Mexican anti-Nazi propaganda featuring a soldier with the slogan "To Your Stations", and an industrial worker in the background.
Mexico's participation in World War II had its first antecedent in the diplomatic efforts made by the government before the League of Nations as a result of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. However, this intensified with the sinking of oil tankers by German submarine attacks, declaring war on the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan in May 1942. The international conflict had a profound influence on the country's politics and economy.[1]
Unlike most nations involved, the effects of the war were largely positive for Mexico.
Background
Even before the beginning of the war, the Mexican government showed its disapproval of fascist nations on different occasions. On November 6, 1935, Mexico joined the League of Nations economic blockades against the Kingdom of Italy for the invasion and subsequent annexation of the Ethiopian Empire.[2] A few years later, on March 19, 1938, Mexico protested before the League of Nations against the violation of Austrian sovereignty after the Anschluss. However, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States remained silent.[3]
The most famous case of Mexico's rejection of fascism was the recognition of the Spanish Republic in exile. On June 17, 1939, the Mexican government withdrew its embassy from Spanish territory, leaving diplomatic affairs in the hands of the Cuban embassy.[4] Since 1937, Spanish refugees (notably Republican supporters) began to arrive on Mexican shores and were received by the authorities in the Port of Veracruz, where ships loaded with Spaniards and some Jews persecuted in Europe by the Nazis arrived.
During this period, Mexico's diplomatic relations with democratic nations were not at their best. Since the oil expropriation of 1938, the United Kingdom had broken off relations,[5] and the United States would maintain a commercial blockade against Mexico. In addition, the Soviet Union had withdrawn its ambassador since the Cardenista government gave political asylum to Leon Trotsky, who was a strong opponent of Joseph Stalin's regime.[6]
However, Mexico's neutrality in World War II had to change and decide its position due to geographical, political, and economic situations, such as its proximity to the United States, the solution given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Mexico's oil problem, the need of the allied countries to count on Mexican oil for the war and the country's economic recovery.
Internal social situation
The social situation in Mexico during the end of the Lázaro Cárdenas presidency, and the entirety of the Manuel Ávila Camacho presidency, was one of profound socio-economic inequality. By 1940, the upper class represented only 1.05%, the middle class 15.87%, and the lower class 83.08%. In short, it was a country of peasants. Most of the Mexican population were farmers living in the countryside, and a working class was beginning to emerge from the emerging industrial development sector. To guarantee that there were institutions before the state that defended the interests of the workers of different sectors, there were various union organizations such as the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the Unión Sinarquista de Mexico, among others, that made up the left-wing in Mexico. The union leaders were the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM), representing the more radical left, and Vicente Lombardo Toledano and Fidel Velázquez Sánchez as the more moderate left.
On the other hand, the right-wing was represented by a broad conservative and pro-clerical sector, the business sector (especially financial and industrial), and the new party, National Action Party (PAN), founded in 1939 by Manuel Gómez Morín. The confrontations between left and right were always a constant that caused violent conflicts; however, it was possible to achieve relative social stability before the War thanks to the fact that Cárdenas reunited the union organizations before the State, turned his attention to the peasants and also calmed the right wing by postponing the social reforms. This relative stability was consolidated with the oil expropriation carried out in 1938, which universally raised Cárdenas' popularity. The United States, seeing Mexico's stability, decided to cease pressures due to the damage caused by the expropriation, reached an agreement, and definitively leaned towards the Good Neighbor Policy, which would later determine Pan-American cooperation.[7]
Beginning of the War
On September 1, 1939, Hitler's Germany began its invasion of Poland and thus began World War II. On September 4, President Lázaro Cárdenas, faithful to Mexico's pacifist policy, declared neutrality in the European conflict, which was seen as a war never seen before. However, neutrality did not prevent the government from condemning aggression against the sovereignty of democratic nations. Mexico recognized the Polish government in exile, and in December 1939 criticized the Soviet invasion of Finland. Already in 1940 and 1941 it would reject the German invasions of Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Yugoslavia. Before the German aggression against Holland and Belgium, Cárdenas declared on May 13, 1940 that:
On behalf of the Mexican nation I send my message of protest to all the countries of the world for the new outrages committed by the militarist imperialism that has attacked Belgium and Holland, without encountering any other obstacle than the heroic defense of the invaded peoples, while other countries, forgetting their responsibility, have assumed an expectant and indolent attitude.
