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Independence for Mexico carries with it monumental significance for Mexican heritage. September 16th, 1810 marks the day that where the autonomy and the culture was named. It took over a decade of confrontation and war before Mexican independence from Spain finally became a reality in 1821. Its tradition for government officials to give the Grito or to make the call for independence.

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The history behind Mexican Independence Day

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The struggle for Mexican Independence dates back to the conquest of Mexico, when Martin Cortes led a revolt against the Spanish colonial government. The movement for independence was far from gaining unanimous support among the Mexicans. Lack of a consensus about how an independent Mexico would be governed meant that colonial repression would be replaced. The lesson of the Mexican War of Independence is that without a shared vision of how a just and fair government should be structured.

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Mexican War of Independence

Clockwise from top left: Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos, Trigarante Army in Mexico City, Mural of independence by O'Gorman, Embrace of Acatempan between Iturbide and Guerrero

Date

1810-1821

Location

Mexico (North America)

Result

Mexican victory; expulsion of the Spanish colonial government and the signing of the Treaty of Cordoba. Mexico gains independence from Spain.

Combatants

Mexico

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'Donoju

Strength

80,000

14,000

Casualties

15,000 deaths
450,000 wounded pro-independence insurgent supporters, including civilians.

8,000 deaths

Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821), was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and Spanish colonial authorities, which started on September 16, 1810. The Mexican War of Independence movement was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos, Zambos 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 "liberales" (liberals), and "conservadores" (conservatives).

The struggle for Mexican independence dates back to the conquest of Mexico, 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. According to some historians, the struggle for Mexican Independence was re-ignited in December 1650 when an Irish adventurer by the name of William Lamport, escaped from the jails of the Inquisition in Mexico, and posted a "Proclamation of Independence from Spain" on the walls of the city. Lamport wanted Mexico to break with Spain, separate church and state and proclaim himself emperor of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. His ambitious idealist movement was soon terminated by the Spanish colonial authorities and Lamport was re-captured and executed for defamation.

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. Lack of a consensus about how an independent Mexico would be governed meant that colonial repression would be replaced by that of elite Mexican rulers. Little changed for the vast majority of the population. The lesson of the Mexican War of Independence is that without a shared vision of how a just and fair government should be structured, a revolution can shed blood and sacrifice lives without actually achieving its goals of freedom, justice, and equality.

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and the beginning of the independence movement

The founder and leader of the Mexican Independence movement was Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the criollo Roman Catholic priest from the small town of Dolores. Soon after becoming a priest, Hidalgo y Costilla began to promote the idea of an uprising by criollo, mestizo, zambo, and Amerindian peasants against wealthy Spanish land-owners, and foreign aristocrats. Hidalgo y Costilla would earn the name "The Father of Mexican Independence."

During his seven years at Dolores, Hidalgo y Costilla and several educated criollos organized secret discussion groups, where criollos, peninsulares, Amerindians, mestizos, zambos, and mulattos participated. The independence movement was founded over these informal meetings, which was directed against the Spanish colonial government, and foreign rulers of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

Beginning of the war

After the conspirators were betrayed by a supporter, Hidalgo y Costilla declared war against the colonial government on the late night of September 15, 1810. At dawn of September 16, (the day now considered Mexico's Independence Day) the revolutionary army decided to strike for independence and marched on to Guanajuato, a major colonial mining center governed by Spaniards and criollos. It was on September 16 that the famous "el grito de Dolores" was issued, effectively marking the beginning of the fight for Mexican independence. There the leading citizens barricaded themselves in a warehouse. The rebel army captured the warehouse on September 28, and most of the Spaniards and criziollos were massacred or exiled. On October 30, 1810, Hidalgo y Costilla'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. However they were intercepted by the Spanish army and Hidalgo y Costilla 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 was found guilty of treason. He was executed by firing squad in Chihuahua, on July 31, 1811. His body was mutilated, and his head was displayed in Guanajuato as a warning to rebels.

José María Morelos and declaration of independence

Following the death of Hidalgo y Costilla, the leadership of the revolutionary army was assumed by José María Morelos, also a priest. Under his leadership the cities of Oaxaca and Acapulco were occupied. In 1813, the Congress of Chilpancingo was convened and in November 6 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 and executed for treason in San Cristóbal Ecatepec on December 22.

Guadalupe Victoria and Vicente Guerrero guerrilla warfare

Between 1815 to 1821, most of the fighting by those seeking independence from Spain was done by isolated guerrilla groups. Out of these groups rose two soldiers, Guadalupe Victoria in Puebla and Vicente Guerrero in Oaxaca, both of whom were able to command allegiance and respect from their followers. The Spanish viceroy, however, felt the situation was under control and issued a pardon to every rebel soldier and follower who would surrender.

