Dominican War of Independence

Dominican War of Independence
Date 27 February 1844 – 24 January 1856 (11 years, 10 months and 28 days) 1st campaign: 10 March – 3 May 1844 (1 month, 3 weeks and 2 days) 2nd campaign: 6 August 1845 – 27 February 1846 (6 months and 3 weeks) 3rd campaign: 9 March – 22 April 1849 (1 month, 1 week and 6 days) 4th campaign: November 1855 – January 1856 (2 months) Location Hispaniola Result Dominican victory Dominican Independence Withdrawal of Haitian forces Territorial changes Separation of the Santo Domingo territory from Haiti Reestablishment of the Dominican–Haitian border Establishment of the First Republic Dissolution of Republic of Haiti (1820–1849) Rise and fall of Second Empire of Haiti
Belligerents
Dominican Republic	Republic of Haiti (1844–1849)  Second Empire of Haiti (1854–1856)
Commanders and leaders
Pedro Santana Manuel Jiménes Buenaventura Báez Juan Pablo Duarte Francisco del Rosario Sánchez Matías Ramón Mella Antonio Duvergé Juan B. Cambiaso Juan Alejandro Acosta Manuel Mota José Mª. Cabral José Mª. Imbert J. J. Puello Pedro E. Pelletier Pedro Florentino Fernando Valerio	Charles Hérard Jean-Louis Pierrot Faustin Soulouque Vicent Jean Degales † Pierre Paul Auguste Brouard Gen. Souffrand Gen. St.-Louis Jean Francois Gen. Seraphin † Gen. Garat † Antoine Pierrot † Pierre Rivere Garat †
Strength
15,000	30,000
Casualties and losses
The exact number of casualties is unknown; however, Haiti is estimated to have lost twice as many troops as the Dominican Republic.[1]

The Dominican War of Independence (Spanish: Guerra de Independencia Dominicana) was a war of independence that began when the Dominican Republic declared independence from the Republic of Haiti on February 27, 1844 and ended on January 24, 1856. Before the war, the island of Hispaniola had been united for 22 years when the newly independent nation, previously known as the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, was unified with the Republic of Haiti in 1822. The criollo class within the country overthrew the Spanish crown in 1821 before unifying with Haiti a year later.

The First Dominican Republic was proclaimed at the Puerta de la Misericordia after the blunderbluss shot by the patrician Matías Ramón Mella in the early morning of February 27, 1844 and by the raising of the tricolor flag at the Puerta del Conde by the patrician Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, both inspired by the ideals of their leader, Juan Pablo Duarte, ending the 22 years of Haitian rule. In response, Charles Rivière-Hérard issued the first Haitian campaign against the Dominicans. Thanks to the efforts of Generals Pedro Santana and Antonio Duvergé, the Haitian column that attacked Azua was successfully defeated. However, Hérard, in his retreat, burned the town of Azua, executing all the prisoners he had taken. In Santiago, the Dominican forces under the command of General José María Imbert and General Fernando Valerio defeated another Haitian army, which in its retreat committed numerous misdeeds, robberies and fires until reaching Haiti.^[2] The first naval battle was fought on April 15, 1844. The result of the battle was that the Dominicans sank three enemy ships, without losing a single one of their own. A second campaign, led by Jean-Louis Pierrot, began after intense border hostilities. In May 1845, President Santana, assisted by General Duvergé and General José Joaquín Puello, defeated the Haitian troops at Estrelleta and Beller, capturing the Haitian squadron in Puerto Plata that had bombarded that town, causing extensive damage. The Haitians were pushed back to Haiti across the Dajabón River.

Several years later, in 1849, Faustin Soulouque, led perhaps the deadliest campaign against the Dominican Republic at the head of an army of 18,000 soldiers, who overwhelmed the Dominican forces, forcing them to retreat. Along the way, the Haitians commited many acts of horrors during the march to the capital. The terror inflicted by the invading Haitian army was such that the inhabitants of the ravaged cities had to take refuge in the city of Santo Domingo in the face of the violence unleashed by the Haitian soldiers. Because of this situation, the Dominican President Manuel Jimenes found himself unsuccessful in his attempt to stop the Haitian invasion and was forced to accept the decision of the Congress of the Republic to call General Santana in the company of General Duvergé to confront the invading army. The two leading commanders, along with General Sánchez and General Mella, were successful in defeating Soulouque's forces, who were pushed back to Haiti after a few weeks. Later that same year, Dominican naval forces bombarded, sacked and burned several villages on the southern and western coasts of Haiti. In 1855, some few years after foreign intervention, Soulouque, who declared himself emperor, invaded the Dominican Republic again with 30,000 soldiers divided into three columns, spreading terror and burning everything in their path.^[1] By January 1856, the Haitians were decisively defeated and forced back across the border by José María Cabral's forces.