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When Mexico won its independence in the early 19th century, it was a very large country stretching across thousands of miles. Today, the country is much smaller, having been reduced peace meal over the course of the 19th century. So, why and how did this happen? Why did Mexico lose so much land so quickly? And why couldn't it reclaim more of it? So, when the Spanish were defeated and kicked out of most of North America, the Mexicans established their country as an empire led by a regency council until they could pick an emperor. Under this council, Mexico sought to befriend its newly independent southern neighbors. And after some convincing, its leaders voted for annexation into Mexico,
thereby making it absolutely massive. The ruling council soon decided that its leader Augustine Deurbet would make a fantastic emperor and he was crowned Augustine the turns out though he wasn't. And after some absolutist tendencies combined with upsetting the army, he abdicated in 1823. Thus, Mexico became a republic and this new form of government was somewhat fragile. by which I mean it was in a near constant state of civil unrest and so its leaders in order to avoid death by mob moved troops from the south back to the capital and to the surprise of no one these areas then immediately declared their independence. Although after the border was settled this region here did vote to join Mexico in 1824. The new
republic struggled to keep the country together but things remained somewhat manageable until 1829 which was when the president was overthrown and executed by the vice president. This led to General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana rebelling and overthrowing the government in 1835. If he repealed the Constitution, which led to a lot of rebellions against him, the most notable being in Texas. Santa Anna personally tried to suppress the revolt, but due to his brutal treatment of many Texans, he hardened opinions against Mexico. Santa Anna believed that there was no way that the Texans could resist him, and so he split his army to garrison more of the country. This proved to be a bad idea, and he was soon
captured and agreed to grant Texas its independence if his captives spared his life. Unsurprisingly, the rest of Mexico didn't consent to losing Texas. But at this point, there was little they could do about it. partly because those previously mentioned other parts of Mexico were breaking away. This part, the Republic of the Rio Grande, was soon reinccorporated, but Yucatan was able to keep the Mexicans at bay. Silver lining though in that Mexico was able to annex this small strip of land the next year. Obviously, things weren't great for Mexico. But this is human history, meaning that they could get a whole lot worse. And so, they did. You see, the now independent Texas had been asking to
join the US since roughly 3 seconds after its exit. And in 1845, after nine years of pretending not to hear the people of Texas, Washington consented and annexed it. This upset the Mexican government because they refused to acknowledge Texan independence. But most importantly, Texas laid claim to all of this territory, which now the United States could claim too. And so, believing that a foreign country was in control of what was rightfully theirs, war. As you know, this war did not go well for Mexico, the Americans invaded from the north whilst also crossing the Gulf of current name in your jurisdiction and taking Vera Cruz. They soon occupied Mexico City and the government was forced to negotiate and
in the following peace treaty it seeded half of the country. This was a bit of a national embarrassment but soon afterwards Yucatan asked for help because it had broken down into civil war. Mexico intervened and reincorporated most of it into the country but this bit here remained independent due to some outside help. So the Americans weren't entirely happy with the territorial gains from 1848. And so in 1853 they approached the Mexicans to purchase this land because it was better for building a railway. The Mexican government, now led by Santa Ana, because of course it was, agreed to the sale. The reason being that it feared war and even greater losses if it refused. This upset basically everybody,
and Santa Ana was finally removed from office and exiled. And after this, the changes to Mexico's borders were very, very slight. Mexico renounced its claim to these former Yucatan lands in 1893, which were incorporated into British Honduras, and two decades later, it crushed the rebellion in the region. And in the 1930s, Mexico and France argued over the ownership of this island here. Both sides agreed to Italian arbitration and in the end it was awarded to France. Bummer for Mexico, but after the fall of France in World War II, the islands were occupied by the Americans and the Mexicans spied an opportunity and so
requested that the Americans hand it over. Washington was sympathetic, but it didn't want to upset its French allies and so in the end said no. The 1970s saw a minor change to the border when the US handed over some tiny bits of territory to Mexico. This was because the old border, the Rio Grande, had moved. But these changes are so small that they won't appear except on the most detailed of maps. And after this, Mexico's borders remained unchanged. This wasn't down to a lack of desire, though. The problem was that the vast majority of its territory was lost to a much more powerful United States to the north, and those lands to the south were now guaranteed by it. I hope you enjoyed
this episode with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizanette, Sky Chappelle, Kitka, Anthony Beckett, Wyan Hockey, Udwan Wang, Alex Schwin, AF Firefly, The Flying Deutseland, Captain Sydog, Robert C. Perkins, Spencer Lightfoot, Shuenin, Michael Holbert, Castle Bravo, The McWer, Gustav Swan, Marvin Cassau, Spinning Three Plates, Andy McGee, Rody Martin, Arthur Hosy Jr., Commune Yun, Copper Tone, Murza Armad, The Jim Stannon, Winston Kwood, Respectable Level of Chaos, Starry Knights, Kitro, Bonnie Bounds, Remco Hoisman, Jim Sternberg, Lord Beak, Charles the First, and Bet Kabot.
