Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: Historical Setting
the Revolution of 1857. Their standard-bearer, not surprisingly,
was Santana.
Pardoned by a provisional government established at Santiago,
Santana returned in August 1857 to join the revolution.
He raised his own personal army and soon dominated the
movement. A year of bloody conflict between the governments
of Santiago and Santo Domingo took a heavy toll in lives and
money. Under the terms of a June 1857 armistice, Baez once
again fled to Curacao with all the government funds he could
carry. Santana proceeded to betray the aspirations of some of
his liberal revolutionary followers by restoring the dictatorial
constitution of 1854. Santanismo again replaced baecismo; only a
small group of loyalists realized any benefit from the exchange,
however. Politically, the country continued to walk a treadmill.
Economically, conditions had become almost unbearable for
many Dominicans. The general climate of despair set the stage
for the success of Santana's renewed efforts to obtain a protector
for his country.
Annexation by Spain, 1861-65
On March 18, 1861, Santana announced the annexation of
the Dominican Republic by Spain. A number of conditions had
combined to bring about this reversion to colonialism. The
Civil War in the United States had lessened the Spanish fear of
retaliation from the north. In Spain itself, the ruling Liberal
Union of General Leopoldo O'Donnell had been advocating
renewed imperial expansion. And in the Dominican Republic,
both the ruler and a portion of the ruled were sufficiently concerned
about the possibility of a renewed attack from Haiti or
domestic economic collapse to find the prospect of annexation
attractive.
Support for annexation did not run as deep as Santana had
represented to the Spanish, however. The first rebellion against
Spanish rule broke out in May 1861, but was quashed in short
order. A better organized revolt, under the leadership of baecista
General Francisco del Rosario Sanchez, sprang up only a
month later. Santana, now bearing the title of captain general
of the Province of Santo Domingo, was forced to take to the
field against his own countrymen as the representative of a foreign
power. The wily Santana lured Sanchez into an ambush,
where he was captured and executed. Despite this service, Santana
found his personal power and his ability to dole out
patronage to his followers greatly restricted under Spanish
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