When General Avila Camacho took office as President of Mexico in December 1940, neutrality was less firm. After the invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941, the new president declared:
Once again, the German armies have invaded by force the territory of a neutral country, abusing its military potential. (...) For those who still think that neutrality is a guarantee of peace and salvation, the case of these two nations, small for their territory, but great for their sense of dignity and for their generous love of independence and sovereignty, should serve as an example and also as an encouragement.
In April 1941, Avila Camacho ordered the seizure of German and Italian ships in national ports; among the ships thus seized was the Italian-flagged tanker Lucifero, which would later be called Potrero del Llano.[8] It became evident that the government of Avila Camacho maintained a "simulated neutrality"; Mexico's material support was clearly for the Allied side. Two months later, another decree was published prohibiting the export of Mexican products to countries outside the American continent. This decision primarily affected Mexican oil, whose only major buyer would then be the United States, a country with which political tension was beginning to dissipate as the U.S. arms industry now required Mexico's raw material.
On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navyattacked Pearl Harbor, precipitating the Americans to abandon neutrality and enter the war which, from being purely European, thus became world-wide. Mexico, respecting the agreements of the Havana Conference of 1940, the Rio de Janeiro Conference of 1942 and in a move of loyalty, broke off relations with Japan and interrupted all commercial exchange with the Axis countries. This was the conclusion of relations between Mexico and Germany, which had been weakening since the British commercial blockade against the Axis.[9] Simultaneously, it resumed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, broken since the oil expropriation of March 18, 1938.
The Potrero del Llano after being torpedoed by submarine U-564. This incident caused Mexico to abandon neutrality to enter the war.
Mexico sold oil to several countries, its main client being the United States, and its ships sailed the Gulf of Mexico. This trade naturally did not suit the Axis powers, which is why German U-boats threatened Mexican merchant ships, warning that this activity could have severe consequences.[1]
On May 13, 1942, a Nazi submarine sank a Mexican oil tanker, the Potrero del Llano.[10] The Mexican government immediately protested the aggression:
If by next Thursday, May 21, 1942, Mexico has not received from the country responsible for the aggression complete satisfaction, as well as guarantees that the indemnities for the damages suffered will be duly covered, the government of the Republic will immediately adopt the measures required by national honor.
Mexico received no response except for a new attack on May 20. Another oil tanker, the Faja de Oro, was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico by a German torpedo.[11] On May 22, the president called an extraordinary session of the Congress of the Union to grant the executive the power to declare a state of war between Mexico and the Axis countries. Before the congress, Avila Camacho said the following:
The attitude that Mexico takes in the present eventuality is based on the fact that our determination stems from a need for legitimate defense. We know the limits of our military resources and we know that, given the enormity of the international masses in conflict, our role in the current conflict will not consist of extra-continental war actions, for which we are not prepared.
"Simulated neutrality" had been left behind and Mexico was explicitly on the side of the Allies as a belligerent country. Lázaro Cárdenas was appointed Secretary of Defense, the National Military Service (SMN) was created, the United States delivered armaments to improve the capacity of the Mexican army, and the properties of German, Japanese and Italian citizens were seized. Even so, Avila Camacho recognized that his role in the conflict was not on the battlefield, but to prepare his defenses and provide resources to his new allies.[12]
Between June and September 1942 the U-Boats would sink 4 more ships: Tuxpam,[13]Las Choapas,[14]Oaxaca[15] and Amatlán.[16] In view of this situation, the United States, under the pretext of the possibility of aggression by Japan on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, began discreet negotiations to be allowed to install a military base on the Baja California peninsula; according to historian Humberto Musacchio, that there was speculation that he might have tried to occupy that part of Mexican territory without success.[citation needed]
President Avila Camacho immediately met with his cabinet, who, analyzing the situation, took precautionary measures to reinforce the surveillance and defense of the Pacific coast.[citation needed]
Airmen from 201st Squadron in front of a P-47D after completing a combat mission.
Militarily, Mexican participation had been limited to the military defense of the coasts of Baja California, but the Allied powers pressed for Mexico to send a symbolic force to the battlefield.
