Part I: Fight for Independence
Hey y'all! It's been quite a while since I posted anything. Life's been kinda fucking nuts...but I won't get into the minutia of it all as I can imagine I'd only be singing along to the choir...and in that regard I hope you all and your loved ones are doing well and staying safe. Anywho, roughly a decade ago I began my first, and thus far only timeline on a stronger Mexico. I got as far as the 1880's but as I read a lot of my earlier material, I felt I left out a great many details, and that clarity has made me reconsider the path and trajectory I originally had the TL make. Not to mention , my writing was simply atrocious!!!
I'm going to try my best to stick as close as I can to the original TL, but at the same time I hope these new changes I have in store enhances the story. So without any further ado!
-“My fellow citizens of the Republic, on this most hallowed of occasions, I ask of you all to remember and honor the sacrifices the founders of our great nation made to make us proud to be Mexicans. On this, the Bicentennial of our independence let us all continue to build a just and free society, a society which respects the rights of all peoples and a society that strives to promote life, liberty and the common good of all.”
-President Patricia Jimenez Elba
(Excerpt translated from the El Sol de México, September 16, 2010)
-"Long live Fernando VII! Long live America! Long live religion, and death to bad government!"
-Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
(Reported final appeal of the "original" Grito de Dolores, September 16, 1810)
At the dawn of the 19th century, a group of like-minded individuals, prominent among them Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama, Captains in their regiment of the Queen's Provincial Dragoons, the Corregidor of Querétaro Miguel Dominguez and his esteemed wife Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, and the famed eccentric priest Father Miguel Hidalgo formed the core of a conspiracy to bring about an end to colonial rule of New Spain. Inspired by the philosophical though of the Enlightenment, as well as the recent eruptions of revolution in the United States, France and Haiti, the group of conspirators frequently met at various safehouses across the Bajío where they discussed politics and contemporary events, and upon recognition that the Viceregal government had failed to properly respect the rights of its colonial subjects, a consensus for greater autonomy and reform was agreed upon by the members of what became known to posterity as the Querétaro Conspiracy.
As Spanish control over its empire deteriorated, culminating with the Napoleonic overthrow of King Fernando VII in May 1808, the time for the conspirators to act seemed eminent. In México City, the predominantly criollo Ayuntamiento rebuked the newly installed King of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, and amongst the sympathetic overtures to their deposed Bourbon monarch the Ayuntamiento proposed the formation of an autonomous representative government charged with administering New Spain in the name of King Fernando VII. [1] While Viceroy José de Iturrigaray gave his assent to the plan, the conservative and peninsular-led Audiencia rejected it outright. Over the course of the summer criollos continued to agitate for autonomy, with both the Ayuntamientos of México City and Veracruz issuing demands to allow the formation of a junta and the convocation of a congress, but the Audiencia continued to oppose all appeals for reform, arguing that it was not New Spain's place as a colony to dictate the terms of its relationship to the crown. Events culminated in September when an armed mob of roughly 500 landowners and merchants, lead by members of the Audiencia and the Archbishop of México City, orchestrated a coup d'état against Viceroy Iturrigaray and conducted a mass arrest of prominent criollos across the city. With New Spain now, for the moment, under their firm control, the Audiencia installed the old and frail Field Marshal Pedro de Garibay as their rubberstamp Viceroy where he served for a little under a year. In July 1809 he was replaced with the Archbishop, Francisco Javier de Lizana y Beaumont. Both men proved utterly inept and incapable of stemming the tide of unrest and in May 1810 the Audiencia relieved Lizana y Beaumont from his Viceregal duties, in the end opting to rule the colony directly until the new Viceroy, Francisco Javier Venegas, assumed power that following September.
