By the latter half of the 17th century, the rule of Spain in the New World was reaching 200 years. Times were changing, both in the New World and in Europe, and the leaders of Spain knew it. Their problem was what to do about it. Spain had never had a coherent policy in its imperial rule. Since 1492, Spain was seemingly constantly at war, with an endless series of crises thrown into the mix. Solutions had to be found for the here and now, the future would take care of itself.
Erick Redington continues his look at the independence of Spanish America by looking at the Mexican War of Independence. Here he looks at what happened during the Mexican War of Independence with the important figure of José Morelos - and how things didn’t turn out quite as the rebels intended.
If you missed them, Erick’s article on the four viceroyalties is here, Francisco de Miranda’s early life is here, his travels in Europe and the US is here, and his later years is here. Then, you can read about the Abdications of Bayonne here, the start of the Mexican War of Independence here, how Hidalgo continued the war here, and the impact of José Morelos here.
Am portrait of King Fernando VII of Spain. By Vicente López Portaña.
Changes On Both Sides of the Atlantic
The year 1815 brought many changes to the struggle for independence in New Spain. The death of Morelos brought confusion as to who would be the primary leader of the revolution. Morelos had known how to groom younger officers into becoming leaders. The problem was so many, such as Matamoros, were already dead. The rebels needed a leader to rally around. After his victory over Morelos, Viceroy Calleja had offered amnesty to all rebels, and many would take him up on his offer, all seeming lost.
Another change was the conditions in Spain. In 1814, the French were finally driven across the Pyrenees. Napoleon abdicated after the occupation of Paris and his Spanish royal prisoners were freed. The long-awaited King Ferdinand VII was able to return to his capital (literally no one wanted Carlos IV back) and he would lead Spain to a glorious future of freedom and liberal politics. Except…he wouldn’t. Ferdinand was not the man his supporters thought he was.
Ferdinand the Reactionary
The Spain of 1814 was governed by the Constitution of 1812, born in the fires of the Peninsular War. This constitution limited the powers of the monarch, created a legislature that would represent all Spaniards on both sides of the Atlantic, and provided for guarantees of rights to all citizens. After all, this constitution and the person of Ferdinand VII were what the Spanish had just fought a six-year occupation for. In town after town, the people of Spain rapturously turned out to greet their longed-for monarch. All the conflicting classes, groups, juntas, and political factions were united. What possible reason could anyone want to fight against the new Spanish government that offered the colonials everything they could hope for, freedom, a liberal constitution, and the lifting of racial restrictions?
It only took a few weeks after his return to Madrid for Ferdinand to discard the constitution and restore absolute rule. He had proven to be far more reactionary than anyone could have feared. Barely a week after the end of the constitution, liberal leaders in and out of the government were arrested in a wide sweep. Ferdinand had even allowed the Jesuits to return. The united front with which Spain could have faced its fractious colonials was gone. Now Spain would see a continuation of the chaos of the war years.
War Exhaustion Grips Mexico
The situation in New Spain was little better than what was seen in the mother country. The rebels were forced to fight a guerrilla campaign against the forces of the Viceroy. Outnumbered, outgunned, and without any financial resources, the rebels were forced to extract supplies and money from the populations of the areas they operated in. This led to a great deal of economic devastation and needless deaths.
For the royalists, their situation was not much better. The great treasure fleets were a thing of the past. Spain was a chaotic mess led by a man who seemed to combine the fecklessness of his father with the corruption of Godoy. Despite their battlefield victories, the royalists were unable to finish off the rebels, who could retreat into the vastness of the desolate countryside. Lacking money and support from Spain, the royalists were forced to take food and supplies from the local populace. Many royalist commanders, receiving little to no support from Mexico City, set up their own fiefdoms throughout the colony, making themselves answerable to no one.
In many cases, the people of New Spain would be forced to contribute to both sides at the barrels of their guns, leaving nothing left for themselves. New Spain was dying by its own hand. The fight between the rebels and the royalists after the death of Morelos was carried out with a brutality that led many to disregard causes and ideologies and fight simply for hate’s sake.
New Rebel Leaders Arise
For two men, the war was still about the ideals of Hidalgo and Morelos. Vicente Guerrero was the right-hand man of Morelos. He was a man who still believed in freedom and independence for Mexico. A man who showed so much integrity during the war, that when the new Viceroy, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, wanted to coax Guerrero to surrender he dispatched Guerrero’s own father, who was a royalist, to try to convince him. Guerrero turned down his own father, convinced of the justice of his cause. Guerrero would be made General in Chief of the rebels and fought battle after battle against the royalist forces. While successful time and again, he lacked the men and resources to deal a killing blow.
José Miguel Fernandez also believed in the dream. He came to see himself as the embodiment of the struggle for independence. In time, he would be known more famously as Guadalupe Victoria, taking this name symbolizing the fight for freedom. Victoria would also gain several victories against the royalists.