In 1943, due to the military situation in Europe, the Mexican government began to reconsider its refusal to participate in the war with Mexican troops there. By this time, the Allies were already on the offensive on all fronts and the possibility of a German or Japanese attack on the American continent seemed increasingly remote. So Mexico decided to send to the war front a symbolic force to fight under the Mexican flag, providing that it would be an air force contingent in the Pacific campaign. Thus, in 1944, the 201st Squadron arrived in the United States for aviation training. A year later, in 1945, the Mexican squadron (known as the Aztec Eagles) was ready for battle; this squadron of fighter planes participated directly in the Philippines campaign alongside the United States Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force.[17]
The 201st Squadron arrived at Majors Field in Greenville, Texas, on November 30, 1944. Here, the pilots received advanced training in combat air tactics, formation flying and gunnery. The men were honored with graduation ceremonies on February 20, 1945, and the squadron was presented with its battle flag. This marked the first time Mexican troops were trained for overseas combat. In charge of the group was Colonel Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez, and Captain First Class Radamés Gaxiola Andrade was named squadron commander.
Thus, the 201st Squadron of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, composed of about 300 men, 30 pilots and 25 U.S.-made P-47D Thunderbolt aircraft, fought against Imperial Japanese Army forces during the Battle of Luzon in pursuit of the liberation of the Philippines. The P-47D aircraft carried USAAF insignia but with Mexican colors on the tail rudder.
In June 1945, the squadron initially flew missions with the 310th Fighter Squadron, often twice a day, using borrowed U.S. aircraft. It received 25 new P-47D-30-RA aircraft in July, marked with the insignia of both the USAAF and Mexican Air Force. The squadron flew more than 90 combat missions, totaling more than 1,900 hours of flight time. It participated in the Allied effort to bomb Luzon and Formosa to push the Japanese out of those islands. It relentlessly attacked the Japanese forces concentrated mainly in Luzon and flew 53 combat missions as part of the U.S. Air Force warfare organization, was specified in the support of the 25th Infantry Division, the Philippine Army, as well as numerous Filipino guerrillas, to open up into the Cagayan valley where the squadron devastated the Japanese defenses on the ground with its bombs. Close support missions consisted mainly of attacking resistance points with feces, apart from these they launched attacks on bases, fortifications, supply routes and machine gun pits.[18]
During its fighting in the Philippines, five squadron pilots died (one was shot down, one crashed, and three ran out of fuel and died at sea); and three others died in accidents during training.[1] The pilot Héctor Espinoza Galván was flying together with an American pilot but he ran out of fuel and fell into the ocean; His body was never found. Captain Pablo Ribaz Martínez and Second Lieutenant Guillermo García Ramos were surrounded by a storm, Ribaz Martínez dying while García Ramos survived after being rescued. On July 21, 1945, Second Lieutenant Mario López Portillo along with another pilot from 311th Squadron crashed into a mountain nearby, dying in the process. The casualties of these pilots would be a serious blow to 201st Squadron, meanwhile, the fifth force moved to Okinawa to continue harassment attacks on the Japanese. The Mexican Expeditionary Air Force was assigned to the service group of 311th Squadron, and on August 24, it carried out an escort mission to a convoy north of the Philippine Sea to prevent Japanese attacks. After intense fighting and losing companions, the mission had been accomplished.[19]
Given all this, on August 15, 1945, the Empire of Japan finally offered its unconditional surrender, which was formalized with a solemn signature on September 2, in Tokyo Bay. During that period, the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred. They were very risky missions, since the anti-aircraft attacks would cause six planes to be annihilated by bullets. Mexican troops were credited with putting 30,000 Japanese soldiers out of action and destroying held buildings, vehicles, tanks, anti-aircraft machine guns, emplaced machine guns, and ammunition depots. Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Command Allied Forces in Southwest Pacific Area, was impressed with the work performed by the squadron.[20]
Years later, it was announced that the Mexican troops were going to embark to the European Theater, but it was decided that they would fight in the Philippines, since both governments maintained a close relationship of Hispanic brotherhood, so for the soldiers of the squadron it was an honor to fight on the side of a half Spanish-speaking country. It is worth recalling that on November 22, 2004, the 201st Squadron was decorated with the Philippine Legion of Honor, with the rank of Legionnaire, by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.[21]
Other fronts
But Mexico's participation in World War II was not exclusive to the 201st Squadron. Thousands of Mexicans fought on the battlefield as volunteers in foreign armies or as residents of other countries. There are figures of between 50 thousand to 80 thousand Mexicans who fought on different fronts, many of them did so voluntarily. On D-Day there were also Mexican fighters, all of whom were volunteers and born in other countries, including Luis Pérez Gómez (1922-1944), who enlisted as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, participating in various missions during the Normandy landings.
