Heroic City (Spanish : ciudad heroica) is the title bestowed on cities of Mexico in recognition of some historical event in defense of national sovereignty or the republican and federal form of government. The title is granted by the state congresses of the respective states. The cities of Atlixco, Puebla de Zaragoza and Veracruz have received this distinction several times. [1]
In 2006, a commission was established to document information about 35 Mexican cities recognized as heroic. Since then, the count has increased to 45 cities and towns in Mexico bearing the designation "Heroic" in their names. [2] These cities earned their heroic status due to their significant involvement in key wars throughout Mexican history.
The wars include the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821), First French Intervention (1838–1839), Mexican–American War (1846–1848), Caste War of Yucatán (1847–1901), Second French Intervention (1861–1867), Mexican Revolution (1910–1920), and other notable battles. For a battle to be considered heroic, it must have made a substantial impact on the Mexican side of the conflict, representing a pivotal moment in Mexican history.
The Saint Patrick's Battalion, later reorganized as the Foreign Legion of Patricios, was a Mexican Army unit which fought against the United States in the Mexican–American War. Consisting of between 175 and several hundred mostly European expatriates and immigrants, including numerous men who had deserted or defected from the United States Army, the battalion was formed and led by Irishman John Riley. It served as an artillery unit for much of the war, and despite later being formally designated as an infantry unit of two companies, the battalion continued to operate artillery pieces throughout the conflict. The San Patricios participated in many of the bloodiest battles during the American invasion of Mexico, with Ulysses S. Grant remarking that "Churubusco proved to be about the severest battle fought in the valley of Mexico".
The Pastry War, also known as the first French intervention in Mexico or the first Franco-Mexican war (1838–1839), began in November 1838 with the naval blockade of some Mexican ports and the capture of the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa in the port of Veracruz by French forces sent by King Louis Philippe I. It ended in March 1839 with a British-brokered peace. The intervention followed many claims by French nationals of losses due to unrest in Mexico. This would be the first of two French invasions of Mexico; a second, larger intervention would take place in the 1860s.
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and the municipal seat of the homonymous municipality. It is on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, United States. Matamoros is the second largest city in the state of Tamaulipas. As of 2016, Matamoros had a population of 520,367. In addition, the Matamoros–Brownsville Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,387,985, making it the 4th largest metropolitan area on the Mexico–US border. Matamoros is the 39th largest city in Mexico and anchors the second largest metropolitan area in Tamaulipas.
The Battle of Puebla, also known as the Battle of May 5 took place on 5 May 1862, near Puebla de los Ángeles, during the second French intervention in Mexico. French troops under the command of Charles de Lorencez repeatedly failed to storm the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe situated on top of the hills overlooking the city of Puebla, and eventually retreated to Orizaba in order to await reinforcements. Lorencez was dismissed from his command, and French troops under Élie Frédéric Forey would eventually take the city, but the Mexican victory at Puebla against a better equipped force provided patriotic inspiration to the Mexicans.
Heroica Nogales, more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and the county seat of the Municipality of Nogales in the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located in the north of the state across the U.S.-Mexico border, and is abutted on its north by the city of Nogales, Arizona.
Buffalo Soldiers were United States Army regiments composed exclusively of African American soldiers, formed during the 19th century to serve on the American frontier. On September 21, 1866, the 10th Cavalry Regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The nickname "Buffalo Soldiers" was purportedly given to the regiments by the American Indian tribes who fought against them during the American Indian Wars, and the term eventually became synonymous with all of the African American regiments that were established in 1866, including the 9th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Regiment and 38th Infantry Regiment.
The Second Mexican Empire, officially known as the Mexican Empire, was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists with the support of the Second French Empire. This period is often referred to as the Second French intervention in Mexico. French Emperor Napoleon III, with backing from Mexican conservatives, the clergy, and nobility, aimed to establish a monarchist ally in the Americas as a counterbalance to the growing power of the United States.
The Mexican Navy is one of the two independent armed forces of Mexico. The actual naval forces are called the Armada de México. The Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR) includes both the Armada itself and the attached ministerial and civil service. The commander of the Navy is the Secretary of the Navy, who is both a cabinet minister and a career naval officer.
Churubusco is a neighbourhood of Mexico City. Under the current territorial division of the Mexican Federal District, it is a part of the borough of Coyoacán. It is centred on the former Franciscan monastery (ex convento de Churubusco) at 19°21′20″N99°8′55″W.
The Niños Héroes were six Mexican military cadets who were killed in the defence of Mexico City during the Battle of Chapultepec, one of the last major battles of the Mexican–American War, on 13 September 1847. The date of the battle is now celebrated in Mexico as a civic holiday to honor the cadets' sacrifice.
Gaston Alexandre Auguste, Marquis de Galliffet, Prince de Martigues, was a French general, best known for having taken part in the repression of the 1871 Paris Commune. He was Minister of War in Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet at the turn of the century, which caused a controversy in the socialist movement, since independent socialist Alexandre Millerand also took part in the same government, and was thus side by side with the Fusilleur de la Commune.
