Chapter 70 Mexico's Revanchism
"It is time to take back Mexico for the people! Drive the gringos out and make our nation whole again"- President Benito Juarez 1858
"The people of the Rio Grande are little more than wild dogs that have forgotten their masters. They shall be put down."- General Ignacio Zaragoza 1861
"Mexico is on the rise. We must hurry and take as many preparations as possible or we'll lose all that the Republic has gained for the past twenty-five years"- Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnson 1860
In modern political science exists the term Revanchism, a political term used to described the national psyche and will to regain lost territories, honor, and prestige following a large national crises, most prominently through war. The term was created in 1933 by French political scientist Joseph Clouseau as a means to categorize the rise of Nazism within Europe and Asia following the large amounts of dissatisfaction with the multiple nations who either lost the Great War or did not receive the desired outcome in its aftermath. Revanchism itself comes from the French word for revenge,
revanche. Since the end of the Second Great War and the rise and fall of many Nazi and far-Populist governments throughout the world, Revanchism has entered mainstream politics as a general term not just for a national state following a destructive war, but as a means to describe a large movement that goes against the former establishment or those in power as a means of backlash for policies that had led to a time of crisis. Within Texas and much of Latin America, this term is instead used by the word Venganism, based off the Spanish word for revenge
venganza. Venganism in the 2017 Havanna Latin Spanish Dictionary, has the same exact definition as Revanchism with the literal translation being nearly identical in words when translated to English. The reason for the word change in Latin America is due to the fact that early Revanchism was in its existence throughout most of the 1800's due to the large periods of instability that took place throughout much of the Americas following the Latin American Revolutions that lead to the overthrow of the Spanish. In North America the word Venganism is applied in historical terms mainly to the state of Mexico in the 1850's and beyond after the Mexican Civil War and the Border Wars. For Los Estados Unidos de Mexico were tired of losing pride and land with each passing year, the people demanding for change to take place to bring honor to their country. Their prayers would soon be answered in 1861, with the start of the Mexican War.
In order to understand the Mexican situation as it was in 1860, we must first understand the domestic events that lead to the rise of Juarez and the rise of the National Populists. In 1837 after the end of the Mexican Civil War came a large period of shock and disillusionment in the Mexican national psyche, called the Generation of '36. For while the country had not been the most stable or progressive of nations prior to the Texas Revolution, it was on the track to national economic growth and in many ways could be considered a continental power that would one day be able to rival the United States or the Empire of Brazil. With the loss of over half the nation's territory due to the secessionists, domestic infighting, and the French, came a sort of rude wake up call to the Mexican people over the state of their nation. The dream of a strong united Mexico that would lead Latin America as advocated by Father Hidalgo, was no more as the nation started to collapse from class divisions, ideological disputes, and the inability of the government to defend the people from threats both within and outside the borders of the nation. The years after 1837-1846 were a sort of uneasy period of reconstruction for Mexico as the country struggled to gain a sense of stability and normalcy in the aftermath of the destructive civil war. The tensions that had caused the Civil War after Santa Anna's death were unfortunately still there as it was not a decisive victory that had won the Liberals the day, but rather intervention by France where they just decided the Liberals would get them the better deal. The Conservative wing of the Mexican Congress called the Liberals "foreign dogs" for having conspired with France in the wake of the Civil War and so willingly giving up large stretches of Mexican land that they had paid for with blood in the Revolution from Spain. The Liberals in the meantime fired back that the Conservatives were the route of the problem as it was Santa Anna who started the whole crises with the suspending of the Constitution and turning himself into a dictator. In the middle of this all were the Mexican people who were starting to become politically apathetic to the wishes of both sides and merely wished for a return to normalcy so that their families could live in peace. Due to the large amount of division the 1840's would be a time where the central government could hardly get anything done as the Conservative/Liberal divide as so fierce that no representative on either side would vote for the others agreement while each party had a multitude of factions that made even passing bills by a party majority to be impossible. At the same time more power was given exclusively to the state governments as demanded by the Liberals in the Mexican Civil War, so as to prevent a rise of another Santa Anna. For nearly ten years the situation looked to be okay as while Mexico City could get hardly any action done, the state governments had taken charge and were meeting the needs of their people individually by starting to reform and being limited amounts of modernization. While Mexico was in no state of an economic boom, the economy had returned to equilibrium by 1845 and conditions in the countryside were once again peaceful. The Mexican people were also not politically radicalized at this time unlike the previous years as they were content with the vast amounts of liberal reforms under the Farias government and had no desire to return to another Civil War, with most of the Conservatives even decrying political violence. It looked that over time Mexico could recover, then the Border Wars happened.