By late spring of 1810 it had become abundantly clear that the Spanish government, despite British military aid, was on the verge of total collapse. With support and cover provided by Corrigedor Dominguez, the conspirators in Querétaro and Guanajuato began to assemble armaments, clandestinely recruit supporters, and even go as far as draft the outline of a new government. By the start of summer the conspiracy was in full swing and the date was set for December 8 as the planned start of the uprising, but as several weak links in the Conspiracy betrayed the movement to the Audiencia in August and September, the conspirators were forced to move the start of the uprising to October 1. Events then took an unexpected turn on the evening of September 14 when a rebel priest by the name of Manuel Irriaga bacame gravely ill and during a deathbed confession revealed the conspiracy's existance to his attendant peninsular priest, which precipitated the arrest of Miguel Dominguez and several other conspirators the following day. Despite being confined indoors for her safety, Miguel's wife Josefa alerted her neighbor and fellow conspirator Ignacio Pérez of what had transpired. Without a moment to spare the elderly Pérez embarked on a 40-mile horseride through the night to San Miguel el Grande, where Allende and the Aldama brothers were alerted to the Conspiracy's betrayal. With very little time to spare, Allende and the two Aldamas in turn rode north toward Dolores in order to warn Father Hidalgo.
The conspirators set the plan into motion, September 16, 1810
Upon arriving at Dolores in the early morning hours of September 16, Allende and his retinue awoke and informed Hidalgo about the course of events in Querétaro. At this point Hidalgo decided the time had come to set the plan into motion. Aided by laborers, parishioners and other local townsfolk, Hidalgo apprehended the Spanish Priest, Father Bustamante, and imprisoned him along with other known Spaniards. As the central plaza in front of the church Nuestra Señora de los Dolores filled with several hundred people, Father Hidalgo issued an impassioned call to arms in defense of King and country and against French invasion. Hidalgo, Allende and Aldama, along with four thousand rebels (mostly indians and mestizos), occupied San Miguel el Grande where Allende’s regiment of the Queen's Provincial Dragoons soon joined the rebel cause. After a heated dispute between Hidalgo and Allende on who should take military command of the Insurgent army, Hidalgo reluctantly conceded to Allende's position and followed the Conspiracy’s original trajectory with Allende and the elder Aldama holding joint command, while Hidalgo served as second in command. [2]
On September 18 the rebels moved on the village of Celaya, which was quickly taken and as news of the revolt radiated out through the Bajío the rebel forces quickly grew tenfold. Allende was initially wary over many of the new recruits capacity for restraint, as the vast majority were indian or mestizo peasant laborers with little or no military training. Regardless of his reservations he decided to make a move on Guanajuato, the capital of the intendancy. The Insurgent leadership promised the Intendant of Guanajuato, Juan Antonio Riaño, that the citizenry would be treated humanely if he were to surrender immediately. Riaño instead vowed never to surrender, as he amassed several thousand people into the city's grain exchange (referred to as the Alhóndiga de Granaditas) and utilized the buildings imposing structure as a impromptu fortress until reinforcements from México City arrived. However, the hills that surrounded the granary gave the Insurgents a strategic edge and quickly turned the battle to their advantage. Coupled with the death of Riaño early in the battle the Insurgents overran the granary and eventually the whole city, but not before massacring great numbers of Spaniards, including many citizens who had already surrendered. Allende and Hidalgo’s efforts to stop the rampage proved futile, and by the end of the day 600 Spaniards and 2,000 Indians lay dead. Allende, angered at what many of his Insurgents had done, began to rein Hidalgo in, cognizant of the fact the priest's inflammatory rhetoric towards Spaniards had whipped many Insurgents into a frenzy of blood-lust and revenge. Hidalgo was made to understand that while his gift for inspirational oratory would continue to serve a valuable service in inviting more people to the rebel cause, further attempts to incite unnecessary violence would be met by Allende's fury. To that end Allende instituted a zero tolerance approach when it came to dealing with the spree of pillaging that arose in the wake of their occupation of the Bajío, which initially hurt soldier retention but had the intended consequence of quelling much of the violence.