The second French intervention in Mexico, also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867), was a military invasion of the Republic of Mexico by the French Empire of Napoleon III, purportedly to force the collection of Mexican debts in conjunction with Great Britain and Spain. Mexican conservatives supported the invasion, since they had been defeated by the liberal government of Benito Juárez in a three-year civil war. Defeated on the battlefield, conservatives sought the aid of France to effect regime change and establish a monarchy in Mexico, a plan that meshed with Napoleon III's plans to re-establish the presence of the French Empire in the Americas. Although the French invasion displaced Juárez's Republican government from the Mexican capital and the monarchy of Archduke Maximilian was established, the Second Mexican Empire collapsed within a few years. Material aid from the United States, whose four-year civil war ended in 1865, invigorated the Republican fight against the regime of Maximilian, and the 1866 decision of Napoleon III to withdraw military support for Maximilian's regime accelerated the monarchy's collapse. Maximilian and two Mexican generals were executed by firing squad on 19 June 1867, ending this period of Mexican history.
The Reform War, or War of Reform, also known as the Three Years' War, and the Mexican Civil War, was a complex civil conflict in Mexico fought between Mexican liberals and conservatives with regional variations over the promulgation of Constitution of 1857. It has been called the "worst civil war to hit Mexico between the War of Independence of 1810-21 and the Revolution of 1910-20." Following the liberals' overthrow of the dictatorship of conservative Antonio López de Santa Anna, liberals passed a series of laws codifying their political program. These laws were incorporated into the new constitution. It aimed to limit the political power of the executive branch, as well as the political, economic, and cultural power of the Catholic Church. Specific measures were the expropriation of Church property; separation of church and state; reduction of the power of the Mexican Army by elimination of their special privileges; strengthening the secular state through public education; and measures to develop the nation economically.
Sergio Berlioz is a composer and musicologist who has participated in over 4000 conferences, round tables and concerts; with almost four decades of academic experience, Sergio Berlioz has taught and given seminars and lectures on music and history of art at various universities and cultural institutions throughout Mexico and the Czech Republic. He currently teaches in Casa Lamm, where his "Musical wednesday" conferences have become popular, and in the Instituto Cultural México Israel where he was recognized in 2015 as a valuable teacher and lecturer collaborating over twenty years in that institution.
The Battle of Ambos Nogales was an engagement fought on 27 August 1918 between Mexican forces and United States Army elements from the 35th Infantry Regiment and 10th Cavalry Regiment during the Mexican Border War. The American soldiers and militia forces were stationed in Nogales, Arizona, and the Mexican soldiers and armed Mexican militia were in Nogales, Sonora. This battle was notable for being a significant confrontation between U.S. and Mexican forces during the conflict, which took place during the Mexican Revolution and World War I.
The Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones is located in the former Monastery of San Diego Churubusco, which was built on top of an Aztec shrine. The museum is split into two sections. The downstairs is dedicated to the site’s history as a monastery, and the upstairs rooms are dedicated to artifacts related to the various military conflicts that have taken place on Mexican soil and how these have shaped the modern Mexican republic. The museum is located on Calle 20 de Agosto, one block east from Division del Norte, following Calle Xicoténcatl, in Churubusco. It is one of five museums that are operated directly by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH).
Cinco de Mayo is an annual celebration held on May 5 to celebrate Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza. Zaragoza died months after the battle from an illness, however, and a larger French force ultimately defeated the Mexican army at the Second Battle of Puebla and then occupied Mexico City. Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States began lending money and guns to the Mexican Liberals, pushing France and Mexican Conservatives to the edge of defeat. At the opening of the French chambers in January 1866, Napoleon III announced that he would withdraw French troops from Mexico. In reply to a French request for American neutrality, the American secretary of state William H. Seward replied that French withdrawal from Mexico should be unconditional.
Venezuela Heroica is an epic novel written by Venezuelan author Eduardo Blanco and published in 1881, with an expanded second edition in 1883. It is Blanco's main work, and presents a classic romantic view of history as an epic. Venezuela Heroica is structured in five vignettes that depict the main battles and heroes of the Venezuelan War of Independence. It was from General José Antonio Páez himself that Blanco heard the stories of the Battle of Carabobo, during an encounter with Marshal Juan Crisóstomo Falcón to end the Federal War (1859–1863) near the site of the battle. Páez was so moved from his memories of youth, the anecdote goes, that he could not stop telling his aide-de-camp, Blanco, the details of the battle. It was Falcón who then told Blanco "you are listening to the Iliad from the very lips of Achilles".
The nations of France and Mexico established diplomatic relations in 1830. Initially, relations between both nations were unstable as a result of France's first and second interventions in Mexico. During World War II Mexico did not recognize Vichy France, instead it maintained diplomatic relations with the French government in exile in London. Diplomatic relations were restored between both nations at the end of the war in 1945 and have continued unabated since.
Tacámbaro is a municipality in the western part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. Its largest city and municipal seat is Heroica Tacámbaro de Codallos.