussaint eased him out in 1796. Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, a terrorist French commissioner, allowed Toussaint to rule and made him governor-general. But the ascetic Black general was repelled by the proposals of the European radical to exterminate the Europeans, and he was offended by Sonthonax's atheism, coarseness, and immorality. After some devious maneuvers, Toussaint forced Sonthonax out in 1797.

Next to go were the British, whose losses caused them to negotiate secretly with Toussaint, notwithstanding the war with France. Treaties in 1798 and 1799 secured their complete withdrawal. Lucrative trade was begun with Britain and with the United States. In return for arms and goods, Toussaint sold sugar and promised not to invade Jamaica or the American South. The British offered to recognize him as king of an independent Haiti, but, scornful of pompous titles and distrustful of the British because they maintained slavery, he refused.

Toussaint soon rid himself of another nominal French superior, Gabriel Hédouville, who arrived in 1798 as representative of the Directory (the French Revolutionary government). Knowing that France had no chance of restoring colonialism as long as the war with England continued, Hédouville attempted to pit against Toussaint the mulatto leader André Rigaud, who ruled a semi-independent state in the south. Toussaint divined his purpose and forced Hédouville to flee. Succeeding Hédouville was Philippe Roume, who deferred to the Black governor. Then a bloody campaign in 1799 eliminated another potential rival to Toussaint by driving Rigaud out and destroying his mulatto state. A purge that was carried out by Jean-Jacques Dessalines in the south was so brutal that reconciliation with the mulattoes was impossible.

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Toussaint Louverture | Biography, Significance, & Facts

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Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution (1787-99). He emancipated the slaves and negotiated for the French colony on Hispaniola, Saint-Domingue (later Haiti), to be governed, briefly, by Black former slaves as a French protectorate.

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Prince Dom Pedro was the first Emperor of Brazil. He is best remembered as the man who declared Brazil independent from Portugal in 1822. He claimed himself as Emperor of Brazil but went back to Portugal to claim his crown.  In April 1821, João departed, leaving Pedro in charge. He told Pedro that if Brazil started moving toward independence, he should not fight it and instead make sure he was crowned emperor.

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Dom Pedro I (October 12, 1798-September 24, 1834) was the first Emperor of Brazil and was also Dom Pedro IV, King of Portugal. He is best remembered as the man who declared Brazil independent from Portugal in 1822. He set himself up as Emperor of Brazil but returned to Portugal to claim the crown after his father died, abdicating Brazil in favor of his young son Pedro II. He died young in 1834 at the age of 35.

Fast Facts: Dom Pedro I

Dom Pedro I was born with the lengthy name of Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim on October 12, 1798, in the Queluz Royal Palace outside of Lisbon. He was descended from royal lineage on both sides: on his father's side, he was of the House of Bragança, the royal house of Portugal, and his mother was Carlota of Spain, daughter of King Carlos IV. At the time of his birth, Portugal was ruled by Pedro's grandmother Queen Maria I, whose sanity was quickly deteriorating. Pedro's father João VI essentially ruled in his mother's name. Pedro became heir to the throne in 1801 when his older brother died. As a young prince, Pedro had the best schooling and tutoring available.

Flight to Brazil

In 1807, Napoleon's troops conquered the Iberian Peninsula. Wishing to avoid the fate of the ruling family of Spain, who were "guests" of Napoleon, the Portuguese royal family and court fled to Brazil. Queen Maria, Prince João, young Pedro, and thousands of other nobles set sail in November of 1807 just ahead of Napoleon's approaching troops. They were escorted by British warships, and Britain and Brazil would enjoy a special relationship for decades to follow. The royal convoy arrived in Brazil in January of 1808: Prince João set up a court-in-exile in Rio de Janeiro. Young Pedro rarely saw his parents; his father was very busy governing and left Pedro to his tutors and his mother was an unhappy woman who was estranged from her husband, had little desire to see her children, and lived in a different palace. Pedro was a bright young man who was good in his studies when he applied himself, but he lacked discipline.

