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There is much ado about the American Revolutionary War, but America is not the Americas. Not long after the U.S. kicked out the Brits, those to the south got busy punting the Spaniards and Portuguese. And just like in the U.S., their revolutions got off to a rough start.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: January 17, 1811--
The Mexican War of Independence began in September of 1810 and would last eleven years. It was kicked off in 1808 because Napoleon took over Spain and put his brother on the throne, and people in the Americas under Spanish rule were all fuck this French guy. But it wasn’t a singularly organized, cohesive revolutionary effort. It was more a bunch of little armed insurgencies across what would become Mexico. On January 17, 1811, was the Battle of Calderón Bridge, and it made a lot of people think the Mexican Revolution didn’t stand a fucking chance.
It was fought on the banks of the Calderón River, about 40 miles east of Guadalajara. At the start of the fight I can’t imagine what the Royalist forces of New Spain were thinking. I mean, there were fewer than 8,000 of them, and they were about to face off against 100,000 angry Mexican revolutionaries. More than 12 to 1 are not good odds. I’d be shitting my pantelones.
Leading the Royalist forces was Félix Maria Calleja del Rey, a military officer and later Viceroy of New Spain. In charge of the revolutionaries was Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest who would come to be known as the father of Mexico. But you certainly wouldn’t have imagined that forthcoming accolade after this fucking battle. Hidalgo got his ass kicked.
A big part of the problem was an imbalance of weaponry. Most of the revolutionaries had spears, slings, and bows, and only about 3,000 guns. Hidalgo’s forces did have more cannons than the Royalists, but after several hours of fighting del Rey’s artillery hit the Mexican’s ammunition wagon and it went kerblamo. Then the Mexicans were all oh fuck what the fucking shit and scattered about because they were not a disciplined fighting force but more of a pissed-off mob.
The Royalists, conversely, were professional and disciplined soldiers, and that is something that often makes a big difference in war. It sure did in this battle. After the munitions explosion Hidalgo’s forces were in disarray and began to flee, and del Rey sent his soldiers after them to go on a killing spree. By day’s end, 13,000 revolutionary fighters were dead compared to only a thousand Royalist soldiers.
Six months later most of the revolutionary leaders, including Hidalgo, were dead, having been ambushed, captured, and executed while trying to buy weapons from the U.S. What followed—the circumstances that finally led to Mexican independence in 1821—is kinda fucky and a whole ‘nother story entirely.
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