One of the most prominent Mexicans as reinforcements for other troops was José M. López, who fought alongside the American troops and his bravery in the conflict was such that after the Allied victory, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration in the army. This after his participation in the Battle of the Bulge, where he and other soldiers counterattacked the German offensive. Mendoza, with a machine gun, left almost more than 100 casualties to the Germans.[22]
Returns
On September 25, 1945, a few weeks after the war ended, members of the FAEM unveiled a monument to their fallen comrades. The monument was designed by pilot Miguel Moreno Arreola and was built with the help of 10 elements of the Squadron. The eagle that tops the monument was made by the sculptor of Filipino origin Guillermo Tolentino. On October 12, the Squadron handed over its aircraft to the 45th Air Services Group and began preparations to return to Mexico. The members of the FAEM boarded the Sea Marlin ship on October 23, arriving on November 13 in San Pedro, California, although the first to arrive in Americas were Colonel Cárdenas Rodríguez, Lieutenant Amadeo Castro Almanza, Second Lieutenant García Ramos and Second Lieutenant José Luis Pratt Ramos, who traveled by air after meeting with General MacArthur in Tokyo, to thank him for his cooperation with the FAEM.
201st Squadron returned to Mexico City on November 18 in a military parade in the Zócalo and the subsequent presentation of the flag to the president, General Manuel Ávila Camacho, being received as heroes for battling fascism in the Pacific. The FAEM was disbanded upon his return from the Philippines. However, the rest of the Mexicans who fought in other armies were not given recognition as they did with the Squadron.
In the years following the war, many of the members have successfully moved on to other careers in life, some as leaders of civil aviation or the Mexican Army, others as businessmen, educators and engineers; five of the pilots became generals of the Mexican Air Force.
Not all of the population agreed with participating in the war. A poll by the magazine Tiempo revealed that 40.7% supported Mexico's further involvement in World War II, while 59.8% opposed it. To change public opinion, the government began a propaganda campaign to justify its decision. They used Rodolfo Chacón, a survivor of the German attack on Potrero del Llano as the focal point of the propaganda.
Regarding military service, there was also division among Mexicans, provoking violent protests that led the government to exempt draftees from overseas service, which helped quell civil unrest. However, Mexican citizens living in other countries were drafted into their respective armies, resulting in high casualty rates.
The press and the popular opinion, on one side was the sympathy with the aliadophiles and on the other the germanophile current. For the former, the gazettes and newspapers in general were full of praise "with the full assurance of conquering the laurels of triumph". And in cities throughout the Republic, "darkening exercises" were carried out, in which the civilian population had to participate by turning off all sources of light, as a strategy to hinder possible bombing of the cities.
On the other hand, in the newspaper La Nación, organ of diffusion of the National Action Party, Efraín González Luna stated:
The great danger of our situation consists in the fact that on the one hand, this is a war whose direction and decision are in the hands of the great powers engaged in it for life or death, and at the same time, we do not have a repertoire of tangible objectives to mark and govern our path... no pending territorial dispute... an invasion... we do not even have a common border with enemy countries.... We run the risk of entering into a rather ideological war of solidarity with the United States of America.... Under these conditions we are seriously exposed to a deadly annulment of our national personality.
So it had been, the leader of the workers, Vicente Lombardo Toledano, visible head of the Mexican left, supported the allied cause in the tribunes and advised the president not to take refuge in prudence because the time had come for the country to honor its traditions. The idea of National Unity prevailed and 1942 was baptized as the "Year of Effort", with the multiplication in all the media of allusive messages always accompanied by a Mexican flag such as:
Mexican: think of your country and work for it,
The Americas United, united we will win,
We are at War, Spirit of Victory,
The radio constantly broadcast war reports and allusive radio soap operas: Contraespionaje, Las ideas no se matan. Agustín Lara premiered his Cantar del Regimiento and the cinema achieved resounding successes that everyone likes to this day: ¡Mexicanos al Grito de Guerra! by Álvaro Gálvez y Fuentes, La Isla de la Pasión and Soy puro mexicano by Emilio Fernández. This was the popular sentiment.