The general consensus among most historians of the Border Wars is that had they gone in Mexico's favor by only attacking the Rio Grande and no intervention by either Texas or the Yucatan, then Mexico would've had their national pride restored and the Mexican War been avoided in its entirety, Mexico having gotten its Venganism fulfilled and would've been on the path to recovery. Unfortunately the loss of Mexico against their rebel nations had only caused the Mexican people to be infuriated and filled with a vast amount of hatred and anger to all of their neighbors. The fact that Mexico not only lost to its former states a second time, but had to lose even more territory when the Rio Grande looked to have potentially come into reach, was the last straw that broke the metaphorical camel's back for the nation of Mexico. In the immediate aftermath lots of blaming and insults had come from all sides of the political spectrum over the reasons for their lost with the governors of the states that had launched the Border Wars being the first one to go as they were often forced to resign or faced being overthrown by violent mobs who were joined frequently by the state militia. What most parties agreed to on the issue was that President Farias and the Liberals in charge were to blame as they had not united the country in its time of crises, stopped the governors before going on their expeditions, or bothered to support any of them once the wars had started. The fall of the Confederado government began with Farias' assassination on February 17th of 1847 and soon extended to the entirety of the Mexican Liberals of the Confederate government as Liberal politicians were either killed, resigned, or driven out of office at the national level. This was not to say though that the Liberal cause was gone as Liberals still had control over half the state legislatures and many important municipalities within Mexico. In the 1847 Elections, Conservative Valentin Canalizo was elected as President as he was seen as a strongman among the Party and had many close ties to the Pro-Santa Anna supporters still in power. Whatever hopes the Conservative side may have had for Canalizo had vanished though as the man had died of Pneumonia on October 13th, 1848. Vice President Mariano Paredes was supposed to succeed Canalizo there according to the 1837 Constitution, however the Liberals rejected Paredes and demanded that a new vote take place for the Presidency. Paredes and the Conservatives chastised the Liberals for their apparent hypocrisy however neither side could come with a clear solution and because of this the Liberals proclaimed Jose Joaquin de Herrera as President and established the capitol in the city of Zacatecas. What began afterwords would be known as the Second Mexican Civil War. Unlike the first civil war however, the Second Mexican Civil War is not a conflict of two clear sides pitted against each other, but rather of multiple factions across the nation that proclaimed their own presidencies and would often try and assert dominance over Mexico. While multiple factions had coalesced under the traditional Conservative and Liberal divides, these groups were more coalitions of benefit than anything as the real power in Mexico laid in the states who were now acting as near independent nations. This period of unrest went on for two years until 1851, with frequent border conflicts between the states and large amounts of insurrection and rebellion throughout the countryside. Had the process continued indefinitely then Mexico would've broken up into multiple independent nations in the 1850's and the near entirety of the region delving into a lawless wasteland of sorts. Fortunately for the Mexican people, one brave patriot would rise up in the time of crises and take power back for the Mexican people. Benito Juarez.
General makeup of the Second Mexican Civil War before the Juarez Phase. Red states are Liberal while Blue Conservative.
Benito Juarez, known throughout Mexico today as "The Redeemer" was born on March 21st, 1806 to Indian peasants in the city of Oaxaca in the state of the same name. Juarez had lost much of his family in his early years and having been raised by his uncles was forced to act independent for much of his youth. Because of this Juarez strove to become an intellectual through his hard work and merit as he saw it as the only way to succeed in life and move beyond his current station as a peasant farmer. Juarez traveled to the city in 1818 in search of a new life where he was taken under the wing of a group of Franciscans who recognized his natural intelligence. From their Juarez would be educated in Latin and much of Mexican law as over the years he moved through the ranks of the Oaxacan intellegista and became further indoctrinated in the philosophy of liberalism due to Oaxaca being a hotbed for Liberals within Mexico. For the first twenty years of his adult life, Juarez served as an attorney within the state of Oaxaca and became widely known for his success in the court and high understanding of the law, something that impressed many of the Creole Mexicans as they did not expect much of a Zapotecan. After the Mexican Civil War, Juarez became intensely involved within the Liberal party due to his self-perceived patriotic need to reform Mexico at its weakest in order to prevent such an occurrence from happening again. In 1841 Juarez was appointed as State Attorney General of Oaxaca by Governor Antonio Leon, cementing his position within the Liberal Party. In the aftermath of the Border Wars with Oaxaca's embarrassing loss to the Yucatan, Juarez was elected to power as Governor of Oaxaca and took control of it for the four years after Farias' assassination. Unlike other governors who choose to wage war within Mexico over petty land disputes and power plays for the presidency, Juarez chose to stick to neutrality in that while he sided with the Liberal Coalition, he would not actively take part in the power struggles of Mexico. Instead Juarez focused on continued internal development of his home state and providing stability for his people. In 1849 Juarez established a coalition known as the Oaxaca group which was an alliance with the liberal states of Veracruz and Jalisco. Together these three states dominated much of the remaining Mexico coast, Veracruz in particular, and would form a trade cartel that basically ran all imports and exports in and out of Mexico, officially establishing these states as the bulk of the Mexican economy. During the next couple of years due to the relative stability of these states, the Oaxaca group had obtained the highest standard of living and economic growth within Mexico during this dark time. However, none of the states were willing to involve themselves in national politics as they did not want to ruin their prosperity over the civil war. Due to this the status quo would remain for the next two years until the British came.