Pedro, Prince of Brazil

As a young man, Pedro was handsome and energetic and fond of physical activities like horseback riding, at which he excelled. He had little patience for things that bored him, such as his studies or statecraft, although he did develop into a very skilled woodworker and musician. He was also fond of women and began a string of affairs at a young age. He was betrothed to Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, an Austrian Princess. Married by proxy, he was already her husband when he greeted her at the port of Rio de Janeiro six months later. Together they would have seven children. Leopoldina was much better at statecraft than Pedro and the people of Brazil loved her, although Pedro found her plain and continued to have regular affairs, much to Leopoldina's dismay.

Pedro Becomes Emperor of Brazil

In 1815, Napoleon was defeated and the Bragança family was once again rulers of Portugal. Queen Maria, by then long descended into madness, died in 1816, making João king of Portugal. João was reluctant to move the court back to Portugal, however, and ruled from Brazil via a proxy council. There was some talk of sending Pedro to Portugal to rule in his father's place, but in the end João decided he had to go to Portugal himself in order to make sure that Portuguese liberals did not entirely do away with the position of the king and royal family. In April 1821, João departed, leaving Pedro in charge. He told Pedro that if Brazil started moving toward independence, he should not fight it and instead make sure he was crowned emperor.

Independence of Brazil

The people of Brazil, who had enjoyed the privilege of being the seat of royal authority, did not take well to returning to colony status. Pedro took his father's advice, and also that of his wife, who wrote to him: "The apple is ripe: pick it now, or it will rot." Pedro dramatically declared independence on September 7, 1822, in the city of São Paulo. He was crowned emperor of Brazil on December 1, 1822.

Independence was achieved with very little bloodshed: some Portuguese loyalists fought in isolated locations, but by 1824 all of Brazil was unified with relatively little violence. In this, Scottish Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane was invaluable: with a very small Brazilian fleet, he drove the Portuguese out of Brazilian waters with a combination of muscle and bluff. Pedro proved himself skillful in dealing with rebels and dissidents. By 1824, Brazil had its own Constitution and its independence was recognized by the United States and Great Britain. On August 25, 1825, Portugal formally recognized Brazil's independence; it helped that João was the king of Portugal at the time.

A Troubled Ruler

After independence, Pedro's lack of attention to his studies came back to haunt him. A series of crises made life difficult for the young ruler. Cisplatina, one of Brazil's southern provinces, split off with encouragement from Argentina: it would eventually become Uruguay. He had a well-publicized falling-out with José Bonifácio de Andrada, his chief minister and mentor.

In 1826 his wife Leopoldina died, apparently of an infection brought on after a miscarriage. The people of Brazil loved her and lost respect for Pedro due to his well-known dalliances; some even said that she had died because he hit her. Back in Portugal, his father died in 1826 and pressure mounted on Pedro to go to Portugal to claim the throne there. Pedro's plan was to marry his daughter Maria to his brother Miguel, which would make Maria queen and Miguel regent. The plan failed when Miguel seized power in 1828.

Abdication of Pedro I of Brazil

Pedro began looking to remarry, but word of his poor treatment of the respected Leopoldina preceded him and most European princesses wanted nothing to do with him. He eventually settled on Amélie of Leuchtenberg. He treated Amélie well, even banishing his longtime mistress, Domitila de Castro. Although he was quite liberal for his time-he favored the abolition of enslavement and supported the Constitution-he continually fought with the Brazilian Liberal party. In March of 1831, Brazilian liberals and Portuguese royalists fought in the streets. He responded by firing his liberal cabinet, leading to outrage and calls for him to abdicate. He did so on April 7, abdicating in favor of his son Pedro, then 5 years old. Brazil would be ruled by regents until Pedro II came of age.

Return to Europe

Pedro I had great troubles in Portugal. His brother Miguel had usurped the throne and had a firm hold on power. Pedro spent time in France and Great Britain; both nations were supportive but unwilling to get involved in a Portuguese civil war. He entered the city of Porto in July of 1832 with an army consisting of liberals, Brazilians, and foreign volunteers. Things went poorly at first because King Manuel's army was much larger and laid siege to Pedro in Porto for over a year. Pedro then sent some of his forces to attack the south of Portugal, a surprise move that worked. Lisbon fell in July 1833. Just as it looked like the war was over, Portugal got drawn into the First Carlist War in neighboring Spain; Pedro's assistance kept Queen Isabella II of Spain in power.

Pedro was at his best in times of crises, as the years of warring had actually brought out the best in him. He was a natural wartime leader who had a real connection to the soldiers and people who suffered in the conflict. He even fought in the battles. In 1834 he won the war: Miguel was exiled from Portugal forever and Pedro's daughter Maria II was placed upon the throne. She would rule until 1853.

The warring, however, took its toll on Pedro's health. By September 1834, he was suffering from advanced tuberculosis. He died on September 24 at the age of 35.

During his reign, Pedro I was unpopular with the people of Brazil, who resented his impulsiveness, lack of statecraft, and mistreatment of the beloved Leopoldina. Although he was quite liberal and favored a strong Constitution and the abolition of enslavement, Brazilian liberals constantly criticized him.

Today, however, Brazilians and Portuguese alike respect his memory. His stance on the abolition of enslavement was ahead of its time. In 1972, his remains were returned to Brazil with great fanfare. In Portugal, he is respected for overthrowing his brother Miguel, who had put an end to modernizing reforms in favor of a strong monarchy.

During Pedro's day, Brazil was far from the united nation it is today. Most of the towns and cities were located along the coast and contact with the mostly unexplored interior was irregular. Even the coastal towns were fairly isolated from one another and correspondence often went first through Portugal. Powerful regional interests, such as coffee growers, miners, and sugarcane plantations were growing, threatening to split the country apart. Brazil could very easily have gone the way of the Republic of Central America or Gran Colombia and been split up, but Pedro I and his son Pedro II were firm in their determination to keep Brazil whole. Many modern Brazilians credit Pedro I with the unity they enjoy today.

Adams, Jerome R. "Latin American Heroes: Liberators and Patriots from 1500 to the Present." New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.

Herring, Hubert. "A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present." New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962

Levine, Robert M. "The History of Brazil." New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

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Biography of Dom Pedro I, First Emperor of Brazil

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Pedro I declared Brazil independent from Portugal and served as its first ruler from 1822-1831. Learn more about his life and legacy.

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Giuseppe Mazzini was a Genoese propagandist and revolutionary. He founded the secret revolutionary society Young Italy and he played a major role in the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. Giuseppe would not participate in the government under the monarchy of the House of Savoy, when Italy became independent and unified.

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Giuseppe Mazzini, (born June 22, 1805, Genoa [Italy]-died March 10, 1872, Pisa, Italy), Genoese propagandist and revolutionary, founder of the secret revolutionary society Young Italy (1832), and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. An uncompromising republican, he refused to participate in the parliamentary government that was established under the monarchy of the House of Savoy when Italy became unified and independent (1861).

Education and exile.

Giuseppe Mazzini was a doctor's son; his birthplace, formerly a republic, was annexed to the Kingdom of Piedmont in 1814. As a child, he gave promise of high intellectual ability, fully confirmed when he entered the University of Genoa at 14. Two years later, strongly influenced by seeing a patriot fleeing from Italy after an unsuccessful insurrection, he began to think "that we Italians could and therefore ought to struggle for the liberty of our country."

On graduating in law in 1827, he practiced as a "poor man's lawyer," wrote articles for progressive reviews, and hoped to become a dramatist or historical novelist. But his life was already shaping itself differently. His love of freedom led him to join the Carbonari, a secret society pledged to overthrow absolute rule in Italy. In 1830 he was betrayed to the police, arrested, and interned at Savona, where for three months he reviewed his political beliefs and conceived the outlines of a new patriotic movement to replace the decaying Carbonari.

When released early in 1831, he was ordered either to leave Piedmont or to live in some small town. He chose exile and went to Marseille, where his slight figure, handsome olive features, black hair and beard, and black velvet suit were soon familiar to the other Italian exiles, who accepted him as their leader. His first public gesture was an "open letter" to Charles Albert, the king of Piedmont, urging him to give Piedmont constitutional government, to lead a national movement, and to expel the Austrians from Lombardy-Venetia and their other Italian strongholds. The letter was circulated in Italy, but Charles Albert's only reaction was to threaten Mazzini with arrest if he returned to Piedmont. As a lifelong republican, Mazzini was afterward censured for this friendly approach to an autocratic sovereign; he explained that he had meant to expose Charles Albert as one who would never fight for Italian freedom.

At Marseille Mazzini spent two of his most rewarding years. He founded his patriotic movement for young men and called it Giovine Italia (Young Italy). It was designed as a national association for liberating the separate Italian states from foreign rule and fusing them into a free and independent unitary republic. Its methods were education and insurrection, and it had a moral basis derived from Mazzini's own belief in God (though he was not a Christian) and in permanent laws of progress, duty, and sacrifice. It was the first Italian democratic movement embracing all classes, for Mazzini believed that only a popular initiative could free Italy. "Neither pope nor king," he declared. "Only God and the people will open the way of the future to us."

The new movement captured the imagination of Italian youth. Branches were secretly formed in Genoa and other cities; by 1833 there were 60,000 members. Mazzini edited the propagandist journal Giovine Italia, which was smuggled into Italy with other revolutionary pamphlets. He also became the lover of a fellow exile, the beautiful Modenese widow Giuditta Sidoli.

Young Italy's attempted insurrections were failures. A projected rising in Piedmont in 1833 was discovered before it had begun; 12 conspirators were executed, one committed suicide, and Mazzini was tried in absence and condemned to death. He said prophetically, "Ideas ripen quickly when nourished by the blood of martyrs." A few months later, when he had moved to Switzerland to escape from the French police, he tried to rally 1,000 volunteers to invade Savoy (then part of the kingdom of Piedmont). Only 200 could be mustered, and the force was disbanded.

These failures destroyed Young Italy as an organization, though its spirit lived on. Mazzini turned to wider revolutionary plans, based on his faith in the brotherhood of man and his hopes for a world republican federation. He founded Young Europe and helped to establish Young Germany, Young Switzerland, and Young Poland, but his three years in Switzerland were unhappy and frustrated. Giuditta Sidoli had gone back to Italy to rejoin her children; he suffered an emotional crisis through doubts and disillusionment. In 1837 he went with a few Italian friends to live in London.

Stay in England.

England was now his real home. He lived in modest London lodgings, surrounded by books, papers, and the tame birds in which he delighted; he studied at the British Museum and wrote for English periodicals. Though he had little money, he started a school for Italian boys in London and a newspaper, Apostolato popolare ("Apostleship of the People"), in which he published part of his essay "On the Duties of Man." In 1840, with the help of Giuseppe Lamberti in Paris, he revived Young Italy, primarily as a means of building up a national consciousness among Italians everywhere. He wrote innumerable letters to his new agents in Europe and North and South America; he also became acquainted with Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle and other notable people.

In 1844 he was in touch with the Bandiera brothers, who made an ill-fated attempt to start a revolt in Calabria. After their execution, he told two friends who were members of Parliament of his fears that the British government was opening his letters and had passed on information about the Bandieras' plans to the Neapolitan authorities. The matter was raised in Parliament, and the government was compelled to admit that it opened private letters. There was much public indignation and widespread sympathy with Mazzini. The affair made him better known in England and brought him into contact with a notable liberal family, the Ashursts. Many English liberals supported him when he founded the People's International League in 1847.

In that year he wrote an "open letter" to the new pope, Pius IX, who had introduced liberal reforms in the Papal States. He urged the pope to unify Italy, but Pius made no comment. Mazzini returned to Italy for the first time in the revolutionary year of 1848, when the Milanese drove out their Austrian masters and Piedmont began a war to expel the Austrians from Italy. Milan welcomed him, but he was soon unpopular because he wanted Lombardy to become a republic and he thought that union with the kingdom of Piedmont, as proposed by the Milanese provisional government, was the wrong kind of pattern for the future Italy. When the Piedmontese armies withdrew and the Austrians reentered Milan, he served briefly with an irregular force under Giuseppe Garibaldi before returning to England.

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Giuseppe Mazzini | Italian Revolutionary, Nationalist & Political Activist

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Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoese propagandist and revolutionary, founder of the secret revolutionary society Young Italy (1832), and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. An uncompromising republican, he refused to participate in the parliamentary government that was