Massacre of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato, September 28, 1810
Through October 1810, the insurgents made headway in the west, capturing both Guadalajara and Valladolid. At this point Allende was seen universally as the supreme commander of the Insurgent army, and with the aid of the Aldamas and his own son Indalecio began instilling proper military training and tactics as best as they could in preparation for a "true" engagement with Royalist forces, whom had hastily asserted control over Querétaro and San Luis Potosí. In Valladolid, the Insurgents were also empowered by more forces who were led by another militant priest, José María Morelos. Through private funds, Allende and his army, now over 75,000 strong, planned to strike the Royalists at their source--México City. [3] En route to the capital, Allende and his army met with a Royalist force under the command of General Torcuato Trujillo near Toluca, which itself was only 40 miles from México City. Viceroy Venegas had sent Trujillo and roughly 2,500 troops west toward the Toluca Valley in order to form a protective barrier against what the Royalists deemed a mob of rampaging barbarians, and to that end took up positions along the Sierra de las Cruces, which secured the two main roads to the capital. The battle for the sierras began early on the morning of October 30, and despite the numerical advantage the Insurgents failed twice to dislodge the Royalists from the high ground. At Hidalgo's urging the Insurgents sent emissaries to Trujillo to attempt to convince the Royalist leadership to surrender, but Trujillo refused outright to treat with rebels and ordered they be executed. The emissaries were all killed during the resultant melee, but to his misfortune the Royalist commander also suffered mortal wounds. The killings of the emissaries greatly angered and animated the Insurgents and on a third offensive that afternoon they finally managed to break the Royalists lines, securing Toluca and the road to the capital in the process. [4]
Now México City was literally within sight, and despite Hidalgo's reservations over attacking the capital, Allende sent emissaries to Viceroy Venegas imploring him to surrender the city peaceably, but Venegas rebuffed them on threats they be shot as traitors. On November 3 the Insurgents began engaging Royalist forces under the command of Augustín de Iturbide at the Battle of San Cosme, along the western edge of the city. In the meantime, Viceroy Venegas and other senior officials, fearing the worst, took flight to Veracruz. In street battles said to be some of the bloodiest in the war, the Insurgents slowly took the capital one city block at a time. With the few troops available to him in México City, Iturbide fought a battle of attrition against Allende, hoping to make seizure of the city a pyrrhic victory for the Insurgents, but he knew time was running out for a breakthrough to cut his losses and escape. Under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of November 6, Iturbide and several hundred of his remaining men retreated east to Puebla, and by daybreak had crossed Paso de Cortes with Puebla visible in the distance. There was some initial instances of looting early on in the day, but Allende maintained his draconian countermeasures to abate the worse excesses of his soldiers, simultaneously assuaging many capitalino fears regarding the Insurgents. [5] With the fighting dwindling down over the course of the afternoon, the leaders of the revolt convened at the Palace of the Viceroy and discussed their next course of action. The following day, Allende, Aldama, Hidalgo and Morelos decreed the formation of a "governing junta," along wth a constituent assembly comprised of representatives from all the intendancies and provinces which was to rule the Viceroyalty in the name of Fernando VII. [6] The declaration also promised several things, paramount among them the abolition of slavery and the despised tribute tax. At this point Allende was officially made Capitán-General del America Septentrional (En. Captain General of North America) which made him the highest ranking officer in the Insurgent army. Throughout December Allende continued the monumental task of training and professionalizing his predominantly green forces. Aiding in this venture was the rapid influx of fresh rebel troops from the west and north (a mix of criollos, indians and mestizos, as well as several thousand recently freed negros, or Africans), which brought the Insurgent forces to just below 100,000 fighting men.
Battle of Monte de las Cruces, October 30, 1810
Upon hearing of México City’s capitulation, an infuriated Viceroy Venegas ordered his remaining forces to the north, under the command of Colonel Félix María Calleja to fall back from San Luis Potosí to Veracruz, in order to better calibrate their next course of action. Venegas decided on a renewed assault on the Insurgents in early January 1811, in order to drive them out of México City and extinguish the flames of revolution before they spread any farther, though even that final point proved unavailing. By the start of the new year revolutionary juntas dominated the landscape from Central America to Tejas and beyond.
