The Mexican War of Independence

26.3: The Mexican War of Independence

26.3.1: The Effect of Events in Europe on Mexico

In 1808, Napoleon turned on Spain, a previous ally, during the Peninsular War, forcing the abdication of the Spanish king and replacing him with Napoleon’s brother Joseph. This created a crisis and power vacuum in Spain that rippled out to its American colonies, including New Spain (Mexico).

Learning Objective

Analyze the effect events in Europe had on Mexico in 1808

Key Points

  • Events in Spain during the Peninsular War had profound effects on Spanish America, leading to numerous successful independence movements.
  • In 1808, a year after Napoleon invaded Portugal, the French turned on Spain, a previous ally, which led to a political crisis.
  • Napoleon forced the abdication of the Spanish king, Charles IV, and replaced him with his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, who ruled Spain for five years.
  • Numerous revolts occurred throughout Spain in response, causing confusion and crisis.
  • A number of juntas (councils) were set up Spain to fill the power vacuum and lead the charge against the French.
  • This crisis also resulted in a shift in leadership over the colonies in the Americas, where juntas were also set up. Some of these were loyal to Charles IV’s son, Ferdinand VII, and some pushed for independence, which was achieved in 1821.

Key Terms

juntas
A Spanish and Portuguese term for a civil deliberative or administrative council. In English, it predominantly refers to the government of an authoritarian state run by high-ranking officers of a military. The term literally means “union” and often refers to the army, navy, and air force commanders taking over the power of the president, prime minister, king, or other non-military leader.
Spanish Constitution of 1812
Established on March 19, 1812, by the Cádiz Cortes, Spain’s first national sovereign assembly. It established the principles of universal male suffrage, national sovereignty, constitutional monarchy, and freedom of the press, and supported land reform and free enterprise. This constitution, one of the most liberal of its time, was effectively Spain’s first.
Peninsular War
A military conflict between Napoleon’s empire and the allied powers of Spain, Britain, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Peninsular War and the Crisis in Spain

The Peninsular War (1807–14) was a military conflict between Napoleon’s empire and the allied powers of Spain, Britain, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war started when French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807, and escalated in 1808 when France turned on Spain, its ally until then. The war on the peninsula lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and is regarded as one of the first wars of national liberation, significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare.

Spain had been allied with France against the United Kingdom since the Second Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1796. However, after the defeat of the combined Spanish and French fleets by the British at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, cracks began to appear in the alliance, with Spain preparing to invade France from the south after the outbreak of the War of the Fourth Coalition. In 1806, Spain readied for an invasion in case of a Prussia victory, but Napoleon’s rout of the Prussian army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstaedt caused Spain to back down. However, Spain continued to resent the loss of its fleet at Trafalgar and the fact that they were forced to join the Continental System. Nevertheless, the two allies agreed to partition Portugal, a long-standing British trading partner and ally that refused to join the Continental System. Napoleon was fully aware of the disastrous state of Spain’s economy and administration and its political fragility, and felt it had little value as an ally. He insisted on positioning French troops in Spain to prepare for a French invasion of Portugal, but once this was done, he continued to move additional French troops into Spain without any sign of an advance into Portugal. The presence of French troops on Spanish soil was extremely unpopular in Spain, resulting in the Mutiny of Aranjuez and the abdication of Charles IV of Spain in March 1808.

Charles IV hoped that Napoleon, who by this time had 100,000 troops stationed in Spain, would help him regain the throne. However, Napoleon refused to help Charles and refused to recognize his son, Ferdinand VII, as the new king. Instead, he succeeded in pressuring both Charles and Ferdinand to cede the crown to his brother, Joseph Bonaparte. The head of the French forces in Spain, Marshal Joachim Murat, meanwhile pressed for the former Prime Minister of Spain, Manuel de Godoy, whose role in inviting the French forces into Spain had led to the mutiny of Aranjuez, to be set free. The failure of the remaining Spanish government to stand up to Murat caused popular anger. On May 2, 1808, Murat ordered the younger son of Charles IV, the Infante Francisco de Paula, to leave Spain for France, leading to a widespread rebellion in the streets of Madrid.