Benito Juarez, "El Redentor". Considered by many within Mexico today as one of its greatest presidents.
In 1851 Great Britain was still licking its wounds from the bitter defeat that they had suffered in the Oregon War and the high costs of involvement in the First War of German Unification. At the time Queen Victoria was noticing a disturbing trend within the Americas in that the United Kingdom was beginning to lose its economic and political influence all around. The Southwestern Union and France's involvement in the Filibuster War five years later, would mark an extensive rise of French influence in North America with their stable relations with the United States and very high relations with Quebec, Texas, Yucatan, and Central America. The South American nations while still importing British goods, were beginning to take independent routes in the notable cases of Brazil and Peru-Bolivia, while all the states of South America (with the exception of isolationist Paraguay) were beginning to diversify their trade with German, French, and Italian goods. This was not well in the eyes of the United Kingdom as they were slowly losing their hegemony in the region that they had established following the Napoleonic Wars. Thus a client state had to be made that would be dependent on British trade and serve their interests to counteract the United States and France. Since the Crimean War had not begun yet, the British Foreign Ministry had begun looking extensively for potential client states and found such as situation in Mexico. While it was true that Mexico was nearing a failed state, at the same time it was also a ripe opportunity to come in and establish a new government just as the French had done prior. Of the states within Mexico the Conservative states were immediately rejected as their extensive pro-Catholic agenda did not suit well with the British, so they began to look within the Liberal candidates for a new central government. Instead of supporting the "legitimate" government of Zacatecas as many within the Foreign Ministry were wanting, Victoria instead chose the Oaxaca group as they could immediately establish their trade foothold with these states and they were the likeliest targets for a successful war. Contact was made with the Veracruz government in the fall of 1850 and soon representatives from Oaxaca and Jalisco were sent to deal with the British as well. At the negotiating table the British made extensive offers to the alliance in order to get them to join the Civil War and reclaim the country. These offers included large amounts of financial aid, investment in the Mexican economy, tens of thousands of arms and artillery, "volunteer" regiments that would join the cause, intervention by the Royal Navy, and recognition as the legitimate government of Mexico. In return once in power, the Oaxaca group had to buy foreign goods almost exclusively from Great Britain and had to align themselves with the United Kingdom in foreign affairs. These demands were rather easy to meet as the enemies of Britain were the United States and France, two nations that Mexico loathed, and British goods were still seen in that day and age as top quality within Western Europe. When receiving the offers Veracruz went for British support while a slight majority of the Jalisco congress were also in favor. The key reaction though would be taht of Juarez's as he was the leader of the coalition and head of the most powerful state. Initially Juarez was against the idea as he saw it as little more than a betrayal to Mexico just as Farias did with the French. However, upon intense reflection of the matter Juarez soon came to a realization that while this would be essentially "selling his soul to the limey devils" it would be the only realistic way to ever gain control of Mexico and turn the country back around. Juarez agreed to the term and on January of 1851, the Veracruz Compact was signed between Great Britain and the Oaxaca group. In it Benito Juarez was proclaimed as the legitimate President of Mexico and Great Britain would recognize it with an alliance. The reactions across the continent were near universal in condemning the Veracruz Compact as both Conservatives and Liberals lambasted Juarez for selling to the foreign dogs while the United States, Texas, France, Quebec, and Yucatan all made joint statements condemning the treaty as British aggression into the region. However no side took action as the United States and Quebec were still recovering from the Oregon War and the populace of the nation's did not see Mexico as important enough to go to war over. Texas and Yucatan while both concerned of the British move, did not think it would affect Mexico that much and wanted to focus on the current domestic prosperity. Lastly Napoleon was still consolidating his reign and the people of Fracne did not see Mexico as an important enough nation to go to war over unless the Southwestern Union was attacked. Thus Juarez was given free reign to take control over the country.
