The Mexican War for Independence officially began in 1810. Many scholars agree, however, that the war had been hundreds of years in the making, all the way back to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire. After the conquering of the Aztec, the Spaniards in Central America had almost complete and autonomous control. They were essentially free from the control of the royal crown of Spain. Martin Cortes, the son of explorer Hernan Cortes, was the first to lead a revolt. Martin and his rebels fought against the crown after they sought to eliminate privileges for explorers and conquistadors. The crown successfully managed to suppress the rebellion, and remained in control of the Central American populace until …show more content…
More and more of the Mexican people joined the army, and its numbers swelled rapidly. With each victory in each town, the force grew bigger and became better equipped. It was on this march that the revolutionary force adopted the Virgin of Guadalupe as their symbol. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the title of the Virgin Mary as associated with image painted in Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The rebels felt that their cause was righteous, and the Virgin would protect them. (Beezley …show more content…
Several battles were fought, one of the biggest being the Siege of Cuautla. It began on February 9th 1812, and did not end until May 2nd of that year. The town of Cuautla was occupied by rebel forces, and was attacked by Spaniard forces under the command of Calleja. The Spaniards assaulted the town, not with the intention of reclaiming the city, but to keep the rebel army busy and to avoid an assault on Mexico City. Calleja had 5,000 soldiers under his command, and they fortified the area outside the city as he planned his avenues of attack. The larger portion of the rebel army arrived on January 31, 1812. A loyal Spanish farmer attempted to attack the rebels with a cannon he named El Matamorelos. The farmer was swiftly defeated by the larger army. When he entered the city, Morelos immediately executed 50 Spanish soldiers, and gave a rousing speech intending to gain the sympathy of the locals. The rebels then began and extensive trench network around the city, and Morelos procured food and equipment for his men. The total amount in the rebel force ended up at around 2,000 foot soldiers and close to 1,000 cavalry. They owned 16 pieces of artillery, one of which was El Nino. On February 10th, Morelos learned of Calleja’s arrival at the city. Calleja’s first attack came on February 18th. A few days after that, Calleja was reinforced with 7,000 troops. Calleja began his siege, often attacking the city, but with the main goal of