Agustín de Iturbide

Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu (Spanish pronunciation: [aɣusˈtin de ituɾˈbiðe] ; 27 September 1783 – 19 July 1824), commonly known as Agustín de Iturbide and later by his regnal name Agustín I, was the first Emperor of Mexico from 1822 until his abdication in 1823. An officer in the royal Spanish army, during the Mexican War of Independence he initially fought insurgent forces rebelling against the Spanish crown before changing sides in 1820 and leading a coalition of former royalists and long-time insurgents under his Plan of Iguala. The combined forces under Iturbide brought about Mexican independence in September 1821. After securing the secession of Mexico from Spain, Iturbide was proclaimed president of the Regency in 1821; a year later, he was proclaimed Emperor, reigning from 19 May 1822 to 19 March 1823, when he abdicated. In May 1823 he went into exile in Europe. When he returned to Mexico in July 1824, he was arrested and executed.

Family and early life

Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu was born in what was then called Valladolid, now Morelia, the provincial capital of Michoacán, on 27 September 1783. He was baptized with the names of Saints Augustine, Cosmas, and Damian at the cathedral. The fifth child born to his parents, he was the only male to survive and eventually became head of the family. Iturbide's parents were part of the privileged landed class of Valladolid, owning agricultural land including the haciendas of Apeo and Guaracha as well as lands in nearby Quirio.

Iturbide's father, Joaquín de Iturbide, came from a family of the Basque gentry who had been confirmed in the nobility by King Juan II of Aragon. One of his ancestors, Martín de Iturbide, was designated as Royal Merino in the High Valley of Baztan in the 1430s, and thereafter many in the family held political or administrative positions in the Basque Country from the 15th century. As a younger son, Joaquín was not in line to inherit the family lands, so he migrated to New Spain to make his fortune there. While the aristocratic and Spanish lineage of Agustín's father was not in doubt, his mother's ancestry was less clear.

His mother, María Josefa Arambúru Carrillo de Figueroa, was of pure Spanish blood born in Mexico, and therefore, a criolla. Some sources state she came from a high-ranking family in Michoacán. In the Spanish colonial era, racial caste was important to advancement, including military rank, and having some indigenous ancestry was often regarded as a disadvantage. Iturbide insisted throughout his life that he was criollo (native born of Spanish descent).

Agustín studied at the Catholic seminary called Colegio de San Nicolás in Valladolid, enrolled in the program for secular officials, though he was not a distinguished student. After that, he worked as an overseer at one of his family's haciendas for a short time, discovering he was a very good horseman.

Iturbide entered the royal army in 1805, commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Valladolid regiment of the provincial infantry. In 1806, he was promoted to full lieutenant.

Marriage and family

In 1805, when he was twenty-two, Iturbide married Doña Ana María Josefa Ramona de Huarte y Muñiz, member of the House of Tagle of the family of the Marquises of Altamira. She came from Valladolid, from a prosperous family of businessmen and landowners. She was the daughter of wealthy and powerful noble Isidro de Huarte, governor of the district, and the granddaughter of the Marquis of Altamira. With her dowry of 100,000 pesos, the couple bought the Hacienda of San José de Apeo in the small town of Maravatío, not far from property owned by Father Miguel Hidalgo, who became leader of the insurgency for independence in 1810. Iturbide had a longstanding friendship and had business dealings with the wealthy Mexico City beauty María Ignacia Rodríguez, known as La Güera Rodríguez ("Rodríguez the Fair"), who supported the insurgency for independence.

Military career

In the early 19th century, there was political unrest in New Spain. One of Iturbide's first military campaigns was to help put down a mutiny, headed by Gabriel J. de Yermo.

He quickly grew in popularity amongst the royalists, whilst becoming a feared foe for the Insurgents. A peerless horseman and a valiant dragoon who acquired a reputation for achieving victory against numerical odds, his prowess in the field gained him the nom de guerre of "El Dragón de Hierro" or "The Iron Dragon", in reference to his skill and position in the army. He was given an important charge in the army. However, he was accused by locals of using his authority for financial gain although he was recognized as valiant in combat. Those accusations could not be proved but cost him his post. He turned down the offer to reclaim his post since he felt that his honor had been damaged. He may have been involved in the initial conspiracy to declare independence in 1809 that was headed by José Mariano Michelena in Valladolid. It is known by his and Hidalgo's documents that he was a distant relative of Miguel Hidalgo, the initial leader of the Insurgent Army. Hidalgo wrote to Iturbide, offering him a higher rank in his army. Iturbide writes in his memoirs that he considered the offer, but that ultimately turned it down because he considered Hidalgo's uprising ill-executed and his methods barbaric.

Combating insurgency

1810–1816

After the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1810, leader of the insurgency, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, offered Iturbide the rank of lieutenant general in the insurgent forces, which Iturbide rejected, remaining firmly a royal army officer at the outbreak of the war. From the start, Iturbide was ambitious and compiled a brilliant record of victories against the insurgents, often against far larger numbers. He was also well known by contemporaries of all factions for his cruelty against his opponents, the insurgents themselves as well as their families, including women and children.

One of Agustín's first encounters with the rebel army was in the Toluca Valley in 1810 as it advanced toward Mexico City from Valladolid. Royalist and rebel forces engaged on the east bank of the Lerma River at the end of October in what is now known as the Battle of Monte de las Cruces. Royalist forces, under the command of Colonel Torcuato Trujillo, withdrew from the area, allowing rebels to take Toluca. Despite the loss by his side, Iturbide distinguished himself in this battle for valor and tenacity. He would later maintain in his memoirs that it was the only battle he considered to have lost (in which he was directly involved).

Iturbide's next major encounter with the rebels would be against José María Morelos himself and in his native city of Valladolid. Iturbide led the defenders. He demonstrated his tactical skill and horsemanship by breaking Morelos's siege of the town with a well-executed cavalry charge that caused the insurgent forces to withdraw into the forest. For that action, Iturbide was promoted to captain.

As a captain, he pursued rebel forces in the area, managing to capture Albino Licéaga y Rayón, leading to another promotion. In 1813, Viceroy Félix María Calleja promoted Iturbide to colonel and put him in charge of the regiment in Celaya. Then, in 1814, he was named the commander of forces in the Bajío area of Guanajuato, where he continued to pursue the rebels with vigor in a strongly contested area, and was Morelos's principal military opponent from 1813 to 1815.

The next major encounter between Morelos and Iturbide occurred in a town called Puruarán, Michoacán, on 5 January 1814. In the battle, rebel forces were soundly defeated by forces led by Iturbide, forcing Morelos to retreat to the Hacienda of Santa Lucía and to leave Mariano Matamoros and Ignacio López Rayón in command of the rebel army, with over 600 insurgents killed and 700 captured. That marked a turn in the war as Morelos would never again achieve the same level of competency as he had before this defeat. Iturbide and other Spanish commanders relentlessly pursued Morelos, capturing and executing him in late 1815.

Relieved of command

Iturbide's fortunes reversed after his victory when a number of accusations of cruelty and corruption surfaced. The accusations could not be proved, but Iturbide considered his honor to be tarnished by them and expressed so in his memoirs, written in exile.