Good update, Arkhangelsk!
Thanks Archangel!
I'll try my very best to have the South America update up later today.
¡Por la Patria, Viva México Fuerte! A Mexican TL
- Thread starter Arkhangelsk
- Start date
-
- Tags
- strong mexico
Thanks Archangel!
I'll try my very best to have the South America update up later today.
Okay I can explain why Wednesday never happened. My folks decided on my only day off that was the day we would start are spring cleaning, and as of right now my PC is surrounded by two mountains of clothes and about 7 years worth of college junk. luckily tomorrow's my day off again so I'll resume asap.
South America and the Bellicose 50's: 1845-1860
Don't worry, we'll wait. RL takes precedence.
Thanks Archangel!
As it happens, I finally have this update done. Like the previous one it kinda paints with a wide brush, so to speak. Like I did with Europe, I'm covering what's been going on in South America since 1846, and catching it up to where the rest of the TL is at already (1860 or so). It's not much, but I hope you guys enjoy!
The Bellicose 50's: South America, 1845-1860
Domingo Nieto y Márquez, 44th Viceroy of Perú
Domingo Nieto y Márquez, 44th Viceroy of Perú
There is a myth commonly perpetuated regarding Spanish rule in 19th century Perú, that the Spanish enjoyed relative peace there in the thirty years after the rest of Spain’s American empire crumbled, all while metropolitan Spain crumbled on its descent into chaos. Never mind that Spain had “descended” about as much as it would go and that from about the mid-1840’s things began to improve, or the fact that the decrepit Viceroyalty of Perú remained heavily militarized even after the wars for independence. The myth was just that, and Perú was anything but peaceful.
From the moment the guns fell silent in northern Perú, the Spanish authorities knew they operated on borrowed time before the various beleaguered republics regained their strength and moved to attack and bring the viceroyalty into the republican fold. Efforts to maintain the advantage intensified as colonial authorities dealt with multiple rebellious fronts in Equador to the north and in Alto Perú to the south, stemming from a sense of disaffection with the inadequate compensation the majority of the Peruvian population felt they had received for their services to the Empire. The conservative tenures of the Viceroys José de la Serna and Pedro Antonio Olañeta made little headway in alleviating the disillusionment of the masses, and by the 1840’s there were fears that Spain’s final bastion in the Western Hemisphere would soon succumb to republicanism.[1]
In 1845 the government in Madrid appointed Jerónimo Valdés, a relative moderate and acquaintance of General Espartero, as Viceroy of Perú. The new Viceroy proved his worth soon after by recognizing the merits of a particular José Rodríguez Labandera. A native of Guayaquil, Labandera made history in 1837 with the invention of el Hipopótamo, the first submarine built and tested in South America. Labandera received praise for his endeavors from the viceregal authorities but little more, and after nearly giving up on the project found support from Viceroy Valdés, who promoted Labandera to the rank of First Lieutenant and commissioned the creation of more submarines to accompany a total retrofitting of the Viceroyalty’s navy.[2] Valdés’ fleet of Hipopótamos soon proved worth the investment when they aided in thwarting a Chilean attempt to arm rebels in the Department of Potosí in the early 1850’s.
José Rodríguez Labandera, next to a modern replica of the first Hipopótamo
Valdés also managed to placate many of the colony’s rebellious inhabitants by granting Equador the status of Captaincy General in 1847 (and with it more political autonomy), in conjunction with a vast upgrading of Guayaquil’s port facilities. Despite Valdés’ successes in expanding the navy, the resultant impact on the viceroyalty’s economy forced a hike in all taxes, including the centuries old diezmo. In late April 1855 riots broke out in the city of Arequipa, the “unofficial” capital of Alto Perú, which quickly escalated to engulf much of the highlands.[3] The region’s primarily indigenous and mestizo population had become frustrated with the imperial government, as they owed many of these people payments dating back to the revolutionary wars. Meanwhile in Arequipa, the emergence of a robust bourgeoisie (rivaling its long established counterpart in Lima) facilitated the region’s liberals to establish themselves and effectively coordinate rebel movements, forcing colonial authorities to focus all their attention to the south (and away from border skirmishes with Nueva Grenada that nearly turned hot).
