Haiti made a number of geopolitical errors.

In 1805, England offered Haiti to become a British Protectorate. England was still at war with France and it is well known to all that France still had bad intentions towards Haiti. Dessalines refused the offer believing that accepting the offer will negate the sovereignty of Haiti.

In 1809, Haiti received its first warship (frigate L'Haytienne) as a gift from England.

In 1820, the navies of England, France, Spain, USA, Haiti had respectively 150, 70, 40, 10, 1 frigates.

In 1826, Haiti asked for support from England to resist France's reparations demand. Too late. England already made peace with France.

If Haiti were a British Protectorate, it would have been a great dishonor of the UK to abandon Haiti to the whims of France.

Side note: the British blockade of several ports of Saint-Domingue/Haiti cut off the logistics of General Rochambeau, contributing greatly to the defeat of French troops on the island.

When evaluating the situation of Haiti in 2026, events 75 years ago matter much more than events 200 years ago. Let us start with, say, year 1950.

In 1950, Haiti was 36% richer (per capita) than South Korea, in 1998 South Korea was 16 times richer (per capita) that Haiti. The SKorea-Haiti gap has been growing since. Why the difference? South Korea suffered through WW2 and the Korean War; Haiti was left untouched. The mean, rotten, nasty, rapacious International Corporations landed in South Korea to exploit, despoil, violate mercilessly the nation's land, resources, and people. All that time, said exploiter Corporations ignored Haiti. What is worse than being exploited? Answer: not being exploited at all.

Per capita GDP was nearly twice as high in Haiti as in Bangladesh back in 1950--but by 2001, per capita output was higher in Bangladesh than in Haiti (by about 15 percent). The Bangladesh-Haiti gap has been growing since.

In 1950 the Haitian economy was more or less at the same level as the economy of the Dominican Republic. CY2009 per capita income, of Haiti = $1,340; of Dominican Republic = $8,672. The DR-Haiti gap has been growing since.

The reparation issue is a red herring. The reparations were done by 1947. In 1950, Haiti was in better shape than many countries; Haiti was untouched by WW2. Without the reparations burden Haiti will be less poor, but poor nonetheless.

On the issue of reparations, Haiti fanboys say reparations impeded Haiti's development. Well... With the American Occupation (1915-1934), the USA took over the reparations payments from France. In the 1920's the annual Haitian government revenues of $8-10 million were double that of the pre-occupation period. The cost to the USA for the occupation was about $23 million. Mind you, the $23 million cost from the USA was to pay its military. The USA used the Haitian government revenue to build bridges, schools, hospitals, electric power systems, etc.. while Haiti's economy doubled (1912 GDP = US$1.8B; 1935 GDP = US$3.2B) and its exports doubled (1912 exports = US$12M; 1935 exports = US$25M). All this while Haiti was still paying reparations to the USA (no longer to France). At least under the American supervision, Haiti's economy expanded while still paying reparations.

Haiti paid up the reparations in 1947. The American Occupation ended in 1934. Too bad, the American Occupation came a bit late. After 1934, Haiti went glug, glug, glug down the drain.

The common narrative (a Marxist narrative) is that since a good portion of the government revenues went to the Indemnity payments, Haiti cannot afford to build its infrastructure and economy. The 1915-1934 American Occupation put a lie to this narrative.

The basic reason for Haiti's Poverty and Misery is not the Indemnity Payments but Haiti's societal and political dysfunction. Businesses cannot thrive, cannot grow under an atmosphere of societal and political dysfunction. It does not take much money to establish political stability. It does not take much money to establish societal stability.

Another effect during the American Occupation, the credibility of the financial institutions was restored by the Americans. The more solid the credibility of the financial institutions the greater the confidence the Investors (domestic, foreign) have in Haiti. It does not take much money to establish financial credibility.

Why Haiti began and remains poor (pt 4 of 13).

Response to some Marxist objections.
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(6) Reparations to France: the Marxists' favorite bugaboo. Were the reparations the fundamental cause of Haiti's poverty? Answer: NO. Haiti was already entrenched in Poverty by 1826 when France demanded reparations. Mind you, the 1826 reparation demand was the THIRD request; the previous 2 were made to Christophe (refused), to Pétion (refused). The third time was the charm for France. Haiti's 1821 invasion of the Dominican Republic (DR) was a strategic error. Military adventurism and a moribund economy made for a very bad mix. France was not stupid. After 5 yrs of Haiti being stuck in the DR quagmire, France popped up (again!) and made the reparations demand. Haiti cannot fight both the French and the Dominicans. Haiti decided to pay reparations. France asked only for 1 year's worth of colonial output. In 1820, Haiti's output was only 1/20 of colonial output; that it took Haiti more than 100 years to pay the reparations is no surprise. From 1826-1844 Haiti plundered the DR of its wealth to pay as much as it can for the reparations.

But, but, but reparation payments made up about 80% of Haitian Government expenditures!!! So what. Look at the USA: land of skyscrapers, aviation, etc... In the USA, mechanized farming was developed by Private Sector, NOT Government. Skyscrapers were built by Private Sector, NOT Government. Aviation was pioneered by Private Sector, NOT Government. You get the idea. American prosperity was NOT dependent on Government spending. American prosperity from the very beginning was based on Private Enterprise, on Capitalism, not Marxism. Unfortunately Haiti's governance had a Socialist basis because economic development depends almost totally on Government spending. It is the embrace of socialist sentiment (aka Big Government), not reparation payments, which is the cause of Haiti's endemic poverty. Since 1804 Haiti had a very weak Private Sector.

The American debt from the Revolutionary War in 1825 French francs = 250 million. Haiti's reparation debt in 1825 French francs = 150 million. In 1825 the estimated population of Haiti and the USA are 1.5M and 12.5M respectively. It took the USA 52 years (1835-1783) and Haiti 122 years (1947-1825) to pay off their respective debts.  

USA and Haiti. The first step of a voyage is the most important because errors made in the first step are rarely corrected and the rare corrections are made very slowly. George Washington was a Businessman first, a General second and during the Revolutionary War he did not pursue the destruction of the Means of Production. Dessalines was a military man first and last and strove and succeeded to destroy the Means of Production out of visceral hatred of French Colonialists.
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