Aftermath
Political
When the Allies achieved victory, and although they actively sent soldiers in the last year of the conflict, Mexico was among the victors. Therefore, the country was a founding member of the United Nations Organization; unlike the founding of the League of Nations in 1919, where it was not invited because it had remained neutral during the First World War. In the international arena, Mexico was more present; taking part in the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, the Treaty of San Francisco,[23] the Bretton Woods Conference, and managed to have its initiative approved so that the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain would not be recognized or admitted as a legitimate government before the UN, because it had been formed with the military aid of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
Economic
Mexico's geographic position and the global crisis the world was facing placed the country in a strategic role for the supply and security of its northern neighbors, Canada and the United States. The U.S. productive force was incomplete and international trade was hampered; Mexico had a "high bargaining power" with the U.S. and was obliged to produce products that it had previously imported. The country had natural resources indispensable for the war industry -such as copper, zinc, graphite, minerals, silver, cattle, beer and agricultural products-, which increased its exports and stimulated its development.
These were years of unprecedented prosperity; between 1939 and 1945, the domestic product grew by 10% and the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) was founded. The economic benefits of the war also brought some damage: it was during this period that Mexico became completely dependent on the capitalist powers during the early years of the Cold War, missing the opportunity to link up more deeply with the nations of Latin America. Mexico lived in ideal circumstances for industrialization. The conditions that allowed the accelerated growth of the economy were the origin of the import substitution model that Mexico maintained for several decades since the end of the war. Economically, Mexico's actions in World War II cost the country approximately three million dollars.[24]
The entry of U.S. troops into the war caused an intense increase in its industrial and agricultural production. But the departure of U.S. soldiers left little labor for its economy; the remaining U.S. labor force was insufficient to meet the demands of the countryside and industry. Mexico and the United States signed an agreement in 1942 to regulate the flow of Mexican migrants (braceros) to the United States and compensate for the lack of U.S. workers.[25] The agreement established that braceros could not be employed in military service; they could not suffer acts of discrimination, could not be used to displace U.S. workers and their basic needs had to be assured.[26] The Bracero Program remained in effect until 1964 and benefited neighboring countries, securing needed labor for the United States and reducing unemployment in Mexico.[27]
A little known situation is the boom in music, radio and, above all, Mexican cinema during the war. On the one hand, the scarcity of labor made the costs of foreign productions fighting in Europe more expensive, which motivated their transfer to Mexican forums and studios -such as the Estudios Churubusco and Azteca Studios in Mexico City and the deserts of Durango. On the other hand, the constant presence of Hollywood stars on the war fronts forced the film industry to use Mexican casts. In addition to the low U.S. film production during the war, Mexican cinema spread throughout the world, where it left a permanent mark.[28]
Mexican cinema continued to produce works of superb quality and began to explore other genres such as comedy, romance and musical. In 1943, the film Wild Flower, brought together a team comprising the filmmaker Emilio Fernández, the photographer Gabriel Figueroa, the actor Pedro Armendariz and actress Dolores del Río. The films María Candelaria (1943) and The Pearl (1947), were considered pivotal works by Fernández and his team, and gave Mexican cinema enormous prestige, with their works being shown worldwide in major film festivals. María Candelaria was awarded in 1946 with the Golden Palm in the Cannes Film Festival. The Pearl was awarded the Golden Globe of the American film industry, being the first Spanish film to receive such recognition.[29]
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revolution and as Governor of Michoacán and President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. He later served as the Secretary of National Defence. During his presidency, which is considered the end of the Maximato, he implemented massive land reform programs, led the expropriation of the country's oil industry, and implemented many key social reforms.
Manuel Ávila Camacho was a Mexican politician and military leader who served as the President of Mexico from 1940 to 1946. Despite participating in the Mexican Revolution and achieving a high rank, he came to the presidency of Mexico because of his direct connection to General Lázaro Cárdenas and served him as a right-hand man as his Chief of his General Staff during the Mexican Revolution and afterwards. He was called affectionately by Mexicans "The Gentleman President". As president, he pursued "national policies of unity, adjustment, and moderation." His administration completed the transition from military to civilian leadership, ended confrontational anticlericalism, reversed the push for socialist education, and restored a working relationship with the US during World War II.