In July both La Paz and Potosí fell to the rebels, subsequently bringing the vast majority of Alto Perú’s population under the rebel flag. By this stage a republic was declared in Charcas and pleas of support began filtering down south into Chile and Argentina, which was cause for panic to the Spanish establishment. After heavy fighting south of the port of Pisco resulted in a rebel victory, the path to Lima seemed all but unobstructed. By contemporary accounts, it seemed as if all of the city’s Spaniards were fleeing in all directions, akin to rats escaping a sinking ship. Viceroy Valdés himself led Spanish forces in a final attempt to halt the more numerous rebels from taking Lima near the village of Chilea. Valdés’ heroics did less to inspire his troops and ultimately resulted in his humiliating capture by the rebels. Lima seemed as good as secure, but as the city came within site, so too did thousands of reinforcements and their commanding officer, General Domingo Nieto, all encamped outside the city.
The ensuing battle saw the rebel leadership swiftly killed in combat and the rank-and-file rebels thrown into disarray. In October more reinforcements arrived from Spain, which bolstered General Nieto’s force, aiding in his victory at Arequipa several weeks later. General Nieto could have easily crushed the rebellion from here, but in a shocking turn opted to rather except a ceasefire agreement from the remaining rebels. This infuriated Viceroy Valdés, who was naturally feeling vindictive over his treatment at rebel hands, but General Nieto briskly disregarded him and instead engaged the rebels in a diplomatic fashion to put all hostilities to an end. The ceasefire, formally reached in December, was the first in a handful of events that would come to constitute the Peace of Cuzco. In conjunction with the various peace agreements made the following year, the colonial authorities made the first of several back payments to veterans and others from the Revolutionary Wars. The Spanish also agreed to shoulder some of the cost of repairing the damage done to Alto Perú.
Juan III, King of Spain
At the behest of the government in Madrid, General Nieto accompanied the three dozen men who composed the recently enlarged Peruvian delegation to the Cortes Generales, where he would advocate strongly for an expansion of the Royal Armada, which had remained in a pitiful state since the loss of most of Spain’s American colonies. Nieto cautioned the Spanish government that if it wanted to continue to hold onto the remainder of empire it still possessed, a powerful Navy was absolutely vital. King Juan III himself even saw fit to have General Nieto oversee many of these new reforms carried out, naming the fifty-five year old general as the 44th Viceroy of Perú in 1858, the very first South American to ever take the post.
To the north, the Republic of Nueva Granada was in the midst of a violent struggle with one of the former Venezuelan states. In late 1856 Nueva Granada invaded the neighboring Republic of Zulia over the latter’s failure to restrict banditry and lawlessness from slipping over their common border. Zulian President Nicolas Patiño attempted first to lead the defense of his nation, but the moment General Sucre’s army barreled through his defensive lines with apparent ease, Patiño himself requested military assistance from the rump Republic of Venezuela. General Sucre’s army managed easily enough to occupy the coastal plain encompassing Lake Maracaibo through early 1857, before being halted both at the Battle of Chama Pass in the Venezuelan Andes and the Battle of Urumaco due west of Coro.
One year into the war and Zulia, despite all odds, remained independent, albeit barely. Patiño had relocated to Barquisimeto as his seat of power, while a three-way fight between Zulian, Venezuelan and Neogranadine forces managed to do little beyond drenching the arid coastlands with blood. Bogotá was growing ever more skeptical with General Sucre’s pace and began to question the need to continue what seemed to be turning into a quagmire. In a bold move, General Sucre, leading a reduced entourage of men, and defying orders from Bogotá, marched in the midst of the wet season down the Orinoco River into territory claimed by Venezuela but controlled by the renegade State of Orinoco. The region had little in the way of infrastructure or resources, though its proximity to Caracas allowed for the possibility of a second front to form. Once Sucre reached the regional capital at Angostura, he compelled the leadership there to allow Neogranadine forces to use the region as a base to attack Venezuela, and in exchange Nueva Granada would recognize Orinoco as an independent republic. The government in Bogotá held mixed feelings over the out-right recognition of Orinoco as an independent nation, as it held claims to all of former Venezuela, though their fears were soon placated by Sucre’s seizure of the ports of Barcelona and Cumaná in early 1859.
