Counterinsurgency intelligence during the civil war of Independence in New Spain: A case study on the province of Puebla (1811-1813)

Authors

  • Anaximandro Pérez Espinoza EHESS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v12i24.974

Keywords:

intelligence, counterinsurgency, intestine war, non-combatants, New Spain

Abstract

This paper is interested in the mechanisms employed to gather, process and use information with the objective of identifying, pursuing, capturing or killing the insurgent enemy of New Spain during the Revolution of Independence of said kingdom (1810-1821). The subject is inserted in the theoretical framework of civil war, which assumes that enemies are relatively equal to each other, as fellow citizens. In this sense, the article approaches the new debates in the social historiography of the war in New Spain, as it tries to formulate elements and problems useful to understand the collaboration of the «Mexican» civilians with the king's cause.

            The analysis considers mainly military documents of the operations of the Army of the South in Puebla between 1811 and 1813. These documents allow us to understand how the army overcame the obstacle of identifying an enemy that was undistinguishable from an ally. They also expose: the use of the viceroy's armed forces’ hierarchies as channels for the flow of intelligence; the problem of distance, among other frictions; the consequent need to provide commanders with a dose of regional autonomy to deliberate in situ what to do with the enemy, and the values, scope and usefulness of the informants' statements for counterinsurgent operations. This monitoring shows that in the viceroyalty there were no pre-established institutions or mechanisms of espionage, but that the channels of information flow were built on the very functioning of the king's army. All of the above conditioned a decentralization of the viceroy's control over violence, allowing the handling of information about the insurgent, as well as the deliberation of what should be done against him, to be subject to the particular, almost personal, limits of the military who fought the enemy in the regions.

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Author Biography

  • Anaximandro Pérez Espinoza, EHESS

    Nacido en Torreón, Coahuila, hizo la licenciatura y la maestría en Historia en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Se ha especializado en la historia social y material de las fuerzas armadas de Nueva España durante la guerra de Independencia de México y estudia el doctorado en Histoire et civilisations de la École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, en París, Francia. En su tesis doctoral se concentra en las prácticas políticas, las dinámicas militares y la conformación de la contrainsurgencia novohispana del siglo XIX.

References

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FUENTES

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Fondo Operaciones de Guerra, volúmenes: 72 a 74, 86, 285, 286 y 289 a 298.

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Published

2023-06-27

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 24 (2023): Guerra y derecho en América Latina: entre las disposiciones y las prácticas; entre la excepción y la norma (siglo XIX)

Section

Dossier

License

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How to Cite

Counterinsurgency intelligence during the civil war of Independence in New Spain: A case study on the province of Puebla (1811-1813). (2023). Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 12(24), 39-74. https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v12i24.974

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