Miguel Alemán Valdés was a Mexican politician who served a full term as the President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952, the first civilian president after a string of revolutionary generals.
The Mexican Air Force is the air service branch of the Mexican Armed Forces. It is a component of the Mexican Army and as such overseen by the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA). The objective of the FAM is to defend the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of Mexico. Its auxiliary tasks include internal security, assisting with public works, and natural disaster management. As of 2023, its commander is Bertín Hernández Mercado.
Almost every country in the world participated in World War II. Most were neutral at the beginning, but only a relative few nations remained neutral to the end. The Second World War pitted two alliances against each other, the Axis powers and the Allied powers. It is estimated that 74 million people died, with estimates ranging from 40 million to 90 million dead. The main Axis powers were Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan, and the Kingdom of Italy; while the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union and China were the "Big Four" Allied powers.
The 201st Fighter Squadron is a fighter squadron of the Mexican Air Force, part of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force that aided the Allied war effort during World War II. The squadron was known by the nickname Águilas Aztecas or "Aztec Eagles", apparently coined by members of the squadron during training.
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during World War II (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers. Its principal members by the end of 1941 were the "Big Four" – the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China.
The military history of Mexico encompasses armed conflicts within that nation's territory, dating from before the arrival of Europeans in 1519 to the present era. Mexican military history is replete with small-scale revolts, foreign invasions, civil wars, indigenous uprisings, and coups d'état by disgruntled military leaders. Mexico's colonial-era military was not established until the eighteenth century. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early sixteenth century, the Spanish crown did not establish on a standing military, but the crown responded to the external threat of a British invasion by creating a standing military for the first time following the Seven Years' War (1756–63). The regular army units and militias had a short history when in the early 19th century, the unstable situation in Spain with the Napoleonic invasion gave rise to an insurgency for independence, propelled by militarily untrained men fighting for the independence of Mexico. The Mexican War of Independence (1810–21) saw royalist and insurgent armies battling to a stalemate in 1820. That stalemate ended with the royalist military officer turned insurgent, Agustín de Iturbide persuading the guerrilla leader of the insurgency, Vicente Guerrero, to join in a unified movement for independence, forming the Army of the Three Guarantees. The royalist military had to decide whether to support newly independent Mexico. With the collapse of the Spanish state and the establishment of first a monarchy under Iturbide and then a republic, the state was a weak institution. The Roman Catholic Church and the military weathered independence better. Military men dominated Mexico's nineteenth-century history, most particularly General Antonio López de Santa Anna, under whom the Mexican military were defeated by Texas insurgents for independence in 1836 and then the U.S. invasion of Mexico (1846–48). With the overthrow of Santa Anna in 1855 and the installation of a government of political liberals, Mexico briefly had civilian heads of state. The Liberal Reforms that were instituted by Benito Juárez sought to curtail the power of the military and the church and wrote a new constitution in 1857 enshrining these principles. Conservatives comprised large landowners, the Catholic Church, and most of the regular army revolted against the Liberals, fighting a civil war. The Conservative military lost on the battlefield. But Conservatives sought another solution, supporting the French intervention in Mexico (1862–65). The Mexican army loyal to the liberal republic were unable to stop the French army's invasion, briefly halting it with a victory at Puebla on 5 May 1862. Mexican Conservatives supported the installation of Maximilian Hapsburg as Emperor of Mexico, propped up by the French and Mexican armies. With the military aid of the U.S. flowing to the republican government in exile of Juárez, the French withdrew its military supporting the monarchy and Maximilian was caught and executed. The Mexican army that emerged in the wake of the French Intervention was young and battle tested, not part of the military tradition dating to the colonial and early independence eras.
The Allied leaders of World War II listed below comprise the important political and military figures who fought for or supported the Allies during World War II. Engaged in total war, they had to adapt to new types of modern warfare, on the military, psychological and economic fronts.