Carlos Antonio López, President of Paraguay
Far to the south, turmoil was also brewing in the Platine Basin. The landlocked Republic of Paraguay, after a period of economic uncertainty in the 1830’s, became self-sustaining under the presidency of Carlos Antonio López. Despite his dictatorial tendencies, President López managed to modernize the Paraguayan Army and the country’s infrastructure networks. President López’s new army was first put to the test when war erupted between Paraguay and the Riograndense Republic in 1858. Within the span of about nine months the Paraguayan Army of 55,000 men had managed to occupy most of the country, with Porto Alegre’s capitulation in February 1859.[4] Paraguay’s victory sent alarm bells ringing throughout the region, as very few had anticipated such a short war. As a result, relations with the Empire of Brazil all but soured, as the Empire still held claim to the Riograndense Republic, which to the Brazilians was no more than a renegade province.
While the war had proven to be an overall success, it also highlighted several issues that easily could have compromised the war effort, such as the Paraguayan officer corps’ lack of experience, as well as poor logistical planning before and during the war. To that end President López travelled to Montevideo in June to speak with José María Artigas, a member of the Argentine Congress sympathetic to Paraguay and in fact a leading figure in the legislature’s pro-Paraguayan faction.[5] Artigas’ influence proved enough that both nations agreed to form a non-aggression pact later that year. This allowed Paraguay to focus solely on its northern border, while ensuring that the Argentines remain neutral and thus prevent Paraguay’s enclosure in the event of war with Brazil.
In complete disregard to the threats coming out of Rio de Janeiro, Paraguay proceeded to organize sham elections in the autumn of 1860, where a supposed majority of Riograndense citizens voted to join with Paraguay in political union. President López understood the risk he was taking, as the Brazilian government threatened war if Paraguay went forward with annexation. Towards the end of the year, after President López rebuffed the latest ultimatum from Rio de Janeiro, war had become all but certain, and only needed the faintest spark to ignite.
The Paraguayan Army in Rio Grande do Sul, 1858
That spark would appear in the port city of Desterro, when pro-Brazilian rallies were brutally crushed by the Paraguayan Army on November 18, 1860.[6] Several nights of violent riots ensued before a shaky peace was imposed on the citizenry. The Brazilian reaction was immediate and without doubt. Brazilian parliamentarians expressed their outrage in impassioned speeches calling for the evacuation of the Paraguayan military from Rio Grande do Sul, or to otherwise face annihilation. Two weeks later the Empire of Brazil formally declared war on Paraguay, ordering Admiral Francisco Manuel Barroso to occupy Desterro and blockade the Riograndense coast while the Brazilian army simultaneously invaded Paraguay proper by crossing the Uruguay River and laying siege to Itapúa in early December. Emperor Pedro II himself visited the front to boost morale, promising that the war would be over within the year and that “Brazil would bask in the light of victory once more.” To his misfortune, he would be proven wrong, on both counts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
[1] I chose to have the Viceroyalty continue on, with the two prominent Spanish generals from the Revolutionary Wars serving stints as Viceroy...though they both end up sucking at the job.
[2] Picking up from this post.
[3] Same as above.
[4] Remember, TTL's Paraguay is not the same Paraguay you had prior to the War of the Triple Alliance. In TTL Paraguay is more integrated into the global trading network, so on top of managing to achieve more or less what he did OTL, López has a better prepared nation ready to face a weaker Brazil.
[5] One of José Gervasio Artigas' sons, TTL he lives to become an Argentine congressman (OTL he died in 1847). He inherited his father's gratitude towards Paraguay, which allows for Argentine neutrality in the upcoming conflict.
[6] Desterro is the former name for Florianópolis.
Last edited:
Haha you got that right!
The next two updates will deal with the beginnings of the American Civil War, followed by a return to what's going on in Mexico. After that I think I'll return to South America, and perhaps dedicate a single update to TTL's Paraguayan War.
I finally caught up! Reading 37 pages in a tiny cell phone screen takes a long time lol.
