The Dominican Republic and the Beginning of a Revolutionary Cycle in the Spanish Caribbean: 1861-1898

Luis Alvarez-Lopez's The Dominican Republic and the Beginning of a Revolutionary Cycle in the Spanish Caribbean: 1861-1898 serves as a good introduction to the Dominican War of Restoration and its reverberations throughout the Spanish Caribbean. As someone interested in Haiti, this text argues that the fear of Haitian invasion was only a minor factor in Santana and other Dominican elites returning the young nation to the Spanish Empire. The author also provides some analysis of the differing Dominican nationalists and anti-annexation parties, the structure of the Provisional government and its military leaders, and the socio-economic structure of the Dominican Republic during this time.

 

Spanish racism, economic and social policies, etc. pushed the Dominican Republic into a war for its second independence, just as Spanish rule in Cuba and Puerto Rico was threatened in the later decades of the 19th century. Haitian support for the Dominican nationalist movement, fear of Haitian and US expansion in the Caribbean by Spain, and Antilleanism emerge as factors of the Dominican War of Restoration, with significant consequences for the rest of the Greater Antilles. Haiti, unfortunately, is largely excluded from this, but the author does a great job of examining Betances's anti-imperial work in the context of the Dominican conflict, which included Haiti in his vision. The text also dismisses claims that the tropical climate is what really caused Spanish defeat in Hispaniola and uses primary and secondary source material adequately to illustrate how Dominican guerrilla tactics decimated Spanish troops. Cuba and Puerto Rico also played a role in this conflict as a source of funds and troops, which led to solidary work from Puerto Rican nationalists, such as Betances.

 

Overall, an interesting work that is quite suggestive for the Spanish Caribbean. The only significant problem is the Kindle edition's numerous typos and grammatical mistakes, which is the result of poor translation and/or editing.