The HMS King George in the Gulf of Mexico (Left) British Advisors in Veracruz (Right)
1851-1853 would then be considered to be the "Juarez War" of the Mexican Civil War as the latter half of the conflict is usually given focus to the rise of Juarez. The first year would see the states of the Oaxaca group come under attack from all sides for their initiative, however all offensives into Juarez's territory were easily repulsed as the state militias of these states were as professional as the Mexican Army before the Texan Revolution and did not suffer the large amounts of corruption and informality that plagued most of Mexico. British economic and military aid also began to arrive in droves as tens of thousands of pounds and an equal amount of muskets were pored into the states to arm what would be known as the Republican Army. Great Britain also sent 1,000 professional advisors of the British Army to train the troops along with 15,000 "volunteer" regiments which in reality were just British mercenaries. During this time Jalisco also conquered Colima and the states of Michoacan and Guerrero freely joined the Juarez bloc, pledging allegiance to him as the official President of Mexico. Uprisings all across Mexico took place in 1851 in support of Juarez as many peasants saw him as the man who could save the country from its dire straits due to his high success in the south and liberal leanings. Many Indian tribes would also revolt in favor of Juarez as they saw him as a kindred spirit who could finally represent the repressed Indian population just as how it was in Texas. With preparations having been completed, 1852 marked the start of the first offensives to retake Mexico as Juarez and his army began marching across the nation to retake Mexico from the tyrants and despots that plagued it for so many years. Nearly all the battles in the rest of the Civil War would go to Juarez's favor as the Republican Army turned into one of high quality with British troops and ammunition while the state militias of the rest of the country were nothing more than armed thugs as the last soldiers of the professional forces were either dead, corrupt, or too incompetent to provide any clear opposition. On September 16th, 1852, the 42nd anniversary of Mexican independence, Mexico City fell to the Republican Army as the cities populace rose up in support of Juarez and overthrew the Conservative government while opening the gates for the Republican Army to waltz right in. The next day Juarez would come riding in on a white steed while the Mexican crowds would cheer in unity for the man who had saved their nation from extinction. Mopup operations would take place for the rest of the year and it wasn't until February 2nd of 1853 that the war would be officially declared over with Sonora surrendering as the last bastion of resistance. Mexico was united, and under Juarez's plan they would become whole again.
Mural of Benito Juarez leading the Republican Army in the Second Mexican Civil War.
Upon the end of the Civil War, Juarez arrested all the congressmen who had survived the war for treason against the country by failing to prevent its disorder. No one within the Mexican populace seemed to care at this authoritarian move as those politicians arrested were people who had held onto power since the days of Santa Anna. New elections were then declared in 1853, however unlike what most people predicted, Juarez refused to side with the Liberal Party. Over the years Juarez had come to view the Liberals as an utter failure as they were just as responsible for the country's mess as the Conservatives were. While still containing many liberal values, Juarez had drifted to the early roots of Populism as he saw it as the most effective way to keep power from the elites of Mexico who had plagued the nation since Augistin Iturbide. Thus, Juarez would found the National Populist party who won an intense supermajority in the elections, all of whom were close political allies of Juarez or former Liberals who had been elected on Juarez's coattails. While Juarez would keep many of the personal freedoms created under Farias and still kept to the same law that would limit the Catholic Church's and nobles power, Juarez would discard with the main tenets of the 1837 Constitution and instead create a new one,
La Reforma Constitucion. This document was exclusively designed to retain large amounts of governance and autonomy within the states, however, the central government would take back the powers of lawmaking for legislation applying to the nation as a whole and the president was given extraordinary powers to intervene in the affairs of the states as he saw fit to prevent a time of crises (Leading to the Diaz regime in the latter half of the 19th century). Under Juarez's direction, early forms of socialism were taken as much of the economy was nationalized and high taxes were given to the rich in order to kickstart the economy. With large amounts of economic aid from the British, Mexico finally began its first steps of modernization with factories and railroads beginning to appear within Southern Mexico. Trade had increased greatly as Mexican raw materials were sold to Britain en masse for finished goods in return, heavy tariffs being placed on all non-British goods to keep with the agreement. Infrastructure was rebuilt across the country while farms were given large subsidies to provide new incomes for impoverished families. These moves were seen as the most radical of the Juarez administration as it had involved massive amounts of land distribution with the government forcefully taking land away from the Mexican nobles, Catholic Church, and the plantation families in the nation. Any and all resistance to these moves were met with bayonets by the Republican Army. Finally, the rights of the indigenous were finally recognized as Juarez took massive steps to classify them as citizens within Mexico. Though hostile tribes like the Apache were met with extreme prejudice in retaliation. For the first time in decades the Mexican people could once again have pride in their nation with the nation finally achieving a high level of stability and prosperity not seen since the New Spain Era. Although he was widely hailed throughout the country as the greatest president in Mexican history, this was not enough for Juarez who saw his mission to be completed with one final task, the reunification of Mexico in its entirety.