Javier Mina, a Spanish political figure exiled from Spain because of his opposition to King Ferdinand VII's policies, decided Mexico would be the best platform to fight against the king and gathered an army that provoked serious problems to the Viceroy government in 1816.

The rebels faced heavy Spanish military resistance. Encouraged by Hidalgo y Costilla and Morelos's irregular armies, the criollo, mestizo, zambo and Amerindian rebels reinforced fears of racial and class warfare, ensuring their grudging acquiescence to the Spanish colonial government, and foreign aristocrats until independence could be achieved. It was at this event that the machinations of a conservative military caudillo coinciding with a successful liberal rebellion in Spain made possible a radical realignment of the independence forces.

In what was supposed to be the final Spanish campaign against the revolutionary army in December 1820, the Viceroy of New Spain Juan Ruiz de Apodaca sent an army led by a Spanish criollo officer, Agustín de Iturbide, to defeat Guerrero's army in Oaxaca.

Ferdinand VII of Spain

Iturbide's campaign to the Oaxacan region coincided with a successful military coup d'état in Spain against the new monarchy of King Ferdinand VII who had returned to power after being imprisoned by Napoleon I of France after he had invaded Spain in 1808. The coup leaders, who had been assembled an expeditionary force to suppress the Mexican independence movements, compelled a reluctant King Ferdinand VII to sign a liberal Spanish constitution. When news of the liberal charter reached Mexico, Iturbide saw in it both a threat to the status quo and an opportunity for the criollos to gain control of Mexico. Ironically, independence was finally achieved when forces in the colonies chose to rise up against a temporarily liberal regime in Spain. After an initial clash with Guerrero's army, Iturbide switched allegiances and invited the rebel leader to meet and discuss principles of a renewed independence struggle.

While stationed in the town of Iguala, Iturbide proclaimed three principles, or "guarantees," for Mexico's independence from Spain. The document, known as the Plan de Iguala, declared that Mexico would be independent, its religion is to be Roman Catholicism, and its inhabitants were to be united, without distinction between Mexican and European. It stipulated further that Mexico would become a constitutional monarchy under King Ferdinand VII, he or some Spanish or other European king would occupy the throne in Mexico City, and an interim junta would draw up regulations for the election of deputies to a congress, which would write a constitution for the monarchy. The plan was so broadly based that it pleased both patriots and loyalists. The goal of independence and the protection of Roman Catholicism brought together all factions.

Independence and aftermath

Iturbide's army was joined by rebel forces from all over Mexico. When the rebels' victory became certain, the Viceroy of New Spain resigned. On August 24, 1821, representatives of the Spanish crown and Iturbide signed the Treaty of Córdoba, which recognized Mexican independence under the terms of the Plan de Iguala, ending three centuries of Spanish colonial rule.

During the struggle for independence, Mexico lost one-tenth of its citizens. In the decade following separation from Spanish rule, Mexico saw a drastic decline in its gross domestic product (GDP), per capital income, and amount of foreign trade.

1. Ryan Dominic Crewe, Lamport, William (Guillén Lombardo) (1610-1659) Irish Migration Studies in Latin America 5(1)(March 2007): 74-76. Retrieved April 13, 2022.

2. Jim Tuck, Miguel Hidalgo: the Father who fathered a country (1753-1811) Mex Connect, October 9, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2022.

3. Jim Tuck, Javier Mina (1789-1818) Mex Connect, October 9, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2022.

References

Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. ISBN 0393050483

Mintz, Steven (ed.). Mexican American Voices: A Documentary Reader. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. ISBN 978-1405182591

Noll, Arthur Howard. A Short History of Mexico. Andesite Press, 2017 (original 1890). ISBN 978-1376335354

Stein, R. Conrad. The Mexican War of Independence. Morgan Reynolds Pub., 2007. ISBN 978-1599350547

Young, Philip. History of Mexico, Her Civil Wars, and Colonial and Revolutionary Annals. Wentworth Press, 2016 (original 1850). ISBN 978-1362979036

External links

All links retrieved November 9, 2022.

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Mexican War of Independence Clockwise from top left: Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos, Trigarante Army in Mexico City, Mural of independence by O'Gorman, Embrace of Acatempan between Iturbide and Guerrero Date 1810-1821 Location Mexico (North America) Result Mexican victory; expulsion of the Spanish colonial government and the signing of the Treaty of Cordoba.

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Castelli sends his army North to upper Peru where hey joined up with the guerillas who fought for the independence of modern-day Bolivia. Paraguay declared itself independence from the Rio de la Plata and from the Spanish crown. After the defeats in Uruguay, Paraguay and in upper Peru savage red decided to personally take control of the army of the north however when he left the capital merino out stood him. The conservatives politicians and their conservative policies angered the liberals who were again seized power in the Revolution of 1812 and the new triumphant was now more focused on independence.

