Failure to Plan: The Disease That Cost an American Empire.

The article focuses on the role of the 1802 yellow fever epidemic in the Haitian Revolution and its impact on French colonial ambitions. It explains how Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture, leveraging his medical knowledge and understanding of yellow fever transmission, strategically confined French forces to disease-prone port cities, contributing to a devastating outbreak that killed the majority of the French expeditionary force. The French military, led by General Charles Leclerc, suffered from poor medical preparation and lack of immunity to the disease, while Haitian forces, with partial immunity and safer mountain positions, fared better. This epidemic significantly contributed to Haiti's successful independence and influenced Napoleon Bonaparte's decision to sell French North American territories to the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.