From Mexico to the World 2.0: A TL
- Thread starter Not Henry G.
- Start date
My biggest apologies to everyone!
This TL isn't dead in any way. It's just that life got in the way. To mention a few things: people think I can fix laptops for some reason and now I have three waiting to be repaired and, since one of those is my grandma's, I can't just say no so I'm teaching myself how to do it. Plus I got myself a new job and that takes away most of my day.
That said, the next update should be out no later than this weekend.
Thanks to everyone for their patience!
This TL isn't dead in any way. It's just that life got in the way. To mention a few things: people think I can fix laptops for some reason and now I have three waiting to be repaired and, since one of those is my grandma's, I can't just say no so I'm teaching myself how to do it. Plus I got myself a new job and that takes away most of my day.
That said, the next update should be out no later than this weekend.
Thanks to everyone for their patience!
It's OK, don't worry about it.
You have a life outside of this place, and that's fine, since writing is something that should come out of your soul, and needs to be given its due time.
The next update is finally ready! I'll go over it before I post it later today, though, to make sure it's the best quality I can make it. This one's a bit trickier than the rest.
After two weeks, here's the next update!
Contrary to the myth of Diaz walking to Congress with the fateful document, the Diaz Plan was actually a series of reforms passed during 1891.
These reforms can be roughly categorized in three types. The first, and most radical, were the tax reforms affecting previously untouchable groups: the many foreign companies in Mexico and specially the haciendados.
In order to promote foreign investment in Mexico Diaz had used tax waivers and other incentives, the industrialization they would bring to the country payment enough [1]. The new reforms took some of those privileges away, just enough for Mexico to start filling its coffers.
More dangerous were the haciendados. Essentially fiefs within Mexico, the relationship with the government was a 'live and let live”. The new reforms affected the status quo, requiring them to pay taxes higher as well as other things. Messing with either group would have been a death sentence, sure to cause a revolution, but Diaz gambled that in the current climate it would work.
As history shows, he was completely correct. The European nations, hoping to beat the United States in influence in Mexico, readily accepted the new taxes, while the haciendados also agreed out of either true patriotism or fear of being though of as traitors by a population still drunk on patriotism.
Thus, Mexico's coffers began filling with money, which would be useful on the years ahead.
The next reforms were on the Mexican Armed Forces. General Bernardo Reyes, hero of the Baja California War, was appointed Secretary of War and Navy [2]. He quickly began drafting plans to increase the Army to 50,000 men, along with establishing Military and Reserve schools.
Additionally, the fearsome Rurales force was to be massively expanded as a police force to truly pacify the country, and plans were made to use volunteers rather than forcefully conscripting bandits [3].
Finally there were the Navy reforms. Considered the least important branch of the armed forces, it received the least amount of attention. Nonetheless enough resources were set aside to make sure it was modernized. A few naval schools were established, and a couple of cruisers were purchased.
In order to accommodate the vastly increased armed forces, a series of industry reforms were passed. Road improvements were planned, and the railroad lines were increased, with a particular focus on a line connecting Baja California to the rest of the country [4].
In addition, buildings housing the new military, reserve and naval schools were scheduled. Finally, plans were made to start building factories in the future, in order to reduce Mexico's reliance on imports for weapons, equipment, and the like.
[1] It all began with a 70-year tax waiver to France.
[2] OTL he was appointed in 1900, and only lasted about 2 years in the position.
[3] They didn't switch from bandits until much later OTL.
[4] Again, much earlier than OTL.
Next time, we'll see how Mexico develops with the Diaz Plan in action.
The Diaz Plan
Contrary to the myth of Diaz walking to Congress with the fateful document, the Diaz Plan was actually a series of reforms passed during 1891.
These reforms can be roughly categorized in three types. The first, and most radical, were the tax reforms affecting previously untouchable groups: the many foreign companies in Mexico and specially the haciendados.
