¡Mexicanos! Valientes Seguid - A Mexican Empire TL
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Thanks!A TL about México Imperial! ¡Me interesa mucho!
Good luck, I'm subscribed now
[/SIZE]¿Por qué no los dos?
I'm interested in Peru, but I'd rather that one be Wednesday.
Well, as you wish, gentlemen.
Here's chapter 2. Deals with Comanches, Gringos settling in Texas, and spoilers. There, I gave you all more than what you asked, because I'm (not) that good...
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Chapter 2
Say hello to my little friends
In the years when the Spanish ruled all over Mexico, the Spaniards did all they had to by providing the Comanches with gifts. Most of the time, they consisted of food, arms, general supplies and many other things, which were obtained through a trading post in the town of Béjar. However, during the chaotic times of the Independence War, Comanches resorted to raid American frontier settlers and Texan towns to obtain those supplies that were allegedly denied to them by the viceroyalty government. [1]Chapter 2
Say hello to my little friends
Pictured above, a Comanche tribe.
However, during the last months of 1821, the Provisional Congress of Mexico dispatched an expedition to regain contact with the Comanche tribes in the north. However, it would be until August 11, 1822, when Mexico and the Comanches signed a truce, at least for the time being.
A year later, in 1823, the Comanche tribes sent forth a representative, Guonique, to negotiate a peace treaty with the Mexican government, along with a small cadre of other members of his tribe. He met with the Emperor in Mexico City, and this way, they were able to sign a friendship treaty.
Within this treaty, it was stipulated that both Mexico and the Comanches would agree to defend their mutual borders, and to notify each other in the event of any possible invasion from any domestic or foreign menace. Aside from that, the Comanches were allowed to trade with the Mexicans in the town of Béjar, and the Comanches would send every year from 12 to 16 teenagers to Mexico City in hopes of turning them into the future statesmen of the Comancherías. Also, Guonique, a man of great eloquence and all that, commented to the Mexican Emperor, that should he be attacked one day, he could raise up to “20,000 Comanche Warriors” to aid him; whether this was a bluff or not, it would take a few years later for this to be seen in action, but nowhere near as expected to be [2].
The way in which this de-facto alliance between the Mexican Empire and the Comanchería tribes was done would become the basic template on obtaining the trust or the loyalty of many other “civilized” tribes during the remainder of the century, and would also provide with the basis on the establishment of the “Legiones Indias”, which consisted in volunteers from the myriad of indigenous groups in Mexico. Some would join these legions to advance into political or military positions in the country, and some others would also do so to escape debts, from home, or in the case of the Mayans in Yucatán, a way to escape indentured work at the haciendas that still clinged to the rampant violations of the anti-slavery laws. [2] As for the Comanches, it served to them as a way to assert their own autonomy against these changing times, in a way in which “they would bow to no man but the Emperor”.
Unfortunately for the Comanches, there were a few issues with this: American settlers in Texas.
Initially, about 300 families arrived onto Texas during the last years of the Spanish rule in Mexico during the last days of the Independence War, after Stephen M. Austin convinced the Spanish governor of Texas to allow the settlement of these peoples in the region. And while they were allowed to live there relatively unmolested for quite some time, when the territory came under Mexican control, the government imposed that any and all slaves under possession by Anglo-Texans were to be set free, and they were also to convert to Catholicism. While many did comply, there were always a few of them which did not follow suit. Fair enough, it’s understandable that they dislike fish on Fridays, especially since it’s hard to acquire that foodstuff the more you go inland, but that’s besides the point. When the 1825 Imperial Constitution [2] came in force, they got a bit annoyed at the fact that due to religious differences, they would be relegated to second-class citizenry, and they would also have to give up on their language, their customs, and many of the things that they brought from the United States. Some of those things were cotton, cash crops, and slaves. The latter were had to be freed, but some of these slave owners would find workarounds for this little issue. But at the end, these little inconveniences would be sorted out by establishing provisions for those late-comers and by splitting Texas and Coahuila in 1829. [2] However, the resentment towards the Mexican central authority would still remain there.
