[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Order and Progress: An Alternate History of the Porfiriato and Beyond[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Part 1[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]While everyone else celebrated the 80th anniversary of the country's independence – which also happened to be his birthday – President Porfirio Diaz fumed in his office. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]When he came to power in 1876 he set about to fix the problems plaguing Mexico. After almost sixty years of constant conflict (be it foreign invasions or civil wars) the country was a mess. The infrastructure was atrocious, the economy nonexistent; the land was plagued with bandits and the country exploded in rebellion every few months.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Under the mantle of “Order and Progress”, he began the long road to bring Mexico into the modern age. By reducing the size of the army he both freed money to use somewhere else, and reduced the risk of a coup (nearly every coup in the country had been by the army, including his own); the expansion of the infamous Rurales police force helped lower the crime and banditry across the country, and clever balancing of American and European influence was bringing much industry that was boosting the nation to never-before-seen levels.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]In 1890, all his work seemed to had been for nothing.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Thanks to a drop in the value of silver, Mexico was going through an economic crisis; a severe drought had led to the loss of harvests across the country, and the peace he had worked so much on was threatened in the North, by the Yaqui and a man named Garza.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The knocking on the door snapped him out of his thoughts.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Come in,” he called. A young, nervous-looking messenger walked into the office.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mr. President,” he said after stuttering several times. “Something happened.”[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Of course something happened. Something always happens,” he replied, cynical as always. “Another rebellion? More attacks by bandits? Maybe the French or the Americans felt like invading us again?”[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]You already know, sir?!” the messenger asked in surprised.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]What?” Diaz asked, just as surprised. “What are you talking about?”[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]We received this about an hour ago, sir,” the messenger handed him several papers. Diaz read the one on top, his temper rising more and more as he went through it.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Lower California?!” he finally exploded.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]There's also a message from Colonel Manuel Ferrer, sir,” the messenger said, taking a few steps back. “He says they were attacked by a group of Americans.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]"Sir, they're invading us again.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Welcome to my TL! I posted this TL a while back, but after more research, planning, and a different approach to the writing I decided to scratch it off and start all over.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]After reading the several amazing Mexico TLs on the site, like “Por La Patria!”, “A Mexican 'Victory'”, and “Bandits and Generals” (ok, I know Mexico mostly shows up in the beginning, but I still count it) among others, I decided to make my own. I chose to focus on a very important period in our history that hasn't been explored here: El Porfiriato.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Please feel free to comment and let me know any corrections, criticisms, and suggestions. Everything you do will help make this story better.[/FONT]