Did Haiti’s First and Last King Squander the Revolution or Succeed in Underappreciated Ways?
History Unplugged Podcast13 Maalis 2025

Did Haiti’s First and Last King Squander the Revolution or Succeed in Underappreciated Ways?

Slave, revolutionary, king, Henry Christophe was, in his time, popular and famous the world over. Born to an enslaved mother on the Caribbean island of Grenada, Christophe first fought to overthrow the British in North America, before helping his fellow enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was then called, to end slavery. Yet in an incredible twist of fate, Christophe began fighting with Napoleon's forces against the formerly enslaved men and women he had once fought alongside. Later, reuniting with those he had abandoned, he offered to lead them and made himself their king. But it all came to a sudden and tragic end when Christophe—after nine years of his rule as King Henry I—shot himself in the heart, some say with a silver bullet.

But why did Christophe turn his back on Toussaint Louverture and the very revolution with which his name is so indelibly associated? How did it come to pass that Christophe found himself accused of participating in the plot to assassinate Haiti's first ruler, Dessalines? And what caused Haiti to eventually split into two countries, one ruled by Christophe in the north and the other led by President Pétion in the south?

To look at this story, we are joined by Marlene Daut, author of “The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe,” exploring the-still controversial enigma that he was.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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