But alas, there was also another reason: many, many, many chichimecas [3] in the northern territories. Too many to distinguish from the other ethnic groups, which also gave out many problems to those who were supposed to be loyal with who, with also some ignorant or bigoted Imperial officers writing off supply attacks on “barbarous Chichimecas” and end up shooting their Comanche or Navajo [2] allies. Alas, in the first days when the Mexicans settled down everything east and west of the Río Bravo, there would be many “Friendly Fire” incidents. These would provide writers from Mexico, Texas, and the United States plenty of fodder on what to write about, epic yarns with intrigues, violence, and deception at the banks of the Río Bravo. [2]
And... this... *twitch*
Luckily, after a few years later on, this would not make any relevance when more settlers came in, and many of these chichimecas would later on go to establish their own settlements, still using their languages, and making their own institutions, or they would go to the large cities to make a name of their own. These tribes joining Mexico’s national fabric would prove to be a great boon in having a safe northern Mexico for years to come.
They would also make great figurines for wargames for years to come.
[Author notes]
[1] The depredations caused by the Comanche during this time were partly caused due to the internal instability that Mexico had suffered, which in turned caused a halt on the trickle of annual gifts and supplies given by the Mexican government. During this time, they did trade many times with both sides of the border. ITTL, there will be a few acts of vandalism here and there, mostly by rogue war bands.
[2] You’ll see something interesting later on from this...
[3] Generic term used to describe “uncivilized” northern tribes. Used originally by the Spaniards to refer to the tribes inhabiting anything north of Chihuahua, and the Mexicans ended up repurposing it to vaguely describe all non-Comanche ethnic groups... which were all too many. It will become a derogative term later on.
^^^What she said!
Awesome update man, nice to see Imperial Mexico deal positively with the Comanche. You've also ensured the north's infrastructure remains intact. Sweetness
Awesome update man, nice to see Imperial Mexico deal positively with the Comanche. You've also ensured the north's infrastructure remains intact. Sweetness
Deleted member 67076
God I just love this. This is certainly going to kickstart settlement and development of the north.
^^^What she said!
Awesome update man, nice to see Imperial Mexico deal positively with the Comanche. You've also ensured the north's infrastructure remains intact. Sweetness
And when are you going to update your TL, Arkhangelsk?
Je vous ai donné déjà une idée dans mon dernier post à votre thread.Otherwise - very interesting update, Vault boy. How the dynamics between the indigenous and settler peoples plays out will be interesting to see.
Indeed it is. However, due to a more varied population in this timeline, in the modern Mexican Empire, the word Chichimeca would have the same connotations as the OTL word Abo in Australia.This is beyond sick!
But Chicimeca was always an insulting catch all term for the northern tribes since before even the Mexica showed up.
Awesome update man, nice to see Imperial Mexico deal positively with the Comanche. You've also ensured the north's infrastructure remains intact. Sweetness
Thanks!
You'll see soon enough. There are going to be a lot of interesting interactions once European settlers start pouring in by the second part of the 19th century.
Especially with the Americans. Those will involve many pointy things and many other round things at high speeds. And this will happen multiple times. You'll see soon enough in many future chapters...
Oh god, I think I gave out too many spoilers.
Razgriz 2K9
Banned
It's only a spoiler if you say how many pointy, stabby, abrasive things and how many round, metal balls there really are.
Well, my apologies. First of all, my Japanese courses began, and I started to go back to the gym. I'm also exhausted, and disgusted at the fact this is going to be the 10th year in which I am single and I will see a lot of nauseating crap tomorrow. This caused a certain delay on the writing of this chapter.
However, I make up to this by starting to use more or less a somewhat farcical view on history, as if it was seen from someone who lives on that TL. As from this point on, I'll write about this timeline on this way.
Next chapter will be better, I swear. Because you'll finally see the flashpoint on one of the events described in here.