This is an amazing TL, man. It's really nice to read about a Mexico that doesn't exist just to be the bitch of the USA/CSA/France. Yours is one of the TLs that inspired me to make my own Mexico TL, centered around El Porfiriato.
Keep it up, man! Take us into the Second Mexican-American War and beyond!
This is an amazing TL, man. It's really nice to read about a Mexico that doesn't exist just to be the bitch of the USA/CSA/France. Yours is one of the TLs that inspired me to make my own Mexico TL, centered around El Porfiriato.
Keep it up, man! Take us into the Second Mexican-American War and beyond!
Thanks so much for the kind words man, I'm honored to have inspired a Mexico TL, there are too few of them on this board.
I'll make sure to check out your timeline as well. Hopefully I can get all the way to the present day, sooon! lolNow to get us in the spirit of the next update, here's a little map thing I whipped up!
Thanks! Essentially it's not very different from you're normal territory, the only major difference being a department has slight more autonomy over certain things such as defense. TTL there's a stronger movement within Oregon for independence, so they got the department designation to placate them.
Department of Oregon seems to have lost a top chunk....foreboding perhpas?
Thanks so much for the kind words man, I'm honored to have inspired a Mexico TL, there are too few of them on this board.
Now to get us in the spirit of the next update, here's a little map thing I whipped up!
Department. Sounds awesome tbh.
Well the border looks like it continues up. Looks like its just been cut off the map.
All Hail Presidente Don Carlos Antonio López!
All hail Carlos Antonio! May his progeny never succeed him, lol
Forboding is afoot alright, but as far as this map is concerned, Darth got it. This current map I made using a base of another map I made from later on in the TL, and the base map I used had Oregon all smushed off to the side, and I was too lazy to draw the rest
Thanks!
it's a bit of a call back to what Mexico did with California in the 1830's...and I agree, it sounds awesome Something happens in Paraguay!
And I wonder what's going to happen in the long term for Peru. Don't feel obligated to spoil it for me though. It's just something I'm wondering - delayed independence, a gradual loosening of their union with Spain, etc.
Nice map too.
I knooow right!
I remember way back when I originally was just going to have Argentina gobble it up at some point, but then I realized that would be boring. LolOki dokie!
But yes I do have special plans for Peru. I'm running with the Hispanophone Canada idea so far, but we have to remember of course, Peru is not Canada, so we'll see what happens. Thankies for the map
I've been having a lot of fun with Illustrator lately!Glad you asked that question! In relation to OTL, this Oregon has more settlers (due to earlier American settlement schemes and just the US's lack of the OTL southwest). Also, after the Mexican-American War, a good chunk of the American settlers living in Alta California moved north...I'd say as of 1857 the population of Oregon stands at about 50-60,000.
As for the other western territories, the west bank of the Mississippi is thoroughly settled, though Cimarron and Kansas Territories are the only ones with any meaningful semblance of a settler population. Kansas would probably be a state already, but the Union has bigger problems on its plate. Nebraska Territory is mostly still Indians and the occasional trader. Also, issues in Florida which I haven't revealed in the TL yet has resulted in its delayed statehood, and many people who would have settled in Florida now call Minnesota home.
Bio#5: John Brown
Hey kids, it's bio time!!! This week's target is a guy you all should be very familiar with. I honestly don't know why I never brought up John Brown when I posted about Bleeding Kansas, I think I just slipped up in my mind Hopefully you guys enjoy it, I do have...interesting plans for this dude, so stay tuned!
John Brown (1800- )
Daguerreotype of John Brown, ca. 1846
Descended from some of the first Puritans to settle in New England, John Brown was born in rural northern Connecticut to Owen and Ruth Brown on May 9, 1800. At age five his father moved the family to Ohio, where he opened a tannery. When John turned sixteen he moved back east to Massachusetts where he hoped to become a Congregationalist minister, but due to lack of funds he was unable to complete his education and subsequently returned to Ohio to work in his father’s tannery. Not long after John soon married and moved his new family east to Pennsylvania, where he followed in his father’s footsteps and began his own tanning business.
