Map of the US (1805):

https://imgur.com/a/xBkM1wC#vCi8KxP

Map of Europe (1808):

https://imgur.com/a/UF7e6KL#auo5gH3

These maps were done by another reader (Rub37 from AH.com). Please don't criticize him too much for the maps, since the other map maker is an actual topographer/map maker. :)

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Monclova, Rebel Controlled New Spain

July 4th, 1817

"The peninsulares want nothing more than the destruction of our homeland. They desire to bleed us dry in order to fatten themselves with our wealth. They expect us to be loyal subjects to Madrid, yet refuse to allow us any form of autonomy. Even worse, they are kidnapping our people to fight in their wars." General Vincente Gurrero, the leader of the New Spain Independence Movement, looked around to his band of a thousand followers and shouted, "No more! We will not bow to the Spanish tyrant! We will not bleed and empty our pockets, only to watch our own people suffer! We will fight, and if we need to declare independence for our demands to be fulfilled, then so be it."

"¡Viva la Revolucion!"

"¡Viva la Revolucion!" His followers echoed.

The group of rebels was small, but it was rapidly growing. News was spreading about the Spanish king's, a tyrant that disregarded his colonial subjects like cattle, decision to send over twenty thousand Spanish soldiers to force the inhabitants of New Spain to bow to his authority. At the beginning of the year, he decreed that all members of the New Spain administration and leadership were to be peninsulares, that taxes were to be raised to replenish the empty Spanish treasury, and that New Spain inhabitants were to be forcibly recruited to deal with unrest in the other parts of the Spanish Empire. His decrees were made shortly after Spain bankrupted itself fighting in the Second Coalition War and its own civil war. Additionally, the uprisings in New Granada caused the monarch to reconsider his colonial policies. King Ferdinand determined that the best way to keep Spain's colonial holdings close was to remove the native criollos and mestizos from positions of power and to replace them with loyal Spainards to integrate the colonies with the Iberian nation.

His approach to the situation was completely wrong and backfired.

Immediately after his decrees reached the New World, thousands of criollos, mestizos, and indios protested the king's decision, and those protests were only met with force. Just a month ago, dozens of protesters in Mexico City were mowed down by Spanish troops, which caused the entire colony to erupt into flames and rebellion. Various factions fought for their own interests, but General Guerrero was different. He sought to establish an independent nation, a republican nation. He had opposed the Spanish colonial government from a young age. However, recent events had only hardened his resolve against Spain and its "puppet" government in New Spain. Like the United States, his homeland needed to revolt and declare its independence to reach its true potential. And with an idealistic, powerful republican nation in the north to serve as an example for Mexico's future, Guerrero was inspired to create his own ideal version of his homeland. A Mexico that was no longer exploited by Europeans or by foreigners. Instead, he envisioned a republican Mexico ruled by its own people, with the people's rights and autonomy (like the indigenous people that he lived with throughout his life) protected.

It certainly helped that he had been reached out by a few American negros, who promised to provide private aid to him and his army. They had been extremely helpful to his cause, as he and his forces were now equipped with high-quality firearms, uniforms, and even a few artillery pieces. The American government was silent on the matter, but it was only a matter of time before they themselves intervened in his cause. He was sure of it. After all, he studied American military tactics (guerilla warfare and irregular warfare earned his undivided interest) and read about how the United States assisted Haiti in its struggle for independence.

Now all he needed to do was to win and to show the world that he was fully committed to creating a republic in his homeland.

One of his followers started singing a song that was all too familiar to him. It was a song sung by revolutionaries, from France to the United States, to New Granada. It was a song of hope, of freedom. As the song continued, he began to sing it as well.

It was not just a song, it was a promise. A promise of a better tomorrow, of a free nation with free people. No more slaves, no more exploitation.

Independence.

"Canta el pueblo su canción, nada la puede detener

Esta es la música del pueblo y no se deja someter

Si al latir tu corazón oyes el eco del tambor

Es que el futuro nacerá cuando salga el sol

¿Te unirás a nuestra causa?¡ven lucha junto a mí!

Tras esta barricada hay un mañana que vivir

Si somos esclavos o libres depende de ti

Canta el pueblo su canción, nada la puede detener

Esta es la música del pueblo y no se deja someter

Si al latir tu corazón oyes el eco del tambor

Es que el futuro nacerá cuando salga el sol

Ven dispuesto a combatir, hay una lucha que ganar

Muchos hoy van a morir

¿Estás dispuesto a derramar

Tu sangre en las calles de Mexico por la libertad?

Canta el pueblo su canción, nada la puede detener

Esta es la música del pueblo y no se deja someter

Si al latir tu corazón oyes el eco del tambor

Es que el futuro nacerá cuando salga el sol!"