New Spain During The Mexican Revolution

To what extent was Mexico’s independence from Spain a “full-scale assault on dependency”? This essay will investigate how the Mexican independence from Spain was only slightly a “full-scale assault on dependency”, due to several political and social conflicts. Firstly, Mexico remained a monarchy (but not under the control of Spain) after the insurgency. Secondly, there was still an official state religion in Mexico. Another reason is because social conflicts reduced the desire for independence .On the other hand, it assaulted dependency because there were some changes within the social hierarchy, and because Mexico was free from Spain.

Any student of history has come to recognize the fact that history is written by the victor and in lieu of this, research becomes essential to uncover where the truth lies. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, so ironically named, is a personal account for historical events leading up to the conquest of New Spain, formerly known as the City of Mexico. The author, Bernal Diaz, was a soldier of the conquering army who composed the document well after the events took place sometime between 1552 and 1557. Though the document did provide insight in regards to the victor’s perspective, it also served as a tool to rewrite the account of the conquered people.

In 1490 there was no such country as spain, yet within a century it had become the most powerful nation in europe and within another century had sunk to the status of a third rate power. Describe and analyze the major social economic and political reasons for spains rise and fall.

To begin, let’s go back the start of Mexico’s independence: “Mexico” was declared in 1821, and the Spanish crown lost control after the Mexican War for Independence (Menchaca 161). As a result of Mexico’s independence, the ownership of power was given to the Mexican people. This led to immediate socio-political and territorial changes. Mexico’s war for independence was inspired by the Catholic priest known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. After his call for action against the Spanish in the town of Dolores, Mexico, also known as the “Cry of Dolores,” the people of Mexico united to rebel against the Spanish (Acuña 40). This led to an eleven year war to achieve independence. That very first day of the revolution will always hold symbolic meaning in the eyes of the Mexican people: 16 September 1810. Alas, Mexico was left with the debris of 300 years of Spanish control following their immediate

All of the aforementioned factors contributed to the independence movement of Mexico. However, the main steps towards independence came because of Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808. The monarchy was greatly weakened when Napoleon gave the crown to his brother causing the people of Madrid to revolt. With Spain’s back turned, the leaders of New Spain began to argue amongst themselves. The viceroy was forced to allow the Criollos to participate in administration. Then, a group of Peninsulares, those who had been placed in many of the administrative positions, did not like that the Criollos were gaining any influence in the government. They staged a coup d’etat and overthrew the viceregal government.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, New Spain and New France came to the New world for two different reasons. New France came to the new world in search of a new west passage and Spain came in search of gold and religious freedom. They both wanted to spread their religious beliefs through missionaries. The Spanish were the first to establish large settlements. The Spanish had over 200 cities by 1570. The French didn’t start colonizing until 1604. The first French colony was Acadia and Quebec which came years later in 1608. The Spanish had a huge head start on colonization over New France but they both thrived in their own ways by using Natural Resources and slaves.

Different groups had very different goals for what the Mexican revolution would accomplish. The rural peasants and indigenous people wanted the land to be taken out of the hands of the aristocracy or the elite and have the land be evenly divided between the rural towns. They wanted the territory of their ancestors back because it had been stripped from them during the regime of Porfirio Diaz. They also wanted to be taken out of poverty and to have farming available to them again so that they could sustain their lives and work for their living. Therefore, because the peasants were suffering under the regime of Diaz, they wholeheartedly supported the revolution and everything that came with it. The Roman Catholic Church,

When America had their revolution, it began to give Mexico their own ideas for their revolution. There was a war known as The Peninsular War which weakened Spain. The Castas system caused tension between locals and the Peninsular which was born in Spain. The Bourbon reforms had many economic effects and limited local power. The Royal Fifth was a 20% tax. In the incubation stage Miguel de Hidalgo (Leader of the revolution against Spain) was captured at the Battle of Calderon Bridge in 1811. Congress of Chipancingo declared their independence in 1813. In the symptomatic stage General Augustin seized the capitol in 1821. One of the Mexican advantages was that Spain had government problems because of Napolean. Spain is at war with France and Mexico is fighting on their turf. One of the Spanish advantages was conflict between creoles and inhabitants. Next in the crisis stage Iturbide becomes emperor of Mexico and is quickly deposed. Mexico becomes a republic. Santa Anna becomes president of Mexico in 1833 and again 10 other times. Santa Anna was also a self-proclaimed dictator at different times. Constitution was approved by congress in 1917. And finally in the convalescent stage there was a loss of protection from Spain. Over half a million Mexicans died in the revolution. And eventually there was Texas revolution, the Mexican-American war, and a civil war arguing over what kind of government should be

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

In Victors and the Vanquished, Schwartz poses the question of “How can we evaluate conflicting sources” (ix)? Through reading historical events such as the “Conquest of New Spain” there is an undeniably large amount of destruction of cultural material and bias testimonies of events recorded several years after they occurred. After analyzing the Spanish Conquest of Mesoamerica there is a debatable amount of evidence from the Mesoamericans and Spanish explanations of this event in history. The intentions of each explanation created a conflict to historians, art historians and anthropologists on which viewpoint holds to accuracy. There is also the issue of not only inaccuracies, but the motives behind each bias account. As many of these aspects are taken into consideration, interpreting each justification between both sides of history in Mesoamerica as a clash of ethnocentrism between two different cultures that causes an uncertainty of what actually happened in history.

The Spanish civil war is often seen as a fundamental divide between right and left- the first major struggle between Fascism and Communism. The Spanish civil war started distinctly as a Spanish civil war born out of Spanish disputes, but it was soon to take on an international character. The military situations were practically equal to both sides before the foreign intervention. However, after Germany, Italy, and USSR intervened the situation changed dramatically.

Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés'

Victors and Vanquished, through excerpts of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, and indigenous testimonies from the Florentine Codex, shows the exchange of religious ideas between the Spanish and Nahuatl religions. During the Spanish conquest and exploration of Mesoamerica, religion became a focal point in Spanish observations of Nahuatl religions. Influenced by European biases and a colonial mindset, the Spanish criticized indigenous religion by condemning their practices and idols. Natives, on the other hand, hybridized elements of Christianity into their respective indigenous religions.

Mexico suffered ten years of war, suffering, and turmoil. Mexican leaders during 1910-1920 were unable to hold the country together and a revolution consumed the nation. The Mexican people grew tired of political greed, lack of support, and unequal treatment. Several leaders such as President Diaz would prove to be a man of one interest, himself. Others would quickly rise against him and attempt to claim the presidency. General Huerta and Francisco

The Mexican Revolution is one of the most significant historical events in Mexican history. Without the revolution Mexico would not be the democratic country that it is today. “The Mexican Revolution is often seen as a standard bearer through which other subsequent Latin American revolutions are interpreted.”(Darity) There were several significant events spanning several years that led up to the unrest of the Mexican people resulting in a revolution. For example, the Mexican-American War, and The Reform War which was also a civil war really gave way to the people standing up for what they believed in and revolting. More