Mexican Civil Wars
The Mexican Civil Wars refer to a series of conflicts primarily driven by political, social, and economic strife in Mexico during the 19th century. After the demoralizing loss of northern territories to the United States in the Mexican-American War, the nation faced instability that led to the rise of authoritarian rule under Antonio López de Santa Anna. His regime, characterized by heavy taxation and the sale of land, fueled further discontent and opposition from liberal factions. The Plan de Ayutla, introduced in 1854, marked the beginning of a movement aimed at ousting Santa Anna and restoring constitutional governance, leading to a series of battles between liberal and conservative forces.
Key events included the establishment of a liberal government under Benito Juárez, whose leadership faced challenges from conservative factions and foreign intervention, notably from France, which sought to install Maximilian I as emperor. Despite initial conservative victories, the liberals ultimately triumphed, reclaiming control of Mexico by 1867. The aftermath of these wars saw Juárez implement significant reforms aimed at modernizing the nation and establishing a more stable governance structure. However, political tensions persisted, culminating in the rise of Porfirio Díaz, who would dominate Mexican politics until the onset of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century.
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Mexican Civil Wars
At issue: Preservation of liberal rule and Mexican sovereignty
Date: 1854–1876
Location: Mexico
Combatants: Liberals vs. conservatives and the French; liberals vs. liberals
Principal commanders:Liberal generals, Ignacio Comonfort (1812–1863), Ignacio Zaragoza, Porfirio Díaz (1830–1915); Conservative generals, Félix Zuloaga (1814–1876), Miguel Miramón (1832–1867), Tomás Mejía; French generals, Charles Ferdinand Latrille, comte de Lorencez, élie-Frédéric Forey (1804–1872), Achille-François Bazaine (1811–1888)
Principal battles: Coquillo, Peregrino, Salamanca, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Estancia de las Vacas, Silao, Siege of Guadalajara, Calpulalpan, Puebla, Querétaro, Tecoac
Result: Beginning of Mexico’s thirty-five-year rule by Díaz, a period of peace, progress, and repression known as the Porfiriato (1876–1911)
Background
After losing their northern provinces to the United States in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), Mexicans were demoralized. Some wanted annexation to the United States; others wanted a monarch. What they got was Antonio López de Santa Anna, recalled from exile as the only man who could unite Mexico. Assuming the title Most Serene Highness, Santa Anna imposed a dictatorship, exiling Benito Juárez and other liberal leaders. To support his extravagant regime, he raised taxes, sold Mayan prisoners into slavery in Cuba, and transferred territory to the United States for ten million dollars (Gadsden Purchase).
Action
On March 1, 1854, Juan álvarez and protegé Ignacio Comonfort issued the Plan de Ayutla, calling for Santa Anna’s removal and a constitutional congress. The Ayutla movement spread quickly, but military operations were confined to álvarez’s southern base, where his peasant army lost at Coquillo (1854) and Peregrino (1854) and elsewhere. When Santa Anna resigned in August, 1855, it was because he could not pay his troops. Elected president at the Cuernavaca Convention, álvarez assembled a cabinet of talented liberals with Juárez as minister of justice and Miguel Lerdo de Tejada at treasury. He then retired. Comonfort, the new president, ruled by decree, promulgating the “Ley Juárez” abolishing military and ecclesiastical fueros (special privileges), “Ley Lerdo” mandating privatization of corporate church and village lands, and “Ley Iglesias” regulating church fees.
The 1857 constitution abolished slavery; guaranteed freedom of expression, assembly, and the press; and ratified the earlier anticlerical laws. When conservatives raised the old banners of religión y fueros, Comonfort resigned in favor of General Félix Zuloaga, the conservative commander of Mexico City’s garrison. Zuloaga dismissed congress, abolished the constitution, and tried to arrest Juárez, who, as chief justice, should have succeeded to the presidency. Juárez fled and settled his liberal government at Veracruz, with its access to port customs revenues and arms shipments. Conservatives consolidated their hold on central Mexico with victories by Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía at Salamanca (March 10, 1858) and by Miramón and Luis Osollo at Guadalajara (March 23) and San Luis Potosí (April 17). Cities traded hands. Miramón took Zacatecas on April 10, and seventeen days later, the liberals recovered it. Tampico fell on May 14 to the conservative Indian general Mejía, then to the liberals three months later. However, liberal control of the coasts could not be broken. Miramón’s siege of Veracruz (February-March, 1860) failed when U.S. naval vessels prevented the conservatives’ blockade of the port with warships purchased from Cuba. After Miramón became president, the conservative cause hit its peak, ending with his defeat of Santos Degollado’s peasant army at Estancia de las Vacas (November 13, 1860). In 1861, liberals regained the near northern cities with Ignacio Zaragoza’s victory over Miramón at Silao (August 10, 1861) and their successful Siege of Guadalajara (September 26- November 3). Liberal armies routed Miramón at Calpulalpan (December 22) near Mexico City and took the capital.
The goal of Emperor Napoleon III’s invasion of Mexico was to install Austrian Hapsburg archduke Maximilian as a barrier to incipient Anglo hemispheric hegemony. His excuse was Juárez’s suspension of debt payments to France, Spain, and Great Britain. In January, 1862, Mexico’s creditors dispatched a combined war fleet to Veracruz to collect, but Spain and Britain withdrew when the French commander, Charles Ferdinand Latrille, comte de Lorencez, deployed Zouave troops inland. Lorencez moved on Puebla, which was defended by Zaragoza’s army. After a heavy bombardment, the Zouaves were turned back, retreating in a blinding rainstorm before the cavalry of Porfirio Díaz. It was the Fifth of May, 1862—Cinco de Mayo. Lorencez requested more troops, and Napoleon sent thirty thousand reinforcements under general élie-Frédéric Forey, who took command of the French forces. In March, 1863, Forey lay siege to Puebla, which fell after sixty-two days. On June 10, the French took Mexico City, and again Juárez presided over a liberal government on the run. However, by the time Maximilian arrived in April of 1864, French forces, then commanded by Achille-François Bazaine, were stretched thin. With the end of the American Civil War, the United States put diplomatic and military pressure on Napoleon. Knowing the war had to be concluded quickly, frustrated by guerrilla war in the north, and harassed by Díaz’s Army of the East in the south, Bazaine pressured Maximilian into signing a decree allowing the execution of any Mexican taken under arms. In the spring of 1866, a republican offensive gave them control in the north, while Díaz secured Oaxaca in the south. In March, 1867, Napoleon withdrew his last troops, and Díaz took Puebla and Mexico City. Maximilian was captured at Querétaro after a three-month siege, then was tried and shot with Miramón and Mejía on the Hill of Bells (June 19).
Aftermath
Permitted a technically unconstitutional third term by a grateful nation, Juárez began a liberal state-building project characterized by close cooperation with the United States. In 1871, Juárez ran again, and Díaz initiated his Noría Rebellion, invoking the constitutional principle of no reelection. When Juárez died of a heart attack, Díaz accepted amnesty from Chief Justice Sebastián Lerdo (brother of the author of Ley Lerdo), who served out the presidential term. When Lerdo announced for president again, Díaz launched his Tuxtepec Rebellion, which, after an uncertain start, triumphed at Tecoac (November 16, 1876). Except for the interregnum of Manuel González (1880–1884), Díaz would rule until 1911.
Bibliography
Fehrenbach, T. R. Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995.
Werner, Michael S., ed. Encyclopedia of Mexico: History Society and Culture. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.