At the beginning of January, Allende lead the Insurgent army east, occupying Tlaxcala and Puebla in the process, although the latter proved difficult as a sizable contingent of Royalist forces had been left behind by Viceroy Venegas prior to México City’s surrender. With the vast majority of the Valley of México under the Insurgent banner, Allende’s next move was to march on Veracruz. Not only would capture of the strategic port greatly bolster the Insurgent cause, but Allende hoped to apprehend Viceroy Venegas, who proved to be unwilling to any compromise whatsoever. On January 8 the Royalists and Insurgents engaged eachother near the village of Santa Rosa Necoxtla, on the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre Oriental overlooking Veracruz, fighting late into the afternoon with no clear victor. The Insurgents possessed the field advantage of overlooking the enemy, however General Calleja proved to be a formidable opponent and held his lines over repeated Insurgent assaults. After further engagements along the slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental proved ineffective for either side, Allende and Calleja returned to Tlaxcala and Veracruz respectively. The remainder of January would be characterized by sporadic fighting along the eastern rim of the Valley of México and in the foothills east of Puebla.
Capitán-General de America, Ignacio Allende y Unzaga
Both sides used the remaining winter months as a general reprieve, as well as a moment to reflect and readjust battle plans for future campaigns. Calleja and Venegas began to move Loyalist forces from Central America and Cuba to the Altiplano in order to compensate for their own low numbers. [7] Although Venegas had petitioned the mother country for more troops and supplies just prior to the Insurgent seizure of México City, any help from Spain itself would be trickling in, if any help was sent at all. Spain itself was locked in a struggle for its own independence against Napoleonic France, and coupled with Insurgencies simultaneously breaking out in the other colonies such as New Granada, Perú and Río de la Plata, any help from Europe would be negligible for the foreseeable future.
Allende also began to take advantage of the lull in hostilities by further consolidating control of land already under Insurgent control. As of early February 1811 this included the Intendancies of Guadalajara and Valladolid, portions of Arizpe, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Extremadura, México, Puebla and Guanajuato, as well as the Provinces of Nuevo Santander, Nuevo León and Texas. Allende also sent Pascasio Ortiz de Letona as liaison to the United States. Upon his arrival in Washington D.C. nearly seven weeks later, Ortiz de Letona and his fellow diplomats consistently petitioned President James Madison and Secretary of State Robert Smith for any support they could provide for what they deemed the “struggle for freedom of all America.” Although Madison was receptive and sympathetic towards the plight of the independence movements sprouting up across Spanish America, his pressing international concerns at the time were primarily with the British. The United Kingdom was technically at peace with its former colony, but for years had upheld the practice of impressing American sailors caught at sea, despite numerous American protests. These events, coupled with Smith's replacement as Secretary of State with James Monroe that following April, made Letona’s progress for diplomatic recognition slow in coming. Meanwhile 1,900 miles away, the Insurgents were about to deal with a turn in their fortunes as the war for independence entered a challenging new phase.
[1] Ayuntamiento (or cabildo) is a Spanish term that translates to "city council" or "town hall."
[2] Point of Divergence: In OTL the argument began over Allende's disaproval of the looting of San Miguel, his hometown. The conspirators felt Hidalgo was the best "face" for the rebellion, as he was admired by many across all the various castes, and in the end he was chosen as Supreme Commander. This was a spur of the moment desicion, as the original plan gave more authority to Allende.
[3] OTL the Insurgents numbered over 80,000 at this point but Allende's draconian deterrants to pillaging and other acts of wonton violence have filtered out a significant chunk of potential fighters.
[4] In OTL Trujillo did order the deaths of the Insurgent emissaries during the ceasefire. This is probably the first "important" butterfly. This time around the Insurgents go in to negociate with some guns or some sort of cover, whatever the case may be, and manage to at least go down fighting. More importantly however is the fact that from this point onward things truly begin to deviate from OTL, as it was originally after the Battle of Monte de las Cruces that Hidalgo had his change of heart over attacking the capital and at the last minute turned his army around to Guadalajara.
[5] Capitalino/a is a term used to refer to someone from México City or "the capital."
[6] It's important to note that at this point in the game the conspirators aren't demanding independence yet, just greater autonomy and guarantees for some basic rights they understandibly feel are being infringed. That's why all of these early appeals both OTL and TTL were done in the name of Fernando VII.