In order to promote foreign investment in Mexico Diaz had used tax waivers and other incentives, the industrialization they would bring to the country payment enough [1]. The new reforms took some of those privileges away, just enough for Mexico to start filling its coffers.
More dangerous were the haciendados. Essentially fiefs within Mexico, the relationship with the government was a 'live and let live”. The new reforms affected the status quo, requiring them to pay taxes higher as well as other things. Messing with either group would have been a death sentence, sure to cause a revolution, but Diaz gambled that in the current climate it would work.
As history shows, he was completely correct. The European nations, hoping to beat the United States in influence in Mexico, readily accepted the new taxes, while the haciendados also agreed out of either true patriotism or fear of being though of as traitors by a population still drunk on patriotism.
Thus, Mexico's coffers began filling with money, which would be useful on the years ahead.
The next reforms were on the Mexican Armed Forces. General Bernardo Reyes, hero of the Baja California War, was appointed Secretary of War and Navy [2]. He quickly began drafting plans to increase the Army to 50,000 men, along with establishing Military and Reserve schools.
Additionally, the fearsome Rurales force was to be massively expanded as a police force to truly pacify the country, and plans were made to use volunteers rather than forcefully conscripting bandits [3].
Finally there were the Navy reforms. Considered the least important branch of the armed forces, it received the least amount of attention. Nonetheless enough resources were set aside to make sure it was modernized. A few naval schools were established, and a couple of cruisers were purchased.
In order to accommodate the vastly increased armed forces, a series of industry reforms were passed. Road improvements were planned, and the railroad lines were increased, with a particular focus on a line connecting Baja California to the rest of the country [4].
In addition, buildings housing the new military, reserve and naval schools were scheduled. Finally, plans were made to start building factories in the future, in order to reduce Mexico's reliance on imports for weapons, equipment, and the like.
[1] It all began with a 70-year tax waiver to France.
[2] OTL he was appointed in 1900, and only lasted about 2 years in the position.
[3] They didn't switch from bandits until much later OTL.
[4] Again, much earlier than OTL.
Next time, we'll see how Mexico develops with the Diaz Plan in action.
A bit of an Author's Note:
I know that for some of you this is just retreading the old TL. I tried to add a bit more detail, but it's essentially the same. Next chapter will be a bit more detailed, including the men who will play a big part in this Mexico's history.
I know that for some of you this is just retreading the old TL. I tried to add a bit more detail, but it's essentially the same. Next chapter will be a bit more detailed, including the men who will play a big part in this Mexico's history.
Of course, TTL the Mondragon will be produced in Mexico, along with a few other things...
My biggest apologies to everyone on the late update, these past few weeks I've been taking care of my nephew and that takes a lot of my free time away. I'll try to get these up a bit faster.
Apologies out of the way, enjoy the update!
The first year of Mexico after the war was rather uneventful, in contrast with the “mad dash toward modernity” many textbooks talk about.
During 1891 the many reforms of the Diaz plan were passed, as well as the first appointments that would mark the late Porfiriato. As stated before Bernardo Reyes, governor of Nuevo Leon and hero of the Baja California War, was appointed Secretary of War and Navy; later on the year the Minister of Finance Luis Mier y Teran passed away, and Jose Yves Limantour was appointed his sucessor. Limantour would soon prove his worth, coming to be known as El Mago de los Numeros, the Magician of Numbers [1]
Progress was also slow due to unexpected circumstances. That year a drought in the country caused a massive fail of harvests and, combined with a drop in the value of silver (of which Mexico was the main export); Diaz's decision to import food for the masses, made mainly to prevent a rebellion [2], had far-reaching consequences.
The Mexican elections of 1892 saw Diaz unsurprisingly re-elected. What was surprising, however, was that even if he hadn't rigged the election he would have been elected anyway. The patriotism in the country had been fueled by his choice of importing food the previous year, the people believing the government now cared about them, that Mexico was finally the mother of Mexicans [3].
