The Battle of San Julián was a military engagement fought on 15 March 1927 between forces of the

Mexican federal government The politics of Mexico take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic whose government is based on a congressional system, whereby the President of Mexico is both head of state and head of government, and ...

and Cristero rebels as a part of the

Cristero War The Cristero War ( es, Guerra Cristera), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or es, La Cristiada, label=none, italics=no , was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 1 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementa ...

.Hernández Hurtado 2003, pp. 82–91 The battle is considered to be the greatest military defeat of the Mexican government in the entire war.Garcia

Background

The

began in 1926 when Mexican Catholics took up arms against the

of President

Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...

to protect the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

from his anti-clerical laws and reforms.Young 2012, p. 271Young 2012, p. 274 Those who took up arms against the government were known as the

National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty ( es, Liga Nacional Defensora de la Libertad Religiosa – LNDLR) was a Mexican Catholic religious civil rights organization formed in March 1925 that played a crucial role in the Cristero War ...

, but they were commonly known as simply "Cristeros."

Battle

Mexican federal forces of the 78th Regiment under General Espiridión Rodríguez Escobar arrived at San Julián on 15 March 1927.Castillo 2017 Cristero forces under

Victoriano Ramírez Victoriano Ramírez López (April 13, 1888 in San Miguel el Alto, Jalisco – March 17, 1929 in Tepatitlan, Jalisco), also known as "El Catorce" (The Fourteen), was a Mexican General of the Cristero War known for his excellent combat skill ...

and

José Reyes Vega José Reyes Vega was a Mexican priest who participated in the Cristero War as a general. He was known as "Father Vega". On April 19, 1927, an event took place that almost succeeded in extinguishing the revolution. He led a raid against a trai ...

put up a defense of San Julián, but the federal forces were superior and were overwhelming the Cristeros inflicting heavy casualties.Redacción 2017 During the battle, federal forces looted homes, raped women, and tortured two Cristero prisoners to death. More federal forces arrived to support Rodríguez Escobar at around four in the afternoon, but around the same time, the federal forces saw Cristero reinforcements under General

Miguel Hernández Miguel Hernández Gilabert (30 October 1910 – 28 March 1942 ) was a 20th-century Spanish-language poet and playwright associated with the Generation of '27 and the Generation of '36 movements. Born and raised in a family of low resources, h ...

arriving but misidentified them as Joaquín Amaro Domínguez, the Mexican War and Navy Secretariat. Hernández had his men attack the federal forces in three columns, one from the south and west, one from the east and north, and the last from the southeast which he personally commanded. With Hernández's advance, most of the federal soldiers fled while some remained and tried to disguise themselves as locals and the battle ended in a Cristero victory.

Aftermath

The Cristeros executed an unspecified number of federal prisoners on 19