The abridged discussion about who started the independence wars... in graphic format.
The only country that did not liberate itself from the Spanish Metropole was Perú.
Of all of these movements, only the “Peruvian Independence War” (or “The Intervention War”, if the Peruvians, Spaniards and Mexicans are to go by) failed. The reason for this can be drilled down to the following causes:
This comedy of failures came to an end when the Libertadores opted to stage a two-pronged attack onto Perú, with an expedition launched from Colombia on the north, and from Chile and La Plata from the south.
The campaigns in map-form... as by its own era. Witness the madness of calling Perú a Republic, and splitting it to make matters worse. The madness... the madness...
This guaranteed that those who would establish the Republic of Perú would have an easier time beating the Loyalists. Except that... it didn’t go as planned.
In northern Perú, we had Agustín Agualongo: A man who, with only a musket, standard-issue hot blood and unabashed loyalty to the King of Spain, would cause a series of logistical nightmares to the Colombian armies trying to go through the Andes, and who would never be captured by them. He also managed to fight Bolívar to a draw, and went on to avoid the crossing of any Colombian into the north. And the only way they could get out of his sight would be by going to the sea, where seemingly, he could not reach them. Agualongo would eventually fight his way until the Colombians gave up in 1824, fed up by having to disembark in the middle of nowhere just to avoid seeing his ugly mug ever again.
Or like our Anglo friends would say... “Rage quit”
The southern campaign was more successful, if only because they had been more prepared: They had a stronger army, reinforced by British mercenaries and seamen, better leaders, and a more organized army. And due to the character mentioned above, the Libertadores eventually gathered all of their forces in Callao, forming a large army to liberate Perú.
However, in February 1824, the Platinean forces called it quits, and rebelled against the Liberation Army. This further weakened the Libertador army, which was left with Colombians, some Mexican volunteers which we’ll learn about below, and Peruvian revolutionary forces. And to make matters worse for them, the Spaniards came in and supported the mutinied soldiers. The Liberation of Perú came to an anticlimactic close, in which José de San Martín was captured, Bolívar fled, and everyone else scattered against the onslaught. [3]
The Spaniards would later on force a truce onto the Republics, by recognizing some of the territorial gains they had: Colombia had gained themselves Quito and the Pastaza region. Chile and La Plata had also taken some territories from the Alto Perú. However, Perú would still remain as a Spanish possession. The people of Pastaza, however, would have it hard upon them for years to come due to their collaboration with the Spaniards, and Quito would also suffer for quite some time the presence of Colombian forces, which were neither better nor worse than the previous Spanish overlords.
And a strange inversion to all of this was Brazil, which, after the Napoleonic Invasion of Portugal in 1807, became the seat of government of the Portuguese Empire for a few years, until Portugal was liberated when the Bonapartists were defeated at Waterloo some years after that. However, the Brazilian ruling class did not wanted to see itself relegated to ruling a colony, so Brazil was made a Kingdom, joined together with Portugal in personal union. However, in 1821, Brazil suddenly saw itself again under the Portuguese domination, when the Cortes in Portugal decreed that Brazil should submit itself back to the Portuguese fold. The reaction for this was of complete outrage from both Brazilians and Portuguese inhabitants of Brazil. Troops mutinied against Portugal, and swore allegiance to Pedro I. In almost about a year, those who remained loyal to Portugal and agreed to the horrendous idea of having a subservient Brazil to Portugal were kicked out of the country
Pictured: The coronation of Pedro I
There was also the issue of the annexation of Cisplatina, [4] which caused frustration to the Platineans at the other side of the Mar del Plata. But anyways, those are stories for another day.
