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Padre Miguel Hidalgo, a priest in the small village of Dolores, rang the bells of his village and when peasants arrived he called for rebellion against the Spanish
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Hidalgo's Indian and mestizo followers began a march towards Mexico City.
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Hidalgo's army started growing until it reached 60,000 men. The people of Mexico were angry due to years of neglect and high taxes imposed by Spanish authorities.
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From 20,000 to 50,000 angry rebels arrived to Guanajuato. They laid siege to the granary, where officers and Spaniards tried to resist. The rebels won and the results were many casualties.
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The Spanish and the creoles, alarmed, joined forces against Hidalgo's army.
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José María Morelos joined Father Hidalgo, along with his parishioners.
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Hidalgo was tried as a priest by the Inquisition and was found guilty of treason and heresy. He was condemned to death and executed by a firing squad. His head was then showed in Guanajuato.
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Padre José Mariá Morelos started to rule the rebels when Hidalgo died. He took command of the peasant army and led the revolution for four years.
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Morelos' army controlled all of southern Mexico, except for the largest cities.
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José María Morelos called a Mexican congress of representatives from all of the provinces to discuss the future of Mexico as an independent nation and to set up a democratic government.
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The Spain supporters discovered the congress and attacked it. Morelos stayed behing to fight as the rebels fled. He was defeated by a creole officer, Agustín de Iturbide. He was then captured and shot.
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A revolution in Spain put a liberal group in power there and Mexico's creoles, fearing the loss of their privileges, united in support of Mexico's independence from Spain.
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Agustín de Iturbide made peace with all the rebel leaders.
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Central America had been governed from Mexico before the Mexican revolution. When Mexico claimed independence from Spain, so did several Central American states. However, Iturbide did not recognize those declarations.
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The treaty in which Mexico´s independence was declared was signed by Agustin de Iturbide and Juan O'Donojú, in Cordoba, Veracruz. However, it was not authorized by the Spanish goverment.
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During the Mexican War of Independence, he built a successful political and military coalition that took control in Mexico City, gaining decisive independence for Mexico
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He declared himself emperor and was coronated two months later with the name Agustin I.
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In 1823, Iturbide was forced to abdicate and go into exile in Europe. Congress decreed him a traitor and an outlaw, forbidding his reentry into Mexico.
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Central America declared its absolute independence from Mexico and took the name the United Provinces of Central America.
