Mexican War of Independence

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Mexican War of Independence
Date 1810 - 1821 Location Mexico (North America) Result Mexican victory; expulsion of the Spanish colonial government and Treaty of Cordoba. Mexico gains independence from Spain.
Belligerents
Mexico	Monarchy of Spain
Commanders
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Ignacio Allende Juan Aldama José María Morelos Ignacio López Rayón Mariano Matamoros Guadalupe Victoria Vicente Guerrero Agustín de Iturbide	Félix María Calleja del Rey Juan Ruiz de Apodaca Ignacio Elizondo Agustín de Iturbide Antonio López de Santa Anna Juan O'Donojú
Strength
80,000	14,000
Casualties and losses
15,000 deaths 450,000 wounded pro-independence insurgent supporters, including civilians.	8,000 deaths

Mexican War of Independence Monte de las Cruces – Calderon Bridge – Cuautla – Cuba –

The Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821) was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The Mexican War of Independence movement was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought independence from Spain. It started as an idealistic peasants' rebellion against their colonial masters, but finally ended as an unlikely alliance between liberals and conservatives.

It can be said that the struggle for Mexican independence dates back to the decades after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, when Martín Cortés, son of Hernán Cortés and La Malinche, led a revolt against the Spanish colonial government in order to eliminate the issues of oppression and privileges for the conquistadors.^[1]

After the abortive Conspiracy of the Machetes in 1799, the War of Independence led by the Mexican-born Spaniards became a reality. The movement for independence was far from gaining unanimous support among Mexicans, who became divided between independentists, autonomists and royalists.

Contents 1 Beginning of the War 2 José María Morelos 3 Independence 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Beginning of the War

History of Mexico

This article is part of a series

Pre-Columbian Mexico

Spanish conquest

Colonial period

War of Independence

First Empire

First Republic

War with Texas

Pastry War

Mexican–American War

The Reform

Reform War

French intervention

Second Empire

Restored Republic

Porfiriato

Revolution

La decena trágica

Plan of Guadalupe

Tampico Affair

Occupation of Veracruz

Maximato

Petroleum Nationalization

Mexican miracle

Mexico 68

La Década Perdida

1982 economic crisis

Zapatista Insurgency

1994 economic crisis

The end of PRI's hegemony

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After conspiracy was betrayed by a supporter, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla declared war against the colonial government on the late night of 15 September 1810. On the dawn of 16 September, the revolutionary army decided to strike for independence and marched on to Guanajuato, a major colonial mining centre governed by Spaniards and criollos. There the leading citizens barricaded themselves in a warehouse. The rebel army captured the warehouse on 28 September, and most of the Spaniards and criollos were massacred or exiled.

On 30 October 1810, Hidalgo's army encountered Spanish resistance at the Battle of Monte de las Cruces, fought them and achieved victory. However, the rebel army failed to defeat the large and heavily armed Spanish army in Mexico City. Rebel survivors of the battle sought refuge in nearby provinces and villages. The insurgent forces planned a defensive strategy at a bridge on the Calderón River, pursued by the Spanish army.

In January 1811, Spanish forces fought the Battle of the Bridge of Calderón and defeated the insurgent army, forcing the rebels to flee towards the United States-Mexican border, where they hoped to escape.^[2] However they were intercepted by the Spanish army and Hidalgo and his remaining soldiers were captured in the state of Jalisco, in the region known as "Los Altos". He faced court trial of the Inquisition and found guilty of treason. He was executed by firing squad in Chihuahua, on 31 July 1811. His body was mutilated, and his head was displayed in Guanajuato as a warning to Mexican rebels.^[3]

[edit] José María Morelos

Following the death of Father Hidalgo, the leadership of the revolutionary army was assumed by José María Morelos. Under his leadership the cities of Oaxaca and Acapulco were occupied. In 1813, the Congress of Chilpancingo was convened and on 6 November of that year, the Congress signed the first official document of independence, known as the "Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America. It was followed by a long period of war at the Siege of Cuautla. In 1815, Morelos was captured by Spanish colonial authorities, tried and executed for treason in San Cristóbal Ecatepec on 22 December.

[edit] Independence

Between 1815 and 1821 the Independence War became a guerrilla war, led by three caudillos: Guadelupe Victoria in Puebla, Vicente Guerrero in Oaxaca and the liberal Spaniard Francisco Javier Mina in the center. Javier Mina, encouraged by Servando Teresa de Mier, landed at Soto la Marina and raised an army, but was defeated a few months later and executed near Pénjamo.
Having lost yet another leader, the insurgency was near collapse. They were also faced by the hostility of the criollos, who preferred Spanish rule over the excessive violence displayed by the rebels. In 1820 Viceroy Juan Ruiz de Apodaca sent an army under the criollo general Agustín de Iturbide against the troops of Guerrero in Oaxaca, to crush the rebellion once and for all.

But this campaign coincided with the successful Liberal revolution in Spain and the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, 1820-1823. The conservative Iturbide saw this as a threat to the status quo and turned toward the notion of autonomy for Mexico, led by the criollos, as a way to preserve the colonial system. Iturbide approached Vincente Guerrero to join forces, which resulted in the Plan of Iguala and the formation of the Army of the Three Guarantees.
Agustín de Iturbide's army was joined by rebel forces from all over Mexico. When the rebels' victory became certain, the Viceroy of New Spain, Juan O'Donoju, resigned. On 24 August 1821, representatives of the Spanish crown and Iturbide signed the Treaty of Córdoba, which recognized Mexican independence under the terms of the Plan of Iguala, ending three centuries of Spanish colonial rule.

Between 1823 and 1829 Spain made some attempts to regain Mexico, the most important being the invasion from Cuba by an army of 3,000 men under Isidro Barradas in 1829. Spain finally recognized Mexican independence in 1836.

[edit] See also

• History of Mexico
• Mexican Empire
• Afro-Mexicans in the Mexican War of Independence

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mexonline.com : Higaldo's Call For Mexican Independence
• Chieftains of Mexican Independence