It was in this year that the improvements to the country began to speed up, particularly on the Baja California railroad after the Laguna Salada earthquake [4]. The year also saw the first of the new military schools open as Chapultepec Castle returned to its historic role of education after so many years, Diaz and the rest of the government moving to nearby Rancho La Hormiga [5].
1893 followed the same slow improvement path. Telephone, telegram, and railroad lines little the little connected the nation; near the end of the year, President Diaz nailed the last spike on the line finally connecting Baja California to the rest of the country in a widely lauded ceremony.
Of note is the role the growing Armed Forces played in Mexican daily life, and not in the expected way. Thanks to the new taxes money began filling Mexico's coffers. This increased the soldiers' pay to livable levels and, coupled with the slowly decreasing corruption [6] (either out of patriotism or by Reyes “promoting” the bigger offenders) drove countless young men into the ranks. This in turn led to a shortage of farmhands in many haciendas, forcing the owners to increase the pay from basically slavery to something also livable in order to keep their workers, thus also increasing the standard of living of the people.
By the time 1894 arrived Mexico was finally on the path to become a proud nation, a path it would march down faster when a man named Jose Marti landed on the port of Veracruz...
[1] Four years earlier than OTL, this will be a great asset for TTL Mexico as Limantour did turn out to be an excellent Minister of Finance.
[2] OTL the investments also went down, there was no relief and the rebellion was rather large. Here, because Europe wants to take advantage of the Mexico-US falling out, investments are large.
[3] “Mexico, mother of foreigners and step-mother of Mexicans” was a popular saying of Mexicans during the Porfiriato.
[4] OTL it really didn't matter much for Mexico.
[5] OTL Los Pinos, the actual President's home. I want a new name for the place but can't come up with anything. Suggestions would be much appreciated.
[6] Corruption in the Mexican army particularly was bad, the already small pay going into the general's pockets instead of the soldiers, leading to many desertions.
Apologies out of the way, enjoy the update!
Mexico 1891-1893
The first year of Mexico after the war was rather uneventful, in contrast with the “mad dash toward modernity” many textbooks talk about.
During 1891 the many reforms of the Diaz plan were passed, as well as the first appointments that would mark the late Porfiriato. As stated before Bernardo Reyes, governor of Nuevo Leon and hero of the Baja California War, was appointed Secretary of War and Navy; later on the year the Minister of Finance Luis Mier y Teran passed away, and Jose Yves Limantour was appointed his sucessor. Limantour would soon prove his worth, coming to be known as El Mago de los Numeros, the Magician of Numbers [1]
Progress was also slow due to unexpected circumstances. That year a drought in the country caused a massive fail of harvests and, combined with a drop in the value of silver (of which Mexico was the main export); Diaz's decision to import food for the masses, made mainly to prevent a rebellion [2], had far-reaching consequences.
The Mexican elections of 1892 saw Diaz unsurprisingly re-elected. What was surprising, however, was that even if he hadn't rigged the election he would have been elected anyway. The patriotism in the country had been fueled by his choice of importing food the previous year, the people believing the government now cared about them, that Mexico was finally the mother of Mexicans [3].
It was in this year that the improvements to the country began to speed up, particularly on the Baja California railroad after the Laguna Salada earthquake [4]. The year also saw the first of the new military schools open as Chapultepec Castle returned to its historic role of education after so many years, Diaz and the rest of the government moving to nearby Rancho La Hormiga [5].
1893 followed the same slow improvement path. Telephone, telegram, and railroad lines little the little connected the nation; near the end of the year, President Diaz nailed the last spike on the line finally connecting Baja California to the rest of the country in a widely lauded ceremony.