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Argentinian Independence | 3 Minute History

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The Argentine independence movement began in 1806, when British attacks on Buenos Aires were repelled by local militia with little help from Spain. Under ancient principles of Spanish law, the kings dominions in America had the right to govern themselves until the restoration of a lawful king. On July 9, 1816, they declared the country independent under the name of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. Several years of hard fighting followed before the Spanish royalists were defeated in northern Argentina.

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© Valery Shanin/Dreamstime.com

July 9, 2016, marks the 200th anniversary of Argentina's declaration of independence from Spain. The Argentine independence movement began in 1806, when British attacks on Buenos Aires were repelled by local militia with little help from Spain. Also important were the ramifications of Napoleon I's intervention in Spain, beginning in 1808. Napoleon's overthrow of Ferdinand VII plunged Spain into a civil war between two rival governments-one set up by Napoleon and the other created by patriotic juntas in the name of the exiled king and aided by the British. Under ancient principles of Spanish law, the king's dominions in America had the right to govern themselves until the restoration of a lawful king, and on May 25, 1810 (now celebrated as the day of the revolution), Buenos Aires established an autonomous viceroyalty in the name of Ferdinand, pending his restoration. However, when it became apparent that Ferdinand was virtually powerless following his restoration in 1814, an assembly of the members of the viceroyalty met at a home in San Miguel de Tucumán to discuss the situation. On July 9, 1816, they declared the country independent under the name of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

Several years of hard fighting followed before the Spanish royalists were defeated in northern Argentina. They remained a threat from their base in Peru until it was liberated by José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar in 1820-24. The Buenos Aires government tried to maintain the integrity of the old Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, but the outlying portions, never effectively controlled, soon were lost: Paraguay in 1814, Bolivia in 1825, and Uruguay in 1828.

Today, Nueve de Julio is a federal holiday in Argentina, celebrated with fireworks, parades, speeches, and military demonstrations. Locro, a traditional stew, and empanadas are commonly eaten during the festivities, and the holiday is a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate. ¡Feliz Día de la Independencia!

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Argentina Celebrates 200 Years of Independence

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July 9, 2016, marks the bicentennial of Argentina's declaration of independence from Spain.

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As the war progressed German speakers began to feel a sense of unity and eventually when Napoleon was on the retreat. In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars a German Confederation was formed however it was ineffective at stopping the rivalry between Prussia and Austria and calls the unification began to grow. Meanwhile the rebellions had subdued when many German states adopted their own constitution. The Persians emerged victorious and United the northern states into the northern German Confederation with the authoritarian Prussian leaders in control making the Prussians the dominate force in the unification for Germany.

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The empire was founded toward the end of two decades of rapid economic expansion, during which the German states surpassed France in steel production and railway building. Combined with the euphoria over unification, these changes led to an unprecedented boom between 1870 and 1873.  The Grunderjahre as the years after unification were called, saw 857 new companies founded with a capital of 1.4 billion talers—more new companies and investment in the private sector than in the previous 20 years. Tens of thousands of Germans invested in stock for the first time to demonstrate both their patriotism and their faith in the future of the new German Empire.

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The German Empire was founded on January 18, 1871, in the aftermath of three successful wars by the North German state of Prussia. Within a seven-year period Denmark, the Habsburg monarchy, and France were vanquished in short, decisive conflicts. The empire was forged not as the result of the outpouring of nationalist feeling from the masses but through traditional cabinet diplomacy and agreement by the leaders of the states in the North German Confederation, led by Prussia, with the hereditary rulers of Bavaria, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Württemberg. Prussia, occupying more than three-fifths of the area of Germany and having approximately three-fifths of the population, remained the dominant force in the nation until the empire's demise at the end of another war in 1918.

At its birth Germany occupied an area of 208,825 square miles (540,854 square km) and had a population of more than 41 million, which was to grow to 67 million by 1914. The religious makeup was 63 percent Protestant, 36 percent Roman Catholic, and 1 percent Jewish. The nation was ethnically homogeneous apart from a modest-sized Polish minority and smaller Danish, French, and Sorbian populations. Approximately 67 percent lived in villages and the remainder in towns and cities. Literacy was close to universal because of compulsory education laws dating to the 1820s and '30s.