And while the Spanish-speaking nations of Latin America were trying to scramble any and all possible forces to “throw off the odious Spanish yoke” in Perú, Mexico finally managed to get an ambassador to Colombia. Crown Prince Agustín Jerónimo was sent as an ambassador to Colombia, and war heroes Vicente Guerrero and Guadalupe Victoria, in ever present service to the Fatherland, were also sent over to command a 1000-strong expeditionary force. Sadly, Don Vicente’s impressive sense of direction ended up becoming more of a nuisance to both sides, when he ended up in the mountains off in northern Perú, where he would never come back to Mexico, after he got cut off from his supply lines. Just as he did during the Independence War, he kept a successful aggressive guerrilla campaign against the Spanish forces. He remained there until 1827, when he was struck by a stray bullet in one of his many raids against the Spanish-Peruvian forces, and Don Guadalupe was done in by Agualongo in the Pastaza region. About 160 men came back to Mexico, their struggles were narrated in the famous tale “600 Días en Los Andes”. Nowadays, people see this as a blatant exercise on getting rid of political enemies.
Prince Agustín Jerónimo, however, managed to become a personal friend of Simón Bolívar, being also there when the latter had its last breath. Their friendship managed to bring a certain level of peace between Colombia and Mexico, something strange given the severe ideological differences between both governments.
At the end, most of the “Liberate our Peruvian Brethren” rhetoric from the Platinean, the Chilean and the Colombian governments petered out, when the Peruvians achieved their “independence”, as an autonomous kingdom within the Spanish Empire. By this, Perú was able to make its own decisions with the help of a local ruling class instead of having to rely on to Spain for any top-level decisions.
In the meanwhile, Colombia barely managed to avoid its own disintegration in their civil wars in the 1830’s decade and La Plata soon saw itself locked in a perpetual state of political instabilities, military dictatorships, civil wars, “Retake the Banda Oriental” rhetoric and “caudillo of the year” governments, and of course, their own rivalry with its northern neighbour and democratic antithesis: the Empire of Brazil. And Paraguay... was busy being Paraguay, and trying to remain itself out of the continuous bickering between Argentina and Brazil. Lastly, Chile had its own share of problems, with had to do with their small population and the Mapuche raids on the south.
[1] “Colombia” will be used as a catch-all term for Gran Colombia
[2] “La Plata” is Argentina.
[3] OTL, the Spanish forces didn’t make it in time.
[4] OTL Uruguay
However, I make up to this by starting to use more or less a somewhat farcical view on history, as if it was seen from someone who lives on that TL. As from this point on, I'll write about this timeline on this way.
Next chapter will be better, I swear. Because you'll finally see the flashpoint on one of the events described in here.
_______________________________________________
Chapter 3
Things going South America
Almost at the same year when Mexican independence began, South America as a whole began its own struggle to free itself from the Spanish Empire. It all ended in... Doesn’t really matter, but at least we know that Paraguay ended with the Spanish domination almost bloodlessly and Chile was the last one to expel all remnants of the Spanish occupation. The point is that both Colombia [1] and La Plata [2] both dispute themselves as the place where the independence wars began, something that for two countries that are more or less a sideshow in modern politics, is the equivalent of the picture below.Chapter 3
Things going South America
The abridged discussion about who started the independence wars... in graphic format.
The only country that did not liberate itself from the Spanish Metropole was Perú.
Of all of these movements, only the “Peruvian Independence War” (or “The Intervention War”, if the Peruvians, Spaniards and Mexicans are to go by) failed. The reason for this can be drilled down to the following causes:
- Little support from the population in general.
- Peruvian upper class merchants disliked their Platinean and Colombian peers.
- Failed rebellions.
- Conservative population.
- Massive amounts of infighting. The rebels ended up fighting amongst themselves more than they did in the Loyalists.
- Agustín Agualongo
This comedy of failures came to an end when the Libertadores opted to stage a two-pronged attack onto Perú, with an expedition launched from Colombia on the north, and from Chile and La Plata from the south.
The campaigns in map-form... as by its own era. Witness the madness of calling Perú a Republic, and splitting it to make matters worse. The madness... the madness...
This guaranteed that those who would establish the Republic of Perú would have an easier time beating the Loyalists. Except that... it didn’t go as planned.