After several years of successful business, Brown would experience the first of several tragedies. After losing two of his children in 1829 to illness, his wife followed after suffering a miscarriage. Three more of his children would perish from cholera in the late 1830’s and to cap it all off, bankruptcy in the face of the nation’s worsening economic condition ensuing from military defeat at the hands of Britain. During this time Brown traveled to various points in the Old Northwest, becoming acquainted with many of the region’s abolitionists and even developing a reputation of his own when he defended one of his abolitionist friends from pro-slavery ruffians. Suddenly Brown began receiving death threats, and to protect himself and his family moved back to New England, this time to Springfield, Massachusetts. It was at the city’s renowned “Free Church,” one the country’s most high-profile congregations for abolitionists (as well as an important stop in the clandestine Underground Railroad), that Brown would meet many a famous black abolitionist, such as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman.
By the early 1850’s Brown had become an ardent abolitionist, entrenching his reputation among southerners further by passionately defying the fugitive slave statutes passed by Congress and aiding slaves in their perilous trek north to Canada. When sectionalism and warfare brought Kansas Territory to its knees, Brown and several of his sons traveled west from Massachusetts to the heart of the violence in Kansas in order to rid the territory of the “stain of slavery and return Kansas to the grace of freedom and liberty.” Aside from killing many slavers and their allies, Brown was notable for his work on what was considered the “second underground railroad,” or as it was dubbed by Brown, the Liberty Road. While not as well known or traversed as the first secret passage, Liberty Road ultimately allowed thousands of fugitive slaves to escape to the freedom of northern Mexico (at a time when many old routes through Texas and from Cuba were becoming less safe) where they could disperse through the vast republic without fear.
In 1856 Brown set into motion a plan to kick off a massive slave insurrection in the South, namely by marching into Virginia with some men loyal to him and arming the slaves they freed with weapons, which would (they hoped) precipitate the end of slavery once and for all. Unfortunately for Brown, one of his fellow conspirators exposed the half-baked plan to the authorities, which subsequently moved to apprehend him and his sons. Two of Brown’s sons would be captured, but would face no charges, all while their father (under an assumed alias) managed to escape by stowing away on a Spanish merchant vessel intent for Veracruz. Upon his arrival, John Brown would hear of Seward’s victory at the polls, followed several weeks later by the secession of nearly all of the southern states. His time in Veracruz also exposed him to the city’s large Black Cuban émigrés, many of whom were eager to return to their homeland and liberate it from those malditos yanquis.
It was also here that Brown would come to know the famed Cuban freedom fighter Gregorio de Cortés.[1] With the latter’s help, Brown would reshape his plans for a slave insurrection in the United States, beginning with Cuba and its large (and needless to say better prepared) population of slaves and free blacks. In early 1858 both men, accompanied by an assortment of exiled Cubans and sympathetic Mexicans, would sail from Mexico to Cuba, just as Havana’s exceedingly small Anglo population celebrated the island’s ascension into the newly formed Southern Confederation as a state (undoubtedly a concession Cuba's support in this experiment in state-building).[2] Well aware of the truly horrific conditions perpetuated by the Anglos and their few Spaniard allies on the island’s slaves, both men felt it was only appropriate that Cuba become the cornerstone of their revolution.
Notes:
[1] Fictional character, you'll be hearing more of him soon.
[2] Ugh, please can someone help me come up with a more original name for TTL's Confederacy, I'm kinda stumped.
Hopefully you guys enjoy it, I do have...interesting plans for this dude, so stay tuned!John Brown (1800- )
Daguerreotype of John Brown, ca. 1846
Descended from some of the first Puritans to settle in New England, John Brown was born in rural northern Connecticut to Owen and Ruth Brown on May 9, 1800. At age five his father moved the family to Ohio, where he opened a tannery. When John turned sixteen he moved back east to Massachusetts where he hoped to become a Congregationalist minister, but due to lack of funds he was unable to complete his education and subsequently returned to Ohio to work in his father’s tannery. Not long after John soon married and moved his new family east to Pennsylvania, where he followed in his father’s footsteps and began his own tanning business.
