The Mexican Army is the armed wing of the government of Mexico, which first fought in the Texan Revolution of 1836. The Mexican Army was weak in its initial wars against the Republic of Texas and the United States, but it would later be reorganized as a Westernized fighting force, becoming a strong military during the 20th century.
History[]
Mexican troops in Texas, 1835
The Mexican Army was founded in 1810, when Mexico was fighting for independence against New Spain in the South American Wars of Independence. It was originally a force of guerrilla fighters, and was not a professional army until the end of the war in 1821. Mexico was an infant nation when faced with a rebellion by its American subjects in Texas in 1835, and they were defeated in the war with Texas. President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna won a great victory at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, having been the commander of the Mexican invading army of the disputed Republic of Texas, and fought France in the Pastry War a year later, losing his leg to grapeshot.
Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847.
In 1846, the USA invaded Mexico to settle a dispute over California and the mouth of the Rio Grande, and they conquered all of the American West as well as the Southwest from Mexico. Santa Anna again proved to be a skilled commander but narrowly lost the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847 and eventually agreed to a peace. Mexico declined as a series of coups began in the 1830s, ending only with the 1911 Mexican Revolution.
Mexican revolutions[]
Mexican Army, 1911
The Mexican Army was taken over by the House of Habsburg in 1863 when the French Intervention placed Maximilian von Hapsburg on the Mexican throne. The Mexican rebels fought the Mexican Army in a guerrilla war even after the fall of Ciudad Mexico, winning in 1869. Mexico had relative peace in their lands until 1911, when Ignacio Sanchez was overthrown after having taken part in a coup a year before in which he killed his brother. Led by Abraham Reyes, the rebels ambushed supply convoys and trains, and the Mexican Army responded by committing illegal executions by firing squad, sowing terror into the people. Elements of the Mexican Army deserted when Reyes besieged Mexico City later in 1911, and many continued to fight under the command of Arsenio Baldizon against Reyes, even after he became President. Only in 1920, when the revolution ended, did the Mexican Army have a true commander: Alvaro Obregon.
Mexican drug war[]
Mexican troops in Apo, Michoacan, 2015
During the 2000s, the Mexican Army began to fight against the illegal drug trade in the country with the help of the United States. The US trained Mexican soldiers and death squads to be used against suspected drug dealers and dissidents, and the Mexican Army fought against the cartels violently and the Autodefensas vigilantes peacefully. They disarmed vigilantes in liberated towns and allowed for the cartels to retake the towns, leading to suspicion that many Mexican soldiers had been paid off by the cartels; many Mexican Army veterans joined the Los Zetas mercenary group.
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