"Bury the Chains" Ch 18 summary

Chapter 18 of Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild begins by describing the biggest slave revolt that has ever been, but is often left out. In 1791, on the island of St. Domingue, a French colony, slaves revolted and brutally murdered thousands of white people. Soon after, the French Army tried to repress the revolt, but were unsuccessful. The revolt in St. Domingue was different from any other slave revolt. On August 23, 1793, slavery was informally abolished in St. Domingue and soon after, France issued a formal law, abolishing slavery in everyplace under French rule. Not long after, Britain decided it would take over St. Domingue. This started a war between the British, the mulattos of St. Domingue and the blacks of St. Domingue, led by Toussaint L'Overture, as he called himself. Eventually, Britain had to withdrawl its troops.