In northern Perú, we had Agustín Agualongo: A man who, with only a musket, standard-issue hot blood and unabashed loyalty to the King of Spain, would cause a series of logistical nightmares to the Colombian armies trying to go through the Andes, and who would never be captured by them. He also managed to fight Bolívar to a draw, and went on to avoid the crossing of any Colombian into the north. And the only way they could get out of his sight would be by going to the sea, where seemingly, he could not reach them. Agualongo would eventually fight his way until the Colombians gave up in 1824, fed up by having to disembark in the middle of nowhere just to avoid seeing his ugly mug ever again.
Or like our Anglo friends would say... “Rage quit”
The southern campaign was more successful, if only because they had been more prepared: They had a stronger army, reinforced by British mercenaries and seamen, better leaders, and a more organized army. And due to the character mentioned above, the Libertadores eventually gathered all of their forces in Callao, forming a large army to liberate Perú.
However, in February 1824, the Platinean forces called it quits, and rebelled against the Liberation Army. This further weakened the Libertador army, which was left with Colombians, some Mexican volunteers which we’ll learn about below, and Peruvian revolutionary forces. And to make matters worse for them, the Spaniards came in and supported the mutinied soldiers. The Liberation of Perú came to an anticlimactic close, in which José de San Martín was captured, Bolívar fled, and everyone else scattered against the onslaught. [3]
The Spaniards would later on force a truce onto the Republics, by recognizing some of the territorial gains they had: Colombia had gained themselves Quito and the Pastaza region. Chile and La Plata had also taken some territories from the Alto Perú. However, Perú would still remain as a Spanish possession. The people of Pastaza, however, would have it hard upon them for years to come due to their collaboration with the Spaniards, and Quito would also suffer for quite some time the presence of Colombian forces, which were neither better nor worse than the previous Spanish overlords.
And a strange inversion to all of this was Brazil, which, after the Napoleonic Invasion of Portugal in 1807, became the seat of government of the Portuguese Empire for a few years, until Portugal was liberated when the Bonapartists were defeated at Waterloo some years after that. However, the Brazilian ruling class did not wanted to see itself relegated to ruling a colony, so Brazil was made a Kingdom, joined together with Portugal in personal union. However, in 1821, Brazil suddenly saw itself again under the Portuguese domination, when the Cortes in Portugal decreed that Brazil should submit itself back to the Portuguese fold. The reaction for this was of complete outrage from both Brazilians and Portuguese inhabitants of Brazil. Troops mutinied against Portugal, and swore allegiance to Pedro I. In almost about a year, those who remained loyal to Portugal and agreed to the horrendous idea of having a subservient Brazil to Portugal were kicked out of the country
Pictured: The coronation of Pedro I
There was also the issue of the annexation of Cisplatina, [4] which caused frustration to the Platineans at the other side of the Mar del Plata. But anyways, those are stories for another day.
And while the Spanish-speaking nations of Latin America were trying to scramble any and all possible forces to “throw off the odious Spanish yoke” in Perú, Mexico finally managed to get an ambassador to Colombia. Crown Prince Agustín Jerónimo was sent as an ambassador to Colombia, and war heroes Vicente Guerrero and Guadalupe Victoria, in ever present service to the Fatherland, were also sent over to command a 1000-strong expeditionary force. Sadly, Don Vicente’s impressive sense of direction ended up becoming more of a nuisance to both sides, when he ended up in the mountains off in northern Perú, where he would never come back to Mexico, after he got cut off from his supply lines. Just as he did during the Independence War, he kept a successful aggressive guerrilla campaign against the Spanish forces. He remained there until 1827, when he was struck by a stray bullet in one of his many raids against the Spanish-Peruvian forces, and Don Guadalupe was done in by Agualongo in the Pastaza region. About 160 men came back to Mexico, their struggles were narrated in the famous tale “600 Días en Los Andes”. Nowadays, people see this as a blatant exercise on getting rid of political enemies.
