Military History of Mexico - Timeline

Timeline

• 1519: Hernán Cortés lands at Veracruz. In 1521 Cortés and his indigenous allies conquer Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital.
• 1650: William Lamport's revolts.
• 1808: Napoleon dethrones the Spanish king, Charles IV, stimulating political unrest throughout Spain’s empire.
• 1810–c. 1821: During wars of independence that pit Mexicans against one another as well as the forces of Spain, over 12 percent of the Mexican population dies. Independence is achieved under the 1821 Plan of Iguala, which promises equality for citizens and preserves the privileges of the Catholic Church.
• 1835: Rebels seeking independence for Texas fight the regular army at the Alamo. In 1836 the Texas Republic becomes independent.
• 1837–1841: Revolts favoring federalism over the centralizing constitution imposed by Antonio López de Santa Anna in 1836 occur in much of Mexico.
• 1845: The United States annexes Texas.
• 1846–1848: Mexico and the United States are at war. In the resulting treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexico recognizes the loss of Texas and cedes parts or all of what are now the U.S. states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, and California to the United States.
• 1847: The start of the Caste War.
• 1854: Mexico sells 77,700 km² (nearly 30,000 square miles) of northern Sonora and Chihuahua to the United States in the Gadsden Purchase.
• 1854–1861: Benito Juárez and other liberals overthrow Santa Anna (Revolution of Ayutla). The liberal reforms they inaugurate encourage division of Indian and church lands into private holdings, subject clergy and military to regular courts, and establish religious freedom.
• 1857: Constitution re-establishes a federal republic and, moving beyond the Constitution of 1824, guarantees the individual rights of free speech, assembly, and press. In 1858–1861 supporters and opponents of the reforms fight the War of the Reform, which ends in liberal victory.
• 1862–1867: The French emperor Napoleon III, in alliance with conservative and proclerical Mexicans, installs Maximilian of Habsburg as emperor of Mexico. On May 5, 1862, loyalist troops defeat Napoleon III’s troops at Puebla. (The holiday Cinco de Mayo honors this victory.) In 1867 Juárez’s forces defeat and execute Maximilian.
• 1876–1911: The Porfiriato, the authoritarian regime of the longtime president Porfirio Díaz, maintains the liberal economic policies and secularization achieved under Juárez and encourages foreign investment.
• 1901: End of Caste War.
• 1910–1917: Spurred by discontent with the dictatorial Díaz regime, regional animosities, and increasing economic inequality in the countryside, guerrilla armies fight the Mexican Revolution, temporarily breaking the country into warring regions.
• 1914: United States forces occupy the port city of Veracruz for seven months.
• 1916: United States President Woodrow Wilson orders Gen. John Pershing to capture guerrilla leader Pancho Villa after Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico. For nine months 4,000 American troops search in vain for Villa.
• 1917: The Constitution of 1917 maintains republican and liberal features of the 1824 and 1857 constitutions but also guarantees social rights such as a living wage. It nationalizes mineral resources and prohibits foreign businessmen from appealing to their home governments to protect their property. Amended many times, this constitution remains in force.
• 1926: Conflict over the 1917 Constitution’s provisions for separation of church and state leads to nationalization of church property and armed rebellion, which the government suppresses. This period is known as the Cristero War.
• 1942: Mexico enters World War II, on the side of the Allied Powers.
• 1994: The Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas protests the PRI’s dominance of political power and the government’s indifference to the fate of peasants and indigenous peoples.