The First Siege of Veracruz was a military encounter of the Reform War which took place around Veracruz, Mexico in 1859. Conservative President Miguel Miramon attempted to besiege the Liberal capital, Veracruz, but was slowed by guerrilla attacks and forced to withdraw when he received news that a Liberal army was marching on Mexico City. [1] Miramon would try again one year later with similar results in the Second Siege of Veracruz.
The Battle of Veracruz was a 20-day siege of the key Mexican beachhead seaport of Veracruz, during the Mexican–American War. Lasting from March 9–29, 1847, it began with the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States military forces, and ended with the surrender and occupation of the city. U.S. forces then marched inland to Mexico City.
Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo, known as Miguel Miramón, was a Mexican conservative general and politician. He opposed the liberal Constitution of 1857 and served as President of Mexico in opposition to the constitutional president, Benito Juárez of the Liberal Party. He was one the youngest rulers and the first not born during Spanish colonial rule. He served in the imperial army during the French Intervention in Mexico and was executed with Emperor Maximilian and General Tomás Mejía by a republican army firing squad. He remains a controversial figure in Mexico, combining "military skill with political miscalculation."
The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the slave trade, make coastal surveys, and train ships to relieve others on distant stations. It was discontinued in 1861 after the outbreak of the American Civil War, when the Union blockade forced a reassignment of ships to close off Southern ports.
Félix María Zuloaga Trillo was a Mexican general and a Conservative leader in the War of Reform. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Zuloaga served as unconstitutional interim conservative president of Mexico in opposition to the constitutional president Benito Juárez of the Liberal Party.
José Mariano de Salas was a Mexican general and politician who served twice as interim president of Mexico. He was also a member of the executive triumvirate of the Second Mexican Empire that invited Maximilian of Habsburg to take the throne.
The Second French Intervention in Mexico, also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico, launched in late 1861, by the Second French Empire (1852–1870). Initially supported by the United Kingdom and Spain, the French intervention in Mexico was a consequence of Mexican President Benito Juárez's imposition of a two-year moratorium of loan-interest payments from July 1861 to French, British, and Spanish creditors.
The War of Reform in Mexico, during the Second Federal Republic of Mexico, was the three-year civil war (1857–1860) between members of the Liberal Party who had taken power in 1855 under the Plan of Ayutla, and members of the Conservative Party resisting the legitimacy of the government and its radical restructuring of Mexican laws, known as La Reforma. The Liberals wanted to eliminate the political, economic, and cultural power of the Catholic church as well as reduce the role of the Mexican Army. Both the Catholic Church and the Army were protected by corporate or institutional privileges (fueros) established in the colonial era. Liberals sought to create a modern nation-state founded on liberal principles. The Conservatives wanted a centralist government, some even a monarchy, with the Church and military keeping their traditional roles and powers, and with landed and merchant elites maintaining their dominance over the majority mixed-race and indigenous populations of Mexico.
Leonardo Márquez Araujo was a conservative Mexican general. He fought against the United States in the Mexican–American War of 1846 to 1848 and was a prominent supporter of conservative General Antonio López de Santa Anna in the revolutionary movement of 1849. After the fall of Santa Anna in the 1854-55 Revolution of Ayutla that brought liberals to power, Márquez supported the conservative government in the Reform War (1858-60) against liberal government of Benito Juárez. With Miguel Miramón, the leading general of the conservatives, Márquez initially found success against the liberal army, but the tide turned in 1860, and the liberals won on the battle field. He was called "The Tiger of Tacubaya", alluding to the Battle of Tacubaya where he ordered executed liberal officers and some medical personnel. Márquez pursued guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Gorda after the defeat of the conservatives on the battlefield; he is blamed for the murders of prominent liberals, Melchor Ocampo and General Leandro Valle.
José Ignacio Pavón was a Mexican lawyer, jurist and politician. From 13 August 1860 to 15 August 1860, he served as unconstitutional interim conservative president of Mexico in opposition to Benito Juárez, the constitutional president.
