Mexico

The **United States of Mexico** is a Central American republic that is located south of the United States and north of Guatemala and Belize. It was founded in 1810 during the Mexican War of Independence, but was only recognized on September 27, 1821. Since then, Mexico devolved into a weak central government divided deeply by Catholic Conservatives and the anticlerical Liberals, resulting in external weakness (shown in the Texan Revolution, Mexican-American War, and French Intervention) and internal weakness (a series of civil wars).

## History

Mexico was founded on September 16, 1810 during the South American Wars of Independence, in which Father Hidalgo led a revolution against New Spain and the Kingdom of Spain. The Mexican revolutionaries forced Spain out of the country in an eleven-year war that proved the devotion of the people to their country and their nation. Mexico was originally an empire but quickly turned into a republic called the "United States of Mexico".

### Early History

In 1817 Mexico fought its first foreign war, against the United States. Although it was an undeclared war, it saw heavy fighting in the Siege of Fort Oloma, in which the American Major Ryan Cooper and Falcon Company railroad tycoon Amelia Black defended the fort against several waves of Mexican Army attackers. Mexico and the United States had a series of border conflicts that were undeclared, and it proved the might of both armies.

Mexico was originally in possession of not just its modern-day borders, but also most of the American West in states such as California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, and others. The Mexican Army lost a guerrilla war against their American immigrant subjects in the Texan Revolution, and the Republic of Texas was formed in 1836. Nine years later the United States incorporated Texas into the Union, causing the Mexican-American War. From 1846 to 1849 the two countries fought, and the US Army took over all of Mexico's North American possessions, with the border being formed along the Rio Grande River. From then on, Mexico and America had hostile relations, and in 1853 America purchased more land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase.

### Mid-1800s and Civil Wars

In 1856 President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the "Napoleon of the Americas" and the loser of both the Texan and American wars, was overthrown by Ignacio Comonfort, a Liberal president who was an anticleric. Pro-Catholic Conservative rivals ousted him and in 1857 the Liberals took refuge in Veracruz, led by Benito Juarez. Juarez fought the Reform War until 1861, and the Conservatives were defeated.

The Reform War resulted in Juarez's cancellation of Mexico's debts to Great Britain, Spain, and the Second French Empire in order to pay off the war damages caused in his country. The three countries invaded but the British and Spanish left in January 1862 when Juarez bribed them with the treasury of Veracruz. He had offered a share of Veracruz's money to the French, but Napoleon III of France was intent on taking over the whole of the country. Juarez encouraged a guerrilla war, winning the Battle of Puebla, but later in 1862 the French took over and made Maximilian von Hapsburg the Emperor of Mexico. The guerrillas finally pushed the French out in 1867 and Maximilian was executed, and Juarez became the President.

### Mexican Revolution

From 1872 to 1910, Mexico was ruled by Porfirio Diaz, who was a general in many Mexican wars (both internal and external) in a period of peace called the "Porfiriato". In 1907 the 35-year period of prosperity ended with a peasant rebellion in Mexico, followed by several more. In 1910 General Ignacio Sanchez overthrew the government, promising that Mexico would have a brighter future under his rule. However, his rule was contested by other rebel groups that had fought the government since before he became President, and in 1911 Abraham Reyes led a peasant rebellion in Nuevo Paraiso in northern Mexico. The Rebeldes grew in number daily and defeats for the Mexican Army at El Raton Creek, Frontera Bridge, and El Sepulcro were rallying cries for the rebel cause.

The rebellion succeeded after the fall of Mexico City in later 1911, in which many cavalry divisions defected to join Reyes because of his promises for higher pay for the Army, and Sanchez went into exile in France. From 1911 to 1920, however, many other inspiring landownesrs continued the revolution and in 1920 Alvaro Obregon was the last man standing from the power struggle. In the end, the merchant classes emerged victorious in the revolution.

### Post-1920s

Since the 1920s, Mexico has become more of a democracy, with the socialist Party of the Democratic Revolution and the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party emerging as the two major parties. Under President Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico benefited from a socialist economy, but Mexico would suffer from issues related to globalization later in the century. In the 1990s, an insurgency began in Chiapas when NAFTA was passed, causing Mexican corn farmers to lose money and jobs. The insurgency lasted for a few years, but the uprising eventually came to an end. Today, Mexico's biggest issue is the emergence of powerful drug cartels, which have fought for control of crime in Mexico since the 1970s. During the 2000s, the government declared war on the cartels, using military force against them. Mexico is in a near-civil war state, with powerful cartels using military weaponry to fight against the government forces.