Between February and 22 April 1804, Dessalines’s government directed killings of many remaining French residents, including civilians. Some non-French Europeans and professionals were spared, but many French men and women were killed. These acts followed years of slavery, colonial violence, French efforts to reconquer Saint-Domingue, and fears of renewed invasion and re-enslavement; that context explains the climate in which the killings occurred but does not erase the victims or state responsibility. Historians debate how to characterize the violence and its relationship to genocide.
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How should the 1804 killings of French residents be understood in this batch?
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Explanation
Context explains conditions but does not erase victims or state responsibility.