The life of Emperor Agustin of Mexico is a fascinating look at a man whose passion for war seemed to be more personal than professional. It's impossible to know his personal motivations for his actions, of course. However, it's interesting to ponder what he might have been thinking. Certainly those who knew him in the first half of the war would never have guessed his eventual fate.
The first six years of the War of Independence went well for Agustin, and he quickly distinguished himself in battle. As a member of the royalist army loyal to Spain, he was fighting against a ragtag bunch of rebels with more passion than experience. While his first encounter with the insurgency at the Battle of Monte de las Cruces ended in a loss, Agustin was commended for his tenacity and valor on the battlefield.
The fight in his hometown of Valladolid, which happened next, went better for him. Agustin faced the rebel General Jose Morelos, who was rampaging through the Guanajuato area. While Morelos had an early advantage in the initial siege, Iturbide worked out a tactical plan to break up the rebel forces with a well-timed cavalry charge. For his quick thinking and heroic actions, Iturbide was promoted to captain. He was already a colonel and commander of the defensive forces in Guanajuato by 1814.
Iturbide delighted in each bloody encounter as he pursued Morelos and the rebels vigorously. Then, in January 1814, during a battle in Michoacan, Agustin's forces took things to the next level and thoroughly defeated the insurgency. They killed 600 men, captured 700 more, and forced Morelos to flee for his life. This marked a turning point in the war, and for a while it seemed that the rebellion might die down.
But as Agustin basked in the glory, reports began to surface that darkened his victorious reputation. Everyone knew that he was relentless in his pursuit of rebel forces, and made no secret about his disdain for their liberal politics. Violent and harsh actions became the response from Agustin, as his opinions turned aggressive; he wrote fondly about executing 300 rebels just to celebrate Good Friday, and he showed no mercy in arresting the families of known insurgents.
Some of Iturbide's colleagues charged that he was profiteering from the army once his cruelty came to light (a serious charge). They testified that the colonel was creating commercial monopolies and embezzling royalist funds into his own fortune. In the wake of the scandal, viceroy of New Spain relieved Iturbide of command--a huge personal and professional blow.
Agustin spent the next year fighting the charges against him; with the help of friends inside the viceregal government, he successfully got the charges dropped and was reinstated in 1820 as a general. But the humiliation of his dismissal was never forgotten, and Iturbide returned to his post with a soured view of the viceroy. It didn't help that his budget was slashed, forcing him to steal the funds necessary for his military activities. Agustin found himself up against a new rebel general: A guerrilla warrior, Vincente Guerrero, a man with a good control of his troops. Despite Iturbide's best attempts, he could not defeat this new insurrectionist leader. Crushed on all sides and nursing a wounded ego, he began to think that perhaps the royalist army was not the best place for him.
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