[7] Atiplano is Spanish for plateau, in this case the Plateau of Anahuac or the Mexican Plateau, and is a reference to the Mexican "core" territory.
I'm going to try my best to stick as close as I can to the original TL, but at the same time I hope these new changes I have in store enhances the story. So without any further ado!
¡Por la Patria, Viva México Fuerte!
-“My fellow citizens of the Republic, on this most hallowed of occasions, I ask of you all to remember and honor the sacrifices the founders of our great nation made to make us proud to be Mexicans. On this, the Bicentennial of our independence let us all continue to build a just and free society, a society which respects the rights of all peoples and a society that strives to promote life, liberty and the common good of all.”
-President Patricia Jimenez Elba
(Excerpt translated from the El Sol de México, September 16, 2010)
-"Long live Fernando VII! Long live America! Long live religion, and death to bad government!"
-Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
(Reported final appeal of the "original" Grito de Dolores, September 16, 1810)
Part I
Fight for Independence
The Querétaro Conspiracy
Fight for Independence
The Querétaro Conspiracy
At the dawn of the 19th century, a group of like-minded individuals, prominent among them Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama, Captains in their regiment of the Queen's Provincial Dragoons, the Corregidor of Querétaro Miguel Dominguez and his esteemed wife Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, and the famed eccentric priest Father Miguel Hidalgo formed the core of a conspiracy to bring about an end to colonial rule of New Spain. Inspired by the philosophical though of the Enlightenment, as well as the recent eruptions of revolution in the United States, France and Haiti, the group of conspirators frequently met at various safehouses across the Bajío where they discussed politics and contemporary events, and upon recognition that the Viceregal government had failed to properly respect the rights of its colonial subjects, a consensus for greater autonomy and reform was agreed upon by the members of what became known to posterity as the Querétaro Conspiracy.
As Spanish control over its empire deteriorated, culminating with the Napoleonic overthrow of King Fernando VII in May 1808, the time for the conspirators to act seemed eminent. In México City, the predominantly criollo Ayuntamiento rebuked the newly installed King of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, and amongst the sympathetic overtures to their deposed Bourbon monarch the Ayuntamiento proposed the formation of an autonomous representative government charged with administering New Spain in the name of King Fernando VII. [1] While Viceroy José de Iturrigaray gave his assent to the plan, the conservative and peninsular-led Audiencia rejected it outright. Over the course of the summer criollos continued to agitate for autonomy, with both the Ayuntamientos of México City and Veracruz issuing demands to allow the formation of a junta and the convocation of a congress, but the Audiencia continued to oppose all appeals for reform, arguing that it was not New Spain's place as a colony to dictate the terms of its relationship to the crown. Events culminated in September when an armed mob of roughly 500 landowners and merchants, lead by members of the Audiencia and the Archbishop of México City, orchestrated a coup d'état against Viceroy Iturrigaray and conducted a mass arrest of prominent criollos across the city. With New Spain now, for the moment, under their firm control, the Audiencia installed the old and frail Field Marshal Pedro de Garibay as their rubberstamp Viceroy where he served for a little under a year. In July 1809 he was replaced with the Archbishop, Francisco Javier de Lizana y Beaumont. Both men proved utterly inept and incapable of stemming the tide of unrest and in May 1810 the Audiencia relieved Lizana y Beaumont from his Viceregal duties, in the end opting to rule the colony directly until the new Viceroy, Francisco Javier Venegas, assumed power that following September.
