A black and white portrait photograph of a moustached Haitian man in military uniform, including a cocked hat decorated with feathers. He is holding an unsheathed sword in his right hand and standing in front a building with a shuttered window and a verandah. Original caption: ‘General - Haitian Army’.

The Haitian military played a major part in the country's politics after the end of the Haitian Revolution in 1804. The country divided into two in 1806, with rival military leaders Henri Christophe and Alexandre Pétion, ruling each portion (the northern State of Haiti and the southern Republic of Haiti respectively). Haitian governments spent large sums on the military throughout the century, in part to deter the French from attempting to re-establish colonial rule. La Citadelle Laferriere ('La Citadel'), for example, was built in the Nord department in 1820 for this purpose. Haiti also used its military to invade the neighbouring Republic of Spanish Haiti (formely Santo Domingo) on the western side of the island of Hispaniola in 1822 and occipied the area until 1844.