Prince Agustín Jerónimo, however, managed to become a personal friend of Simón Bolívar, being also there when the latter had its last breath. Their friendship managed to bring a certain level of peace between Colombia and Mexico, something strange given the severe ideological differences between both governments.
At the end, most of the “Liberate our Peruvian Brethren” rhetoric from the Platinean, the Chilean and the Colombian governments petered out, when the Peruvians achieved their “independence”, as an autonomous kingdom within the Spanish Empire. By this, Perú was able to make its own decisions with the help of a local ruling class instead of having to rely on to Spain for any top-level decisions.
In the meanwhile, Colombia barely managed to avoid its own disintegration in their civil wars in the 1830’s decade and La Plata soon saw itself locked in a perpetual state of political instabilities, military dictatorships, civil wars, “Retake the Banda Oriental” rhetoric and “caudillo of the year” governments, and of course, their own rivalry with its northern neighbour and democratic antithesis: the Empire of Brazil. And Paraguay... was busy being Paraguay, and trying to remain itself out of the continuous bickering between Argentina and Brazil. Lastly, Chile had its own share of problems, with had to do with their small population and the Mapuche raids on the south.
[1] “Colombia” will be used as a catch-all term for Gran Colombia
[2] “La Plata” is Argentina.
[3] OTL, the Spanish forces didn’t make it in time.
[4] OTL Uruguay
Razgriz 2K9
Banned
South America's a mess, a terrible...glorious...mess...sounds like the Rooster Teeth Community in a nutshell.
<bilingual_bonus>Colombia, eterna condenada a irle mal jajajajaja</bilingual_bonus>
Needless to say, I love the take on Agustín Agualongo. He is the reason because EVERYONE in Colombia does Pastuso jokes.
Needless to say, I love the take on Agustín Agualongo. He is the reason because EVERYONE in Colombia does Pastuso jokes.
Here's an idea on immigration: Try to lure Catholics to Mexico from Europe (this is from Jonathan Edelstein's excellent TL, Male Rising, which is what happened in Brazil in that TL) and, later, from Asia.
Will you discuss the rest of the world?
IMO, let's hope Mexico avoids the violence that has marked its history (especially with the drug cartels).
Will you discuss the rest of the world?
IMO, let's hope Mexico avoids the violence that has marked its history (especially with the drug cartels).
I see that... and I compare it more to the MUGEN community on a good day.
Enlighten me about that.
[bilingüe]Suena como que va a ser algo hilarante, o como que serán similares a los "chistes de gallegos".[/bilingüe]
Indeed.>Standard issue hot blood.
My sides!
Yes, I'll talk about the rest of the world at its due time. I shall prepare episodes about Europe, China, and the remaining parts of the Spanish Empire, which due to their "victory" at Perú, they will keep fighting on for a bit more time. The U.S. is also included amongst the things mentioned. And don't worry, Mexico will fare better in this, given that it's going to have most of the instability taken off from it early on. And the Liberales will be nothing more than petty terrorists once the 20th century rolls in.
Also, I do plan on having lots of Catholics immigrate to Mexico, namely Poles, Irish, Italians, and German Catholics. Especially since the U.S. is going to become extremely anti-Catholic ITTL after the Mexican-American War, with Irishmen and many American Catholics defecting to Mexico after several things play out.
In fact, some theories say that as San Juan de Pasto (actual Nariño Department, Colombia) was the last city that was held by the Realistas, then part of the "publicity" for this fact was the famous "gallego" jokes.
All thanks to the stubborn resistance of Agualongo, of course.
All in its due time, good friend. All in its due time... it will happen.Will Mexico become a constiutional monarchy at all?
I want mexico to be the leading light of the americas...
A placeholder for sappy romance novels.
Ho, now I understand... and now with a surviving Agualongo, I can picture him being the subject of "Chuck Norris"-esque jokes once the equivalent of the internet appears in this time line.