Three Guarantees, Army of the

Army of the Three Guarantees, a military unit based upon the three major planks of Agustín de Iturbide's Plan of Iguala (24 February 1821)—religion, independence, union. Following a decade of war, Iturbide called upon former insurgent and royalist military commanders to join a new army. Given the exhaustion of both sides, the call came at a most propitious moment. The renewal of the Spanish constitution in 1820 permitted Mexican towns and communities to cast off the intolerable burden of wartime taxation and service that had supported district and regional defenses. Realizing that the royalist army was crumbling, officers believed that Iturbide's offer would allow them to retain their positions and powers. Similarly, many insurgent commanders accepted Iturbide's offer of peace and patronage, leaving the few remaining royalist commanders without an effective fighting force. Following triumphant progress with only a few isolated skirmishes fought by the diehard Spaniards, Iturbide led his victorious army to Mexico City and independence. Unfortunately, accelerated promotions within this army helped to create future problems for Mexican governments.

See alsoIturbide, Agustín de; Plan of Iguala.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

William Spence Robertson, Iturbide of Mexico (1968).

Christon I. Archer, "Where Did All the Royalists Go? New Light on the Military Collapse of New Spain, 1810–1822," in The Mexican and Mexican American Experience, edited by Jaime Rodríguez O. (1989), pp. 24-32.

Timothy E. Anna, The Mexican Republic of Iturbide (1990).

Additional Bibliography

Archer, Christon I. The Birth of Modern Mexico, 1780–1824. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc, 2003.

Herrero Bervera, Carlos. Revuelta, rebelión y revolución en 1810: Historia social y estudios de caso. México: Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales, 2001.

                                        Christon I. Archer