alternatehistory.com

Okay,

A brief introduction. In the 1930s, Germany and Mexico developed, well, not good relations, bu decent ones. Mexico's president Cárdenas was not a fan of German aggression or anti-semitism, of course. Mexico was the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that took a firm stand for the Republic, providing it with weapons and aid despite American criticism; it would lter accept thousands of Republican refugees.

And yet both nations had shared economic interests; Germany needed oil, Mexico needed equipment to industrialize, preferably from somebody other than America. And so they signed a series of bilateral trade agreements [1], discussed further oil exploration, etc. Germany offered to sell military equipment and send military instructors to Mexico, and tried creating a series of cultural exchanges. Oddly, Mexican's middle class failed to respond to fascism as much of Europe did, and were a bit miffed when they found out they weren't considered fit to marry Germans.

Anyway, Cárdenas was, as indicated, hardly a friend to Germany; he only sold the Reich oil when America and Britain refused to buy it after he nationalized the oil industry, but there were plenty of others within Mexico who did like Germany. Falangists, Sinaquistas, some ethnic Germans... they didn't add up to a significant force, but the British and Germans thought they did, because both of them had serious hangups when it came to dealing with the Mexican people.

Okay, so this is the background to the 1940 election. The governing Party, the PRI, was opposed by a former general, Juan Almazán. Almazán has een accused of being a quasi-fascist, but his platform, calling for racial integration, religious freedom, land reform to create a class of small-holders, and respect for property rights was designed to attract the support of the center. After a hard-fought election, and some electoral fraud, the PRI won.

Almazán, at this point, started hunting around for support for a coup; but after America indicated disinterest, his supporters turned to the Falangists. Spain agreed to aid hthem, and asked the German Foreign Ministry for support. However the Ministry held that the movement was unimportant, Almazán ultimately supported America, and the PRI candidate (Camacho) would be more useful to Mexico's plans. Camacho, of course, gladly allied with America and made no pretense of supporting Germany.

Now, this is the fall of 1940. I don't think the idea of Germany deciding to be brilliant and launch a coup in Latin America is ASB, given the incompetence of the German Foreign Ministry. So, Almazán gives it a shot, and the coup succeeds in taking Monterrey for all of 3 days before the Mexican government crushes it. The regime itself was never under serious threat, but it strikes me that the American press would not react favorably to German meddling in a democratic election south of the border.

Thoughts?


[1] Which Germany broke after it received oil without giving Mexico the promised goods, something which probably shocks you all.
Top