From 1815 to 1817, these two leaders would lead a semi-successful partisan war against the royalists. Hitting isolated towns and garrisons hard, they would quickly retreat back into the mountains or the jungle. Despite these victories, the rebels were not capable of driving the Spanish from Mexico. For all the problems the royalists had, they were still better armed, trained, and provisioned. The only advantage the rebels seemed to possess was mobility. Neither side could achieve anything like a decisive victory that could affect the outcome of the war.
The Royalists Hit Back Harder
In 1817, the royalists decided to concentrate on Victoria, operating in the area around Veracruz. Striking hard and fast, the royalists hammered Victoria’s forces, retaking all the cities he had occupied. Victoria’s army was destroyed, and he himself had to hide in the jungle with only a few followers for several years. With one threat defeated, and seemingly out of the war, Apodaca now concentrated on Guerrero. Royalist troops were thrown at Guerrero’s rebels, but they were never able to pin him down. What the royalists were able to do was, through battle and attrition, whittle down Guerrero’s forces and so devastate the countryside in his area of operations that his effectiveness was limited.
By 1819, Apodaca could fairly accurately report to Ferdinand’s government that he did not need any more troops from Spain. From the Viceroy’s seat, the insurgency may still linger on, but the war of independence was over. There was a less than zero chance that Guerrero would be able to victoriously march into the Zocalo with his army and win the war. Events in New Spain, however, would be overtaken by events in Old Spain.
Fire From the Rear for the Royalists
As mentioned earlier, Ferdinand VII restored absolute rule in 1814. By 1820, Spanish liberals were either in prison or in hiding. They groaned under the heavy hand of Ferdinand and his neo-absolutist rule. Dissatisfaction was high, and the constant wars in the colonies were driving discontent even higher. In order to deal with the rebellions in the New World, Ferdinand had ordered a force to gather in Cádiz and sail for the Americas to put down the rebels once and for all. Ferdinand wanted to take no chances. Despite the war in New Spain seemingly being won, he would reinforce his colonies, finish off the rebels, then his troops would move colony by colony destroying rebel armies until the colonials were finally suppressed. On New Year’s Day, 1820, troops in the city led by Colonel Rafael del Riego staged a revolt demanding the return of the Constitution of 1812 and the end of absolutism. Riego’s army began marching into the interior to gather supporters when another uprising took place in Galicia. From these two seeds, the rebellion grew throughout Spain. By March, the liberals approached Madrid and even surrounded the royal palace. Ferdinand saw the writing on the wall and agreed to restore the constitution and surrender many of his own powers.
Back in 1812, the Supreme Junta in Spain had ordered the old Viceroy, Vanegas, to implement the Constitution. Vanegas was a liberal, so he was not necessarily opposed to many of the high ideals contained therein. What he did oppose was independence for New Spain. Vanegas was more far-sighted than the Supreme Junta. He recognized that the implementation of liberal ideas in New Spain would inevitably lead to independence. The Supreme Junta missed this and believed that no one truly informed of the guarantees of the Constitution would oppose it.
Vanegas knew the Constitution of 1812 made his job virtually impossible. He suspended its implementation soon after, using Morelos’ rebellion as justification. By the time news reached Spain about this, the new government of Ferdinand approved heartily. Vanegas was replaced by Calleja, who decreed in August 1815 that the Constitution was dead. This was how the political situation in New Spain sat for several years.
A Time for Questions
When, in 1820, the liberal Constitution came back, many of the royalists were horrified. They were conservative by nature and political outlook. They had spent the better part of a decade fighting against the liberalism that the rebels embodied. Now, they were being told by the government that they had put their lives on the line for, that the liberal ideals were the right ones. This new, liberal Spain was not one they were willing to fight for.
In 1820, the revolution was nearly dead. Guerrero was driven deep into the mountains. Victoria was still eating bugs in the jungles around Veracruz. The people were exhausted. The country was devastated. Most of the true believers were dead or in hiding. It had seemed that all the years of fighting and struggle had been for nothing. Militarily, the rebels had lost.
For the royalists, it had seemed a lost cause too. Sure, they had won on the battlefield. Yes, the rebels were still fighting, but they were disorganized bands not much more organized than outlaws. It was ideologically where they had lost the war. They had fought for the ideals of dios, patria, y rey; God, Fatherland, and King. Now, through no fault of their own, those ideals were thrown out the window by rebels in Madrid who were attempting to undermine everything they had done for almost a decade. What was the point of fighting against the liberalism the rebels were trying to establish in New Spain when their very government, seemingly their very king, they were fighting for was telling them that liberalism was the new order of the day?
It was a time for choosing in New Spain, for all of the combatants. Where did your first loyalty lie? To the king? To Mexico? To New Spain? To liberalism? To conservatism? To republicanism? To monarchism? For everyone fighting in New Spain by the dawn of 1821, the answer to that question would put to the test all of the major players. They would all be held in the balance.
What do you think of the 1810s in Mexico and the impact from changes in Spain? Let us know below.
Now, read about Francisco Solano Lopez, the Paraguayan president who brought his country to military catastrophe in the War of the Triple Alliance here.
