Post-Independence Mexico

• 🌍 Palace of Iturbide, Francisco Madero 17, Mexico City/Centro. Former official residence of Agustin I, Emperor of Mexico between 1821-1823. 

In 1835, land owners and Mayan indigenous groups instigated a rebellion against the Mexican government in the Yucatán. Santa Anna led his army to successfully put down the biggest fires of the rebellion, but the rebellion (referred to as the Caste War) didn't really end because the underlying problems of land appropriation from indigenous Mayan were never addressed. The Yucatan would continue to be a troublesome region for all succeeding presidents throughout the 19th century until the Mexican Revolution finally did address indigenous land rights.

Unfortunately for Santa Anna, trouble was also brewing in the northern state of Coahuila y Tejas.

In 1835–1836, Texas land owners and a rag-tag bunch of Anglo rabble rousers and land grabbers instigated an insurrection against the Mexican government. They would eventually succeed in their fight and secede from Mexico to form an independent state (eventually to be annexed by the United States). This was the first of a series of severe losses of Mexican territory and a severe blow to Santa Anna's reputation.

In 1845, the United States government yearned to steal Mexican territory. The U.S. government provoked Mexico in 1845 by annexing the independent territory of Texas and then reneging on the treaty with Mexico by falsely claiming that the southern border of Texas was the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) instead of the Rio Nueces, as agreed in the treaty. In 1846, the U.S. expanded the conflict by pushing west into Mexico's northwest territory, which includes the modern-day U.S. states of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California. Meanwhile, U.S. president Taft ordered the army and navy to attack the port of Veracruz and to move inland to attack the capital. General Winfield Scott commanded 12,000 men who defeated the defenders at Veracruz and marched on Mexico City. The last major battle in the conflict was an attack on the Mexican Military Academy, then located in Chapultepec Castle high atop a hill in the center of the city. The battle was a defeat for the Mexicans, but it is a treasured historical story of bravery and patriotism as six of the young academy cadets who were defending the site chose to die rather than surrender to the invaders. They are known throughout Mexico as the Niños Héroes. The war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo which called for Mexico to cede its northern territories to the United States. The land grab met with acclaim in many parts of the U.S., though political scholars believe it might have fueled emotions that started the U.S. Civil War because there was dissent about whether the newly stolen territories should be free states or slave states. In Mexico, the humiliating defeat spelled writing on the wall for Santa Anna's inevitable political defeat.

• 🌍 Alamo, San Antonio, Texas. Insurrectionists barricaded themselves inside the Mision San Antonio de Valero. Santa Anna's army laid siege to the mission, eventually killing the traitors, but not without sustaining heavy losses themselves. 
• 🌍 San Jacinto Battleground, Houston, Texas. Santa Anna's army was defeated by an inferior force led by Sam Houston, leading to Santa Anna's surrender and the end of the Texas Revolution. 
• 🌍 Monument to the Niños Héroes, Av. Juventud Heroica, Mexico City/Chapultepec. At the entrance to Chapultepec Park is a semicircle with six marble columns. This is a revered patriotic memorial to the six heroic cadets who were defending Chapultepec against foreign aggression and chose death over capitulation. 

Benito Juarez was Mexico's first indigenous president. He was from a poor Zapotec family in the state of Oaxaca (where he continues to be revered as one of Mexico's greatest presidents). Although very popular with near-unanimous acclaim of poorer communities, especially among the indigenous and mestizos, he was reviled by conservative insurrectionists who fought to preserve inequality and injustice. This would manifest itself through bullets flying in the Reform War over differences in philosophy and privilege, and even when the country clearly had no appetite to support the greedy, selfish conservatives, they would "double down" by betraying their country and supporting a French invasion force under Napoleon III.

With the United States embroiled in Civil War, France saw its opportunity to meddle in Mexico's affairs and maybe even steal some of its territory, since intervention had worked out that way for the Americans. In 1861 France demanded that the Juarez government pay reparations for some trumped up imaginary offense. Juarez told Napoleon to stick that demand where it belonged. In 1862, France sent troops to attack Veracruz, then to march on Puebla where on May 5, 1862, they were opposed by General Zaragoza who held the twin forts of Guadalupe and Loreto. The French were handed an unexpected defeat, though they eventually did manage to capture Puebla. The French army marched on Mexico City and with the support of Benito Juarez's enemies in the conservative coalition, installed an illegitimate shadow government under Emperor Maximilian I, a Hapsburg prince imported to Mexico by Napoleon as his puppet. Unexpectedly, Maximilian turned out to not be quite the sphincter that Napoleon or the Mexican conservatives thought he would be, he sympathized with the Mexican majority and not only failed to roll back liberal reforms, actually implemented a few of his own. It wouldn't be enough to save his skin though. He was still a puppet monarch of foreign interventionists backed by traitors within Mexico, so a well-deserved execution was to be his fate. That's just what he met when he tried to flee to Queretaro. By that time, the U.S. Civil War had ended and the U.S. had begun sending supplies to support Benito Juarez's presidency. After all, U.S. president Monroe had warned off Europeans about meddling anywhere in the Americas, and France's meddling was certainly not to be ignored. The French went back to France with their tails tucked firmly between their legs.

• 🌍 Museo Casa de Juarez (Juarez Home), Calle Manuel García Vigil 609 Oaxaca. Small museum in a house where the former president was raised. Lacks historical insight to Juarez's philosophy or political career and definitely packs no punch as far as explaining his impact on Mexico's society and future. An interesting diversion if you're visiting Oaxaca (where everything, including the city itself, has Juarez's name attached to it). 
• 🌍 Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones (National Museum of Interventions, Ex-Monastery of Churubusco), 20 de Agosto, San Diego Churubusco, Mexico City/Coyoacan. Historical museum that documents foreign incursions into Mexico during the 19th century with galleries dedicated to American incursions during the Mexican-American War and French incursions during the presidency of Benito Juarez. Many period pieces and documents in several galleries of a historic monastery where fighting actually occurred during one of the incursions. 
• 🌍 Cerro de la Camapanas, Queretaro. Site where Emperor Maximilian I was executed by firing squad following his trial and conviction for treasonous acts. The site is also home to the Monument to Benito Juarez, a fitting symbol of the triumph of democracy over foreign interference. 

• 🌍 National Museum of Mexican History, Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City/Chapultepec. Mexico's primary history museum, with exhibits spanning all time periods. Housed in the historic Chapultepec Castle.