> why did france lose a war to slaves? it's a bit more complicated than that. when the slave initially revolted in 1791, france was at war with britain and spain. they tried to invade the french side of the island, so france officially freed the revolting slaves and armed them to fight off anglos and spaniards. the former slaves under toussaint louverture then spent a decade fighting for france against britain and spain, and kicked them out of the french colony (yes, britain lost a war to haitians). haitians were de facto independent but de jure still under french authority. then in 1801, napoleon decided to restore slavery and sent an expedition to the island. yellow fever as well as the now battle-hardened and well-armed former slaves defeated it and the rest is history.
Catalonia