The Council of Castile, the main organ of central government in Spain under Charles IV, was now in Napoleon’s control. However, due to the popular anger at French rule, it quickly lost authority outside the population centers that were directly French-occupied. To oppose this occupation, former regional governing institutions, such as the Parliament of Aragon and the Board of the Principality of Asturias, resurfaced in parts of Spain; elsewhere, juntas (councils) were created to fill the power vacuum and lead the struggle against French imperial forces. Provincial juntas began to coordinate their actions; regional juntas were formed to oversee the provincial ones. The move, however, led to more confusion, since there was no central authority and most juntas did not recognize the presumptuous claim of others to represent the monarchy as a whole. The Junta of Seville, in particular, claimed authority over the overseas empire.

Painting of Joseph Bonaparte.

Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain During the Peninsular War, Napoleon forced the abdication of the Spanish King and replaced him with his brother, Joseph Bonaparte.

Effect on Spanish America

This impasse was resolved through negotiations between the juntas and the Council of Castile, which led to the creation of a “Supreme Central and Governmental Junta of Spain and the Indies” on September 25, 1808. It was agreed that the traditional kingdoms of the peninsula would send two representatives to this Central Junta, and that the overseas kingdoms would send one representative each. These “kingdoms” were defined as “the viceroyalties of New Spain [Mexico], Peru, New Granada, and Buenos Aires, and the independent captaincies general of the island of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Chile, Province of Venezuela, and the Philippines.”

This scheme was criticized for providing unequal representation to the overseas territories. The dissolution of the Supreme Junta on January 29, 1810, because of the reverses suffered after the Battle of Ocaña by the Spanish forces paid with Spanish American money set off another wave of juntas in the Americas. French forces had taken over southern Spain and forced the Supreme Junta to seek refuge in the island-city of Cadiz. The Junta replaced itself with a smaller, five-man council, the Council of Regency of Spain and the Indies. Most Spanish Americans saw no reason to recognize a rump government that was under the threat of capture by the French at any moment, and began to work for the creation of local juntas to preserve the region’s independence from the French. Junta movements were successful in New Granada (Colombia), Venezuela, Chile, and Río de la Plata (Argentina).

The creation of juntas in Spanish America, such as the Junta Suprema de Caracas on April 19, 1810, set the stage for the fighting that would afflict the region for the next decade and a half. Political fault lines appeared and often caused military conflict. Although the juntas claimed to carry out their actions in the name of the deposed king, Ferdinand VII, their creation provided an opportunity for people who favored outright independence to publicly and safely promote their agenda. The proponents of independence called themselves patriots, a term which eventually was generally applied to them.

The Spanish Constitution of 1812 adopted by the Cortes de Cadiz served as the basis for independence in New Spain (Mexico) and Central America, since in both regions it was a coalition of conservative and liberal royalist leaders who led the establishment of new states. The restoration of the Spanish Constitution and representative government was enthusiastically welcomed in New Spain and Central America. Elections were held, local governments formed, and deputies sent to the Cortes. Among liberals, however, there was fear that the new regime would not last, and conservatives and the Church worried that the new liberal government would expand its reforms and anti-clerical legislation. This climate of instability created the conditions for the two sides to forge an alliance. This coalesced towards the end of 1820 behind Agustín de Iturbide, a colonel in the royal army, who at the time was assigned to destroy the guerrilla forces led by Vicente Guerrero.

In January 1821, Iturbide began peace negotiations with Guerrero, suggesting they unite to establish an independent New Spain. The simple terms that Iturbide proposed became the basis of the Plan of Iguala: the independence of New Spain (now called the Mexican Empire) with Ferdinand VII or another Bourbon as emperor; the retention of the Catholic Church as the official state religion and the protection of its existing privileges; and the equality of all New Spaniards, whether immigrants or native-born. The resulting Treaty of Córdoba, signed on August 24, kept all existing laws, including the 1812 Constitution, in force until a new constitution for Mexico was written. O’Donojú became part of the provisional governing junta until his death on October 8. Both the Spanish Cortes and Ferdinand VII rejected the Treaty of Córdoba, and the final break with the mother country came on May 19, 1822, when the Mexican Congress conferred the throne on Itrubide.

 

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