Domestic concerns

From its origins in 1871, the empire was governed under the constitution designed four years earlier by Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian prime minister, for the North German Confederation. This constitution reflected the predominantly rural nature of Germany in 1867 and the authoritarian proclivities of Bismarck, who was a member of the Junker landowning elite. There were two houses: the Reichstag, to represent the people, and the Bundesrat, to represent the 25 states. The former comprised 397 members elected by universal manhood suffrage and a secret ballot. The constituencies established in 1867 and 1871 were never altered to reflect population shifts, and rural areas thus retained a vastly disproportionate share of power as urbanization progressed. In theory the Reichstag's ability to reject any bill seemed to make it an important reservoir of power; in practice, however, the power of the lower house was circumscribed by the government 's reliance on indirect taxes and by the parliament's willingness to approve the military budget every seven (after 1893, every five) years. Most legislative proposals were submitted to the Bundesrat first and to the Reichstag only if they were approved by the upper house. Although members of the Reichstag could question the chancellor about his policies, the legislative bodies were rarely consulted about the conduct of foreign affairs. Imperial ministers were chosen by and were responsible to the emperor rather than to the legislature.

A problem that was to plague the empire throughout its existence was the disparity between the Prussian and imperial political systems. In Prussia the lower house was elected under a restricted three-class suffrage system, an electoral law that allowed the richest 15 percent of the male population to choose approximately 85 percent of the delegates. A conservative majority was always assured in Prussia, whereas the universal manhood suffrage resulted in increasing majorities for the political centre and left-wing parties in the imperial parliament. William I was both German emperor (1871-88) and king of Prussia (1861-88). Apart from two brief instances the imperial chancellor was simultaneously prime minister of Prussia. Thus, the executives had to seek majorities from two separate legislatures elected by radically different franchises. A further problem was that government ministers were generally selected from the civil service or the military. They often had little experience with parliamentary government or foreign affairs.

The constitution had been designed by Bismarck to give the chancellor and monarch primary decision-making power. Universal manhood suffrage had been proposed because of Bismarck's belief that the rural population would vote for either the Conservative or Free Conservative parties. (Female suffrage had not been proposed because politics was considered a male preserve at the time.) The Progressives, a left-wing liberal party, were expected to do poorly in the two-thirds of Germany that was rural in 1867. Bismarck had not counted on new parties such as the Centre Party, a Roman Catholic confessional party, or the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands; SPD), both of which began participating in imperial and Prussian elections in the early 1870s. The Centre generally received 20-25 percent of the total vote in all elections. The SPD grew from 2 seats in the first imperial election to 35 by 1890, when the SPD actually gained a plurality of votes. Bismarck termed the Centre and SPD along with the Progressives Reichsfeinde ("enemies of the empire") because he believed that each sought in its own way to change the fundamental conservative political character of the empire.

Beginning in 1871, he launched the Kulturkampf ("cultural struggle"), a campaign in concert with German liberals against political Catholicism. Bismarck's aim was clearly to destroy the Centre Party. Liberals saw the Roman Catholic church as politically reactionary and feared the appeal of a clerical party to the more than one-third of Germans who professed Roman Catholicism. Both Bismarck and the liberals doubted the loyalty of the Catholic population to the Prussian-centred and, therefore, primarily Protestant nation. In Prussia the minister of ecclesiastical affairs and education, Adalbert Falk, introduced a series of bills establishing civil marriage, limiting the movement of the clergy, and dissolving religious orders. All church appointments were to be approved by the state. As a result hundreds of parishes and several bishoprics were left without incumbents. Clerical civil servants were purged from the Prussian administration.

The Kulturkampf failed to achieve its goals and, if anything, convinced the Roman Catholic minority that their fear of persecution was real and that a confessional party to represent their interests was essential. By the late 1870s Bismarck abandoned the battle as a failure. He now launched a campaign against the SPD in concert with the two conservative parties and many National Liberals. Fearing the potential of the Social Democrats in a rapidly industrializing Germany, Bismarck found a majority to outlaw the party from 1878 to 1890, although constitutionally it could not be forbidden to participate in elections. Party offices and newspapers were closed down and meetings prohibited. Many socialists fled to Switzerland and sought to keep the party alive in exile. During the 1880s Bismarck also sought to win the workers away from socialism by introducing legislation granting them modest pensions, accident insurance, and a national system of medical coverage. Like the Kulturkampf, the campaign against the SPD was a failure, and, when the 1890 elections showed enormous gains for the Reichsfeinde, Bismarck began to consider having the German princes reconvene, as in 1867, to draw up a new constitution. The new emperor, William II, saw no reason to begin his reign (1888-1918) with a potential bloodbath and asked for the 74-year-old chancellor's resignation. Thus, Bismarck, the architect of German unity, left the scene in a humiliating fashion, believing that his creation was fatally flawed. Indeed, his policy of supporting rapid social and economic modernization while avoiding any reform of the authoritarian political system did lead to an atmosphere of persistent crisis.

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Germany - Unification, Imperialism, WWI: The German Empire was founded on January 18, 1871, in the aftermath of three successful wars by the North German state of Prussia. Within a seven-year period Denmark, the Habsburg monarchy, and France were vanquished in short, decisive conflicts.