When the Mexican Civil War officially broke out, Juarez had held some sympathies for the Texan rebels along with the Yucatan. For Texas he saw them as an oppressed people breaking free from Santa Anna while in the Yucatan he saw a common cause with the Mayan peoples who had joined the Revolution. Over time any feelings that Juarez had for these nations turned into hatred and disgust as he saw these nations as the root of Mexico's problems with the Civil Wars and anarchy that took place after independence. With Texas Juarez saw a Gringo state that was bent on destroying Mexico as they were the ones to start the process with the Alamo and Santa Anna's death. For Yucatan, Juarez developed a personal grudge as it was Oaxaca who suffered in the many conflicts of the Border Wars and the Yucatan was in Juarez's eyes an aggressive state for their actions in Central America. The Rio Grande was the one nation that Juarez held zero empathy for as they were an utterly failed state an abomination in the man's eyes to the nations of the world with their "sovereignty". Within all three Republics were 11 former Mexican states and territories that once were a vital part of Mexico but were suddenly stripped away by the secessionists. The existence of 7 of said states and territories not seen as legitimate to the eyes of the Mexicans as they were obtained in greed at the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. While Mexico was recovering from its wars, its people still held a large amount of trauma from their defeats against the Republics and were ashamed of the losses that took place in the First Mexican Civil War. No matter what steps Juarez took, Mexico would never achieve the prominence it once had without the return of these states to the mother country. In order to do that Juarez had to take them by force. Over the rest of the 1850's, Juarez and the rest of the National Populists began a Pan-Mexican Venganist campaign aimed at directed the hearts and minds of the Mexican people against their neighbors. Propaganda flooded Mexico telling of how the Gringo Texans and the Mayans would come in and ruin all that had been accomplished under Juarez. Tales spread of the anarchy of the Rio Grande and how its people were suffering under the rule of warlords. Literature was published all across the country in the form of textbooks, novels, poems, and essays that decried the Republics for causing the ruin of Mexico and how its prestige could only be restored with absolute unification. While the populace began to become riled with hatred of Texas and the other Republics, the Army received an increased amount of power and volunteers as it swelled to the numbers of 45,000 men in 1860 and soon became an integral part of the state and Juarez's law. The Republican Guard as a byproduct of this was founded in 1853 as a means of keeping succession in check, acting as secret police, and serving as elite shock troops against hostile Indians to prepare for the coming war. With the Mexican economy geared to the production of military arms and the Mexican people set for total war, the stage was set for what would soon be the most climatic conflict in Southwestern North America of the century. The first shots fired in 1861 as Mexican troops crossed the border into the Rio Grande to reclaim what's rightfully theirs.
The Mexican Army marching into the Rio Grande in 1861.
A/N: For those of you confused about the first paragraph and my inclusion of Nazism, the Nazis TTL are just another name for the fascist movement which will take place after the Great War. It will all start with Mosley's movement as Nazism TTL is the German word for National Socialism which is the official alternate term for Fascism since due to the butterflies and Papal Italy, the Fascist Party of Mussolini does not come to power. The term Nazism will begin to rise in the 1920's as a popular term to describe all National Socialists. An important thing to remind the readers is that Nazism TTL will be known as a form of authoritarian government that is reliant on the power of the state and heavy populist support from the people in the form of Nationalism. Hitler's OTL Nazis do not rise to power as I said that the alternate to WWII is vastly different, so Nazism is NOT a racial ideology of Aryan supremacy. Indeed multiple "Nazi" governments will be set up worldwide and if Israel existed TTL then there could very well be "Jewish Nazis" as a form of the nation's far right. More about Nazism will be revealed in the coming decades of the story with its impact on the world taking shape immediate after the Great War.
Well that's my plans for Facism in Lone Star Republic. Along with that we get a taste of what Juarez and Mexico have been up to during this time. What did you guys think? Leave a comment below as I'd like to hear your thoughts on these developments. Next chapter will be Fort Sumter and the beginning of the American Civil War while the Mexican War should begin next week as I have Spring Break. Thank you so much for reading and stay tuned for more.