In the war against France, Mexico resisted thanks to its size, maintains Héctor Strobel

During the French intervention, unlike the war against the United States, Mexico did not surrender after the occupation of the capital, but thanks to the large size of the country it continued its resistance in the North, South, West and East, said historian Héctor Strobel, author of the recently published book To resist is to conquer: Military history of the French intervention, 1862-1867.

In interview with The Day, The researcher referred to a phrase with which he titled one of the chapters of his text edited by Grano de Sal: “’The Republic defends itself with its size’, a strategy that Benito Juárez assumed when he left Mexico City.”

The French army, which invaded Mexico and was defeated in Puebla on May 5, 1862, was then the most prepared in the world, disciplined and best armed; even more than that of Great Britainhe said.

“The famous phrase ‘the best army in the world’, coined by Ignacio Zaragoza, was not far from reality. He was very fired up. It came from a very long colonial war: the conquest of Algeria, from 1830 to 1860. After the Napoleonic wars, Europe was at peace, but France had military confrontations in Crimea and Italy.”

Its militia was suitable for desert, maritime and amphibious tactics, and was armed with the most modern technology of the time, but That this best army in the world arrives in Veracruz and proposes to wage war on an entire country is something else.commented the doctor in history from El Colegio de México.

This war, Strobel added, was closely linked to the regional; In fact, “old-fashioned local conflicts continue, such as those between towns against estates. The French army is rejected in Puebla, returns the following year and takes it; later, Mexico City. There are very particular nuances in each region, in which many factors combine with the entry of an external army and the problems it triggers.

“A north where the land is monopolized by certain families, large estates that have long wanted to be divided, for example, since colonial times that of the Sánchez Navarro family, in Coahuila. It begins to fragment due to liberal leaders who position themselves against the finances allied to the Empire. The opposite happens in the south, where the famous liberal Juan Álvarez, in Guerrero, is attacked by indigenous communities to which he had not fulfilled the agrarian distribution and they ally themselves with the French army.

War has many dynamics, and the importance of indigenous peoples in this war had not been sufficiently explored.Strobel said.

He recalled that the French intervention is a classic theme of national historiography, and it began to be written during the war. “In the Porfiriato it was essential, because it justified the dictatorship and the ruling liberalism, and in the (Mexican) Revolution it was also discussed; However, it had not been studied in academia.

“In the 1980s, the military history of these issues began to be rediscovered and historians emerged who were interested in it from the perspective of indigenous peoples and social and cultural history. Since the 1990s, a large number have dedicated themselves to studying it from a military perspective, but concentrated on the states.

There was a lack of a history that would encompass them, and I set out to write it, with great support in the historiography of the recent 30 years, but also with a review of historical archives from both countries.. To resist is to win was recognized with the International Commission on Military History award in 2021.