After several years of successful business, Brown would experience the first of several tragedies. After losing two of his children in 1829 to illness, his wife followed after suffering a miscarriage. Three more of his children would perish from cholera in the late 1830’s and to cap it all off, bankruptcy in the face of the nation’s worsening economic condition ensuing from military defeat at the hands of Britain. During this time Brown traveled to various points in the Old Northwest, becoming acquainted with many of the region’s abolitionists and even developing a reputation of his own when he defended one of his abolitionist friends from pro-slavery ruffians. Suddenly Brown began receiving death threats, and to protect himself and his family moved back to New England, this time to Springfield, Massachusetts. It was at the city’s renowned “Free Church,” one the country’s most high-profile congregations for abolitionists (as well as an important stop in the clandestine Underground Railroad), that Brown would meet many a famous black abolitionist, such as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman.
By the early 1850’s Brown had become an ardent abolitionist, entrenching his reputation among southerners further by passionately defying the fugitive slave statutes passed by Congress and aiding slaves in their perilous trek north to Canada. When sectionalism and warfare brought Kansas Territory to its knees, Brown and several of his sons traveled west from Massachusetts to the heart of the violence in Kansas in order to rid the territory of the “stain of slavery and return Kansas to the grace of freedom and liberty.” Aside from killing many slavers and their allies, Brown was notable for his work on what was considered the “second underground railroad,” or as it was dubbed by Brown, the Liberty Road. While not as well known or traversed as the first secret passage, Liberty Road ultimately allowed thousands of fugitive slaves to escape to the freedom of northern Mexico (at a time when many old routes through Texas and from Cuba were becoming less safe) where they could disperse through the vast republic without fear.
In 1856 Brown set into motion a plan to kick off a massive slave insurrection in the South, namely by marching into Virginia with some men loyal to him and arming the slaves they freed with weapons, which would (they hoped) precipitate the end of slavery once and for all. Unfortunately for Brown, one of his fellow conspirators exposed the half-baked plan to the authorities, which subsequently moved to apprehend him and his sons. Two of Brown’s sons would be captured, but would face no charges, all while their father (under an assumed alias) managed to escape by stowing away on a Spanish merchant vessel intent for Veracruz. Upon his arrival, John Brown would hear of Seward’s victory at the polls, followed several weeks later by the secession of nearly all of the southern states. His time in Veracruz also exposed him to the city’s large Black Cuban émigrés, many of whom were eager to return to their homeland and liberate it from those malditos yanquis.
It was also here that Brown would come to know the famed Cuban freedom fighter Gregorio de Cortés.[1] With the latter’s help, Brown would reshape his plans for a slave insurrection in the United States, beginning with Cuba and its large (and needless to say better prepared) population of slaves and free blacks. In early 1858 both men, accompanied by an assortment of exiled Cubans and sympathetic Mexicans, would sail from Mexico to Cuba, just as Havana’s exceedingly small Anglo population celebrated the island’s ascension into the newly formed Southern Confederation as a state (undoubtedly a concession Cuba's support in this experiment in state-building).[2] Well aware of the truly horrific conditions perpetuated by the Anglos and their few Spaniard allies on the island’s slaves, both men felt it was only appropriate that Cuba become the cornerstone of their revolution.
Notes:
[1] Fictional character, you'll be hearing more of him soon.
[2] Ugh, please can someone help me come up with a more original name for TTL's Confederacy, I'm kinda stumped.
I always love some bio-time!
Sure! Here are some serious and semi-serious proposals:
- Confederate Republics of America;
- Confederation of Columbia;
- Union of Cisdixia;
- Bond of the Southern Republics;
- Independent States of America;
- Alliance of Democratic American States;
- Coalition of Southern America;
- Union of American States;
- Third American Union;
- Untrodden States of Americap);
- Columbian Bond;
- Cisdixian Confederation.
I hope you can find some inspiration in this quick list of mine.
Sure! Here are some serious and semi-serious proposals:
- Confederate Republics of America;
- Confederation of Columbia;
- Union of Cisdixia;
- Bond of the Southern Republics;
- Independent States of America;
- Alliance of Democratic American States;
- Coalition of Southern America;
- Union of American States;
- Third American Union;
- Untrodden States of America
p);- Columbian Bond;
- Cisdixian Confederation.
I hope you can find some inspiration in this quick list of mine.