Of note is the role the growing Armed Forces played in Mexican daily life, and not in the expected way. Thanks to the new taxes money began filling Mexico's coffers. This increased the soldiers' pay to livable levels and, coupled with the slowly decreasing corruption [6] (either out of patriotism or by Reyes “promoting” the bigger offenders) drove countless young men into the ranks. This in turn led to a shortage of farmhands in many haciendas, forcing the owners to increase the pay from basically slavery to something also livable in order to keep their workers, thus also increasing the standard of living of the people.
By the time 1894 arrived Mexico was finally on the path to become a proud nation, a path it would march down faster when a man named Jose Marti landed on the port of Veracruz...
[1] Four years earlier than OTL, this will be a great asset for TTL Mexico as Limantour did turn out to be an excellent Minister of Finance.
[2] OTL the investments also went down, there was no relief and the rebellion was rather large. Here, because Europe wants to take advantage of the Mexico-US falling out, investments are large.
[3] “Mexico, mother of foreigners and step-mother of Mexicans” was a popular saying of Mexicans during the Porfiriato.
[4] OTL it really didn't matter much for Mexico.
[5] OTL Los Pinos, the actual President's home. I want a new name for the place but can't come up with anything. Suggestions would be much appreciated.
[6] Corruption in the Mexican army particularly was bad, the already small pay going into the general's pockets instead of the soldiers, leading to many desertions.
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I'm glad to see this is back! Don't worry about being slow at updating; real life comes first and I'm sure we all can understand if you don't have time to write post. Good update. It's good that the quality of life of the Mexicans is improving, though...
Those are some serious efficency problems... I mean, more than one hundred years for one railroad line?
Those are some serious efficency problems... I mean, more than one hundred years for one railroad line?
By 2016 they'll finally catch up to 1914 United States lolI'm glad to see this is back! Don't worry about being slow at updating; real life comes first and I'm sure we all can understand if you don't have time to write post. Good update. It's good that the quality of life of the Mexicans is improving, though...
Those are some serious efficency problems... I mean, more than one hundred years for one railroad line?
Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been working on a project that will hopefully get me a promotion at work and that's taken all my time
Well, there's a bit of a break in my work project, so time for an update!
In the second half of the nineteenth century the island of Cuba, inspired by Latin America's successful revolutions, began her own bid for independence.
The first attempt was the conflict known as the Ten Years War, sparked by anger at the lack of reforms in the island. The conflict was a catastrophe for the islanders, losing roughly 300,000 men to gain only a few reforms. From 1879-1880 the Little War occurred, started by leaders from the previous war who refused to accept the peace offer. Due to a lack of foreign help, leading to shortages of weapons and ammo, and an exhausted population who simply wanted peace, the effort rebellion collapsed [1].
The third and final attempt would be a far cry from the earlier revolts. Jose Marti, a leader in the upcoming war of independence, traveled across the United States and Latin America in order to gather support for Cuba's independence.
In the United States he found an unnervingly large annexation movement, despite President Cleveland's promises to avoid another “reckless Baja incident [2]. His attempts to gather support from the government also failed as the nation was currently focused on the “Hawaii Standoff” [3].
In early 1894 Marti landed in Veracruz and visited President Diaz [4] to ask for his support. Though the conversation was sadly never recorded, it is at least known that Marti reminded Diaz about Mexico's place as the “Protector of Latin America” [5]. What is known is that a week after Marti's visit Diaz agreed to support the Cubans.
Throughout the year Mexican ships traveled covertly to the island, carrying the weapons that were being slowly phased out of the Mexican Armed Forces. Also welcomed by the rebels were the many Mexican tourists, who all just so happened to be officers and soldiers.
By January of the following year Marti and the other conspirators, feeling confident about their chances and conscious of the Spanish's growing awareness of the plan, decided it was finally time to act.
On February 7, 1895, the Cuban War of Independence began [6].
[1] OTL Events.
[2] TTL the Baja California War/Filibuster is a big campaign issue in the 1892 elections.
[3] I will get back to this on an update about the United States.
[4] OTL he visited Mexico until around July. Because the country is stronger TTL he goes earlier.