The Mexican miracle is a term used to refer to the country's inward-looking development strategy that produced sustained economic growth. It is considered to be a golden age in Mexico's economy in which the Mexican economy grew 6.8% each year. It was a stabilizing economic plan which caused an average growth of 6.8% and industrial production to increase by 8% with inflation staying at only 2.5%. Beginning roughly in the 1940s, the Mexican government would begin to roll out the economic plan that they would call "the Mexican miracle," which would spark an economic boom beginning in 1954 spanning some 15 years and would last until 1970. In Mexico, the Spanish economic term used is "Desarrollo estabilizador" or "Stabilizing Development."
General elections were held in Mexico on 7 July 1940. The presidential elections were won by Manuel Ávila Camacho, who received 94% of the vote. In the Chamber of Deputies election, the Party of the Mexican Revolution won all but one of the 173 seats.
The Mexican Expeditionary Air Force was a military aviation unit which represented Mexico on the Allied side during World War II. It is notable as the only Mexican military unit ever to fight outside Mexico itself.
Mexico and the Philippines share a common history dating from when the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled the Spanish East Indies for the Spanish Crown. Formal relations between the modern countries were established in 1953. Both nations are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Forum of East Asia–Latin America Cooperation and the United Nations.
Fausto Vega Santander was a Mexican aviator who died in a crash while fighting during World War II.
General de División Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez was a military aviator and head of the Mexican Air Force. As a Colonel he made a goodwill flight of several countries in Latin America. He traveled almost 35,000 km in 118 hours of flight time aboard a Lockheed 12, named "President Carranza" returning to Mexico City on September 13, 1940. He commanded the Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana (FAEM), who participated in World War II at the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines. The FAEM is notable as the only Mexican military unit ever to fight outside Mexico itself. Ixtepec No. 2 Air Base in Ixtepec, Oaxaca is named in honour of General Cárdenas Rodríguez.
The history of Colombia during World War II began in 1939. Although geographically distant from the main theaters of war, Colombia played an important role in World War II because of its strategic location near the Panama Canal, and its access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Colombia also experienced major changes to its military and society, due to increased influence from the United States, but it was also able to maintain its sovereignty throughout the war, as well as avoid sending troops into battle.
During World War II, a number of significant economic, political, and military changes took place in Latin America. The war caused considerable panic in the region as large portions of their economies depended on trade with the European market, which was completely disrupted due to the war. Latin America tried to stay neutral at first but the warring countries were endangering their neutrality. In order to better protect the Panama Canal, combat Axis influence, and optimize the production of goods for the war effort, the United States through Lend-Lease and similar programs greatly expanded its interests in Latin America, resulting in large-scale modernization and a major economic boost for the countries that participated.
Mexico formally declared war on the Axis Powers in support of the Allies on May 22, 1942, following losses of oil ships in the Gulf of Mexico, most notably the Potrero del Llano and the Faja de Oro, to German submarine attacks. After its declaration of war, Mexico was active in convincing other Latin American states to support the allies.
The foreign policy of the United States was controlled personally by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first and second and third and fourth terms as the president of the United States from 1933 to 1945. He depended heavily on Henry Morgenthau Jr., Sumner Welles, and Harry Hopkins. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Cordell Hull handled routine matters. Roosevelt was an internationalist, while powerful members of Congress favored more isolationist solutions in order to keep the U.S. out of European wars. There was considerable tension before the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The attack converted the isolationists or made them irrelevant. The US began aid to the Soviet Union after Germany invaded it in June 1941. After the US declared war in December 1941, key decisions were made at the highest level by Roosevelt, Britain's Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, along with their top aides. After 1938 Washington's policy was to help China in its war against Japan, including cutting off money and oil to Japan. While isolationism was powerful regarding Europe, American public and elite opinion strongly opposed Japan.
↑ Gustavo Casasola Zapata, Historia gráfica de la Revolución Mexicana 1900–1960, México: F. Trillas., 1960, p. 2251.
↑ Ortiz Garza, José Luis (2007). Ideas en tormenta: La opinión pública en México y la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Ediciones Ruz. p.18. ISBN978-968-5151-60-3.
↑ Gustavo Casasola Zapata, Historia gráfica de la Revolución Mexicana 1900–1960, México: F. Trillas., 1960, p. 2372.
↑ Velázquez Flores, Rafael (2007). La política exterior de México durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Universidad del Mar. p.144. ISBN978-970-722-614-2.
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