By late spring of 1810 it had become abundantly clear that the Spanish government, despite British military aid, was on the verge of total collapse. With support and cover provided by Corrigedor Dominguez, the conspirators in Querétaro and Guanajuato began to assemble armaments, clandestinely recruit supporters, and even go as far as draft the outline of a new government. By the start of summer the conspiracy was in full swing and the date was set for December 8 as the planned start of the uprising, but as several weak links in the Conspiracy betrayed the movement to the Audiencia in August and September, the conspirators were forced to move the start of the uprising to October 1. Events then took an unexpected turn on the evening of September 14 when a rebel priest by the name of Manuel Irriaga bacame gravely ill and during a deathbed confession revealed the conspiracy's existance to his attendant peninsular priest, which precipitated the arrest of Miguel Dominguez and several other conspirators the following day. Despite being confined indoors for her safety, Miguel's wife Josefa alerted her neighbor and fellow conspirator Ignacio Pérez of what had transpired. Without a moment to spare the elderly Pérez embarked on a 40-mile horseride through the night to San Miguel el Grande, where Allende and the Aldama brothers were alerted to the Conspiracy's betrayal. With very little time to spare, Allende and the two Aldamas in turn rode north toward Dolores in order to warn Father Hidalgo.
The conspirators set the plan into motion, September 16, 1810
Upon arriving at Dolores in the early morning hours of September 16, Allende and his retinue awoke and informed Hidalgo about the course of events in Querétaro. At this point Hidalgo decided the time had come to set the plan into motion. Aided by laborers, parishioners and other local townsfolk, Hidalgo apprehended the Spanish Priest, Father Bustamante, and imprisoned him along with other known Spaniards. As the central plaza in front of the church Nuestra Señora de los Dolores filled with several hundred people, Father Hidalgo issued an impassioned call to arms in defense of King and country and against French invasion. Hidalgo, Allende and Aldama, along with four thousand rebels (mostly indians and mestizos), occupied San Miguel el Grande where Allende’s regiment of the Queen's Provincial Dragoons soon joined the rebel cause. After a heated dispute between Hidalgo and Allende on who should take military command of the Insurgent army, Hidalgo reluctantly conceded to Allende's position and followed the Conspiracy’s original trajectory with Allende and the elder Aldama holding joint command, while Hidalgo served as second in command. [2]
On September 18 the rebels moved on the village of Celaya, which was quickly taken and as news of the revolt radiated out through the Bajío the rebel forces quickly grew tenfold. Allende was initially wary over many of the new recruits capacity for restraint, as the vast majority were indian or mestizo peasant laborers with little or no military training. Regardless of his reservations he decided to make a move on Guanajuato, the capital of the intendancy. The Insurgent leadership promised the Intendant of Guanajuato, Juan Antonio Riaño, that the citizenry would be treated humanely if he were to surrender immediately. Riaño instead vowed never to surrender, as he amassed several thousand people into the city's grain exchange (referred to as the Alhóndiga de Granaditas) and utilized the buildings imposing structure as a impromptu fortress until reinforcements from México City arrived. However, the hills that surrounded the granary gave the Insurgents a strategic edge and quickly turned the battle to their advantage. Coupled with the death of Riaño early in the battle the Insurgents overran the granary and eventually the whole city, but not before massacring great numbers of Spaniards, including many citizens who had already surrendered. Allende and Hidalgo’s efforts to stop the rampage proved futile, and by the end of the day 600 Spaniards and 2,000 Indians lay dead. Allende, angered at what many of his Insurgents had done, began to rein Hidalgo in, cognizant of the fact the priest's inflammatory rhetoric towards Spaniards had whipped many Insurgents into a frenzy of blood-lust and revenge. Hidalgo was made to understand that while his gift for inspirational oratory would continue to serve a valuable service in inviting more people to the rebel cause, further attempts to incite unnecessary violence would be met by Allende's fury. To that end Allende instituted a zero tolerance approach when it came to dealing with the spree of pillaging that arose in the wake of their occupation of the Bajío, which initially hurt soldier retention but had the intended consequence of quelling much of the violence.