[5] Mexico was known as the Protector of Latin America because, until the Spanish-American War where the US finally became great power-tier, Diaz would fight American attempts to take advantage of Latin America economically and such. This is a sort of important bit that will come back in a later update.
[6] A couple of weeks earlier than OTL.
I'm thinking of making some narrative-style chapters, to help with the worldbuilding and because I need to set up some stuff for when I get to the 20th Century. What do you guys think?
The Road to Independence
In the second half of the nineteenth century the island of Cuba, inspired by Latin America's successful revolutions, began her own bid for independence.
The first attempt was the conflict known as the Ten Years War, sparked by anger at the lack of reforms in the island. The conflict was a catastrophe for the islanders, losing roughly 300,000 men to gain only a few reforms. From 1879-1880 the Little War occurred, started by leaders from the previous war who refused to accept the peace offer. Due to a lack of foreign help, leading to shortages of weapons and ammo, and an exhausted population who simply wanted peace, the effort rebellion collapsed [1].
The third and final attempt would be a far cry from the earlier revolts. Jose Marti, a leader in the upcoming war of independence, traveled across the United States and Latin America in order to gather support for Cuba's independence.
In the United States he found an unnervingly large annexation movement, despite President Cleveland's promises to avoid another “reckless Baja incident [2]. His attempts to gather support from the government also failed as the nation was currently focused on the “Hawaii Standoff” [3].
In early 1894 Marti landed in Veracruz and visited President Diaz [4] to ask for his support. Though the conversation was sadly never recorded, it is at least known that Marti reminded Diaz about Mexico's place as the “Protector of Latin America” [5]. What is known is that a week after Marti's visit Diaz agreed to support the Cubans.
Throughout the year Mexican ships traveled covertly to the island, carrying the weapons that were being slowly phased out of the Mexican Armed Forces. Also welcomed by the rebels were the many Mexican tourists, who all just so happened to be officers and soldiers.
By January of the following year Marti and the other conspirators, feeling confident about their chances and conscious of the Spanish's growing awareness of the plan, decided it was finally time to act.
On February 7, 1895, the Cuban War of Independence began [6].
[1] OTL Events.
[2] TTL the Baja California War/Filibuster is a big campaign issue in the 1892 elections.
[3] I will get back to this on an update about the United States.
[4] OTL he visited Mexico until around July. Because the country is stronger TTL he goes earlier.
[5] Mexico was known as the Protector of Latin America because, until the Spanish-American War where the US finally became great power-tier, Diaz would fight American attempts to take advantage of Latin America economically and such. This is a sort of important bit that will come back in a later update.
[6] A couple of weeks earlier than OTL.
I'm thinking of making some narrative-style chapters, to help with the worldbuilding and because I need to set up some stuff for when I get to the 20th Century. What do you guys think?
Hey, guys. Just stopping by to let you know this isn't dead yet. I'm still working on that project from work, plus my own offline writing, but I'm still gonna update this TL. I'm trying to make meatier updates and make the wars exciting to read, especially the one in 1903...
Well, take your time. Good things take time to craft properly.
Don't worry. I'm still working on mine, I'm just running through a pickle right now... *shameless self promotion*
Well, does that mean that I can also shamelessly self-promote my own Latin America centric timeline? No? Alright...
I'm looking forward to the next update, Not Henry. I'm sure it will be great.
Thanks for the support! Mexico seems to be screwed on this forum quite a lot, so I'm doing my bit to go against that.
Let's all shamelessly promote our timelines in each other's threads! Echo chamber, ahoy!
By the way the next update is progressing along nicely. My free-ish time hopefully means I can have it within the week.
All right, the next update is finally ready, and it's a longer than what I usually do, which I'm really happy about. I just need to edit it and decide whether I want to add some parts I took out back in. So expect it by the weekend at the latest.
Again, thanks for the patience people!
Again, thanks for the patience people!