Mexico: Independence Movement

Mexico's independence movement grew out of the political instability that followed Napoleon Bonaparte's 1808 invasion of Spain, which weakened royal authority throughout the Spanish Empire and emboldened criollo elites and mestizo communities to question colonial rule. Resentment over taxation, racial hierarchy, and limited political representation had been building for years, setting the stage for open rebellion.

The uprising began on September 16, 1810, when the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla issued the Grito de Dolores, calling on his largely Indigenous and mestizo followers to rise against Spanish authorities. Hidalgo's insurgent army achieved early victories but was defeated in 1811, and he was captured and executed. Leadership passed to Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, who continued the fight until his own capture and execution in 1815, after which the movement fragmented into smaller guerrilla campaigns led by figures such as Vicente Guerrero.

The decisive turn came in 1821, when royalist officer Agustin de Iturbide allied with Guerrero to issue the Plan de Iguala, promising independence, religious continuity, and equal rights for criollos and peninsulares. Spanish viceroy Juan de O'Donoju accepted these terms in the Treaty of Cordoba, signed August 24, 1821, formally ending Spanish rule and clearing the way for Iturbide's short-lived First Mexican Empire.