Massacre of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato, September 28, 1810
Through October 1810, the insurgents made headway in the west, capturing both Guadalajara and Valladolid. At this point Allende was seen universally as the supreme commander of the Insurgent army, and with the aid of the Aldamas and his own son Indalecio began instilling proper military training and tactics as best as they could in preparation for a "true" engagement with Royalist forces, whom had hastily asserted control over Querétaro and San Luis Potosí. In Valladolid, the Insurgents were also empowered by more forces who were led by another militant priest, José María Morelos. Through private funds, Allende and his army, now over 75,000 strong, planned to strike the Royalists at their source--México City. [3] En route to the capital, Allende and his army met with a Royalist force under the command of General Torcuato Trujillo near Toluca, which itself was only 40 miles from México City. Viceroy Venegas had sent Trujillo and roughly 2,500 troops west toward the Toluca Valley in order to form a protective barrier against what the Royalists deemed a mob of rampaging barbarians, and to that end took up positions along the Sierra de las Cruces, which secured the two main roads to the capital. The battle for the sierras began early on the morning of October 30, and despite the numerical advantage the Insurgents failed twice to dislodge the Royalists from the high ground. At Hidalgo's urging the Insurgents sent emissaries to Trujillo to attempt to convince the Royalist leadership to surrender, but Trujillo refused outright to treat with rebels and ordered they be executed. The emissaries were all killed during the resultant melee, but to his misfortune the Royalist commander also suffered mortal wounds. The killings of the emissaries greatly angered and animated the Insurgents and on a third offensive that afternoon they finally managed to break the Royalists lines, securing Toluca and the road to the capital in the process. [4]
Now México City was literally within sight, and despite Hidalgo's reservations over attacking the capital, Allende sent emissaries to Viceroy Venegas imploring him to surrender the city peaceably, but Venegas rebuffed them on threats they be shot as traitors. On November 3 the Insurgents began engaging Royalist forces under the command of Augustín de Iturbide at the Battle of San Cosme, along the western edge of the city. In the meantime, Viceroy Venegas and other senior officials, fearing the worst, took flight to Veracruz. In street battles said to be some of the bloodiest in the war, the Insurgents slowly took the capital one city block at a time. With the few troops available to him in México City, Iturbide fought a battle of attrition against Allende, hoping to make seizure of the city a pyrrhic victory for the Insurgents, but he knew time was running out for a breakthrough to cut his losses and escape. Under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of November 6, Iturbide and several hundred of his remaining men retreated east to Puebla, and by daybreak had crossed Paso de Cortes with Puebla visible in the distance. There was some initial instances of looting early on in the day, but Allende maintained his draconian countermeasures to abate the worse excesses of his soldiers, simultaneously assuaging many capitalino fears regarding the Insurgents. [5] With the fighting dwindling down over the course of the afternoon, the leaders of the revolt convened at the Palace of the Viceroy and discussed their next course of action. The following day, Allende, Aldama, Hidalgo and Morelos decreed the formation of a "governing junta," along wth a constituent assembly comprised of representatives from all the intendancies and provinces which was to rule the Viceroyalty in the name of Fernando VII. [6] The declaration also promised several things, paramount among them the abolition of slavery and the despised tribute tax. At this point Allende was officially made Capitán-General del America Septentrional (En. Captain General of North America) which made him the highest ranking officer in the Insurgent army. Throughout December Allende continued the monumental task of training and professionalizing his predominantly green forces. Aiding in this venture was the rapid influx of fresh rebel troops from the west and north (a mix of criollos, indians and mestizos, as well as several thousand recently freed negros, or Africans), which brought the Insurgent forces to just below 100,000 fighting men.
Battle of Monte de las Cruces, October 30, 1810
Upon hearing of México City’s capitulation, an infuriated Viceroy Venegas ordered his remaining forces to the north, under the command of Colonel Félix María Calleja to fall back from San Luis Potosí to Veracruz, in order to better calibrate their next course of action. Venegas decided on a renewed assault on the Insurgents in early January 1811, in order to drive them out of México City and extinguish the flames of revolution before they spread any farther, though even that final point proved unavailing. By the start of the new year revolutionary juntas dominated the landscape from Central America to Tejas and beyond.
