The French imported slaves to work on plantations in their colonies in Saint-Domingue, and they were exploited until the French Revolution of 1789. Former plantation slave Toussaint L'ouverture led an uprising of slaves in 1791, arming them with French weapons. They allied with Spain and raided the colony from Santo Domingo, but in 1794 the French revolutionary government capitulated to Toussaint and made him a Brigadier-General. The Haitian revolutionaries, now allied with France, fought against attempts by the Spanish military to capture Saint-Domingue amidst the confusion.