Haiti and the Great Powers, 1902-1915

A three-dimensional diplomatic history of Haiti from the Firminist war of 1902 through the U.S. Marine landing of July 28, 1915, arguing that the occupation was not a sudden event but the culmination of a decade-long process of financial encirclement by the United States, France, and Germany. Plummer traces how the Banque Nationale's systematic obstruction of monetary reform, National City Bank's displacement of European rivals through Roger Farnham's maneuvers, and the chronic under-capitalization of the Haitian state progressively narrowed the space for Haitian presidents to maneuver — showing Haitian politicians as active if increasingly desperate agents, not passive victims.