At the beginning of January, Allende lead the Insurgent army east, occupying Tlaxcala and Puebla in the process, although the latter proved difficult as a sizable contingent of Royalist forces had been left behind by Viceroy Venegas prior to México City’s surrender. With the vast majority of the Valley of México under the Insurgent banner, Allende’s next move was to march on Veracruz. Not only would capture of the strategic port greatly bolster the Insurgent cause, but Allende hoped to apprehend Viceroy Venegas, who proved to be unwilling to any compromise whatsoever. On January 8 the Royalists and Insurgents engaged eachother near the village of Santa Rosa Necoxtla, on the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre Oriental overlooking Veracruz, fighting late into the afternoon with no clear victor. The Insurgents possessed the field advantage of overlooking the enemy, however General Calleja proved to be a formidable opponent and held his lines over repeated Insurgent assaults. After further engagements along the slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental proved ineffective for either side, Allende and Calleja returned to Tlaxcala and Veracruz respectively. The remainder of January would be characterized by sporadic fighting along the eastern rim of the Valley of México and in the foothills east of Puebla.
Capitán-General de America, Ignacio Allende y Unzaga
Both sides used the remaining winter months as a general reprieve, as well as a moment to reflect and readjust battle plans for future campaigns. Calleja and Venegas began to move Loyalist forces from Central America and Cuba to the Altiplano in order to compensate for their own low numbers. [7] Although Venegas had petitioned the mother country for more troops and supplies just prior to the Insurgent seizure of México City, any help from Spain itself would be trickling in, if any help was sent at all. Spain itself was locked in a struggle for its own independence against Napoleonic France, and coupled with Insurgencies simultaneously breaking out in the other colonies such as New Granada, Perú and Río de la Plata, any help from Europe would be negligible for the foreseeable future.
Allende also began to take advantage of the lull in hostilities by further consolidating control of land already under Insurgent control. As of early February 1811 this included the Intendancies of Guadalajara and Valladolid, portions of Arizpe, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Extremadura, México, Puebla and Guanajuato, as well as the Provinces of Nuevo Santander, Nuevo León and Texas. Allende also sent Pascasio Ortiz de Letona as liaison to the United States. Upon his arrival in Washington D.C. nearly seven weeks later, Ortiz de Letona and his fellow diplomats consistently petitioned President James Madison and Secretary of State Robert Smith for any support they could provide for what they deemed the “struggle for freedom of all America.” Although Madison was receptive and sympathetic towards the plight of the independence movements sprouting up across Spanish America, his pressing international concerns at the time were primarily with the British. The United Kingdom was technically at peace with its former colony, but for years had upheld the practice of impressing American sailors caught at sea, despite numerous American protests. These events, coupled with Smith's replacement as Secretary of State with James Monroe that following April, made Letona’s progress for diplomatic recognition slow in coming. Meanwhile 1,900 miles away, the Insurgents were about to deal with a turn in their fortunes as the war for independence entered a challenging new phase.
[1] Ayuntamiento (or cabildo) is a Spanish term that translates to "city council" or "town hall."
[2] Point of Divergence: In OTL the argument began over Allende's disaproval of the looting of San Miguel, his hometown. The conspirators felt Hidalgo was the best "face" for the rebellion, as he was admired by many across all the various castes, and in the end he was chosen as Supreme Commander. This was a spur of the moment desicion, as the original plan gave more authority to Allende.
[3] OTL the Insurgents numbered over 80,000 at this point but Allende's draconian deterrants to pillaging and other acts of wonton violence have filtered out a significant chunk of potential fighters.
[4] In OTL Trujillo did order the deaths of the Insurgent emissaries during the ceasefire. This is probably the first "important" butterfly. This time around the Insurgents go in to negociate with some guns or some sort of cover, whatever the case may be, and manage to at least go down fighting. More importantly however is the fact that from this point onward things truly begin to deviate from OTL, as it was originally after the Battle of Monte de las Cruces that Hidalgo had his change of heart over attacking the capital and at the last minute turned his army around to Guadalajara.
[5] Capitalino/a is a term used to refer to someone from México City or "the capital."
[6] It's important to note that at this point in the game the conspirators aren't demanding independence yet, just greater autonomy and guarantees for some basic rights they understandibly feel are being infringed. That's why all of these early appeals both OTL and TTL were done in the name of Fernando VII.
[7] Atiplano is Spanish for plateau, in this case the Plateau of Anahuac or the Mexican Plateau, and is a reference to the Mexican "core" territory.
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