The Battle of Anton Lizardo was a naval engagement of the Reform War which took place off Anton Lizardo, Mexico in 1860. A Mexican Navy officer, Rear Admiral Tomas M. Marin, mutinied and escaped to Havana, Cuba. There he formed a squadron of armed vessels to attack merchant ships and blockade Veracruz. The Mexican Government declared Marin a pirate and permitted foreign navies to attack his ships so the United States accepted the challenge, as they had several vessels patrolling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Second Federal Republic of Mexico is the name given to the second attempt to achieve a federalist government in Mexico. Officially called the United Mexican States, a federal republic was implemented again on August 22, 1846 when interim president José Mariano Salas issued a decree restoring the 1824 constitution. Like the Mexican Empire, the First Federal Republic and the Centralist Republic it was a chaotic period, marked by political instability that resulted in several internal conflicts. Mexico's loss of the war with the United States saw half the territory Mexico claimed become part of the United States. Even though Antonio López de Santa Anna played a major role in much of this history, he returned to the presidency yet again, selling northern territory coveted by the United States contiguous to territory it just gained in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The sale of the Mesilla Valley was for many the final straw, and liberals promulgated of the Plan of Ayutla, calling for the overthrow of Santa Anna. Santa Anna went into exile and the liberals set about implementing their vision of Mexico.
Events in the year 1867 in Mexico.
The Conservative Party was a Mexican political party that sought to preserve the organization and colonial Spanish values, both in government and in society. Although as a party it was founded in 1849, after the defeat of Mexico in the war with the United States, most of the political ideology directly descended from the Jesuits expelled in the 18th century, and the establishment of a Criollism or Hispanism sentiment, which then emerged and were strongly influenced by conservative European thoughts. It also advocated the preservation and supremacy of the Criollos élite culture over those of mestizo or indigenous. It was a party of the élite, established by white landowners and aristocrats. The Conservative Party disappeared in 1867, after the fall of Maximilian I of Mexico.
The Battle of Silao took place on 10 August 1860 in the vicinity of Silao in Guanajuato state, Mexico, between elements of the liberal army, under the command of General Jesús González Ortega and Ignacio Zaragoza with a force of 8,000 men and elements of the conservative army commanded General Miguel Miramón by commanding an army of 3,282 during the War of Reform. The battle was a liberal victory. General Miramón was almost captured, but escaped in the disorder caused by the Republican artillery, abandoning artillery, ammunition and weapons.
The Second Siege of Veracruz was a military encounter of the Reform War which took place around Veracruz, Mexico in 1860. Conservative President Miguel Miramon besieged the Liberal capital, Veracruz, for over a month but was compelled to withdraw after he ran out of ammunition. Part of his problem was that he was unable to blockade the port by sea due to the intervention of the United States off Antón Lizardo.
Juan Díaz Covarrubias was a Mexican writer and poet of liberal ideology. He was one of the Martyrs of Tacubaya who were executed during the War of the Reform in Mexico.
The Battle of San Joaquín in the War of Reform took place on 26 December 1858 in the municipality of Cuauhtémoc, between elements of the liberal army, under General Santos Degollado, and elements of the conservative army, commanded by General Miguel Miramón.
The Battle of Loma Alta took place on April 24, 1860 in the vicinity of Loma Alta in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, between elements of the liberal army of the National Guard of San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas, under General Jose Lopez Uraga and elements of the conservative army commanded by General Romulo Diaz De La Vega during the War of Reform.
The Battle of Calpulalpan took place on December 22, 1860 during the War of Reform in the vicinity of the community of San Miguel de la Victoria in the municipality of Jilotepec de Abasolo in the State of Mexico, Mexico. It would be the last battle of the War of Reform (1858-1860).
The Battle of Guadalajara (1858) took place on 14 December 1858 in the vicinity of La Hacienda de Atequiza, near the city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, during Reform War. Between elements of the liberal army, under General Santos Degollado, and elements of the conservative army commanded by Generals Miguel Miramón, Leonardo Márquez, Marcelino Cobos, the victory went to the conservative side. The conservatives attacked the ranch of San Miguel, near Poncitlán, Jalisco, where the battle took place. By the end of the battle, the conservatives had gained great quantities of weapons and other war materials. Afterwards, Miramón sent orders to shoot the captured liberal officers.
