The Role Of Violence In The Haitian Revolution
Image is an important concept to consider when comparing violence as it was very public. Violence was a spectacle which was choreographed very violently. It represents the symbol of power in the hands of the people in the form of moral outrage. Beik acknowledges that the beheading and subsequent parading of heads through the streets and the guillotine paint the very picture of the French revolution. Similarly, beheading in front of large audiences was also a feature of the Haitian revolution. The queen’s friend, the Princesse de Lamballe was reportedly stripped naked, raped and beheaded during the September massacres of 1792 in France. The parading of her head on a pike in front of a large crowd subsequently followed. It was a retributive
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However the comparison distinguishes those used in Haiti as evidently more primitive. Perhaps therefore whilst vengeful violence was perpetrated in both revolutions, the violence of the French revolution became more developed and institutionalised as the revolution progressed. Swords, bayonets, pistols, hangings, daggers and pikes were all features of the French revolution. This illustrates complete anarchy and bloodshed, just as the Haitian revolution did. However, the guillotine showed that violence became more systematic, uniformed and targeted against ‘the enemy’. Despite the outbreak of violence during the two revolutions being characterised as ‘extra-legal’, the violence in France strategically shifted due to the increase in fear, whereby it became armed conflicts between rival forces and ultimately violence enacted under revolutionary authorities. They began to strategically target opponents, such as Charlotte Corday for example, the assassinator of Jean-Paul Marat who aimed to ‘destroy the revolution’. This was a means of justification for the violence of revolutionaries. This clearly highlights Haiti’s primitiveness in comparison, given that merely all ‘whites’ were their targets, which led in sporadic, uncoordinated violent attacks. Violence in Haiti was rather more arbitrary throughout, whereby daggers, pikes and fire were consistently used as methods of killing. Clearly, there was no progression, unlike the
However the comparison distinguishes those used in Haiti as evidently more primitive. Perhaps therefore whilst vengeful violence was perpetrated in both revolutions, the violence of the French revolution became more developed and institutionalised as the revolution progressed. Swords, bayonets, pistols, hangings, daggers and pikes were all features of the French revolution. This illustrates complete anarchy and bloodshed, just as the Haitian revolution did. However, the guillotine showed that violence became more systematic, uniformed and targeted against ‘the enemy’. Despite the outbreak of violence during the two revolutions being characterised as ‘extra-legal’, the violence in France strategically shifted due to the increase in fear, whereby it became armed conflicts between rival forces and ultimately violence enacted under revolutionary authorities. They began to strategically target opponents, such as Charlotte Corday for example, the assassinator of Jean-Paul Marat who aimed to ‘destroy the revolution’. This was a means of justification for the violence of revolutionaries. This clearly highlights Haiti’s primitiveness in comparison, given that merely all ‘whites’ were their targets, which led in sporadic, uncoordinated violent attacks. Violence in Haiti was rather more arbitrary throughout, whereby daggers, pikes and fire were consistently used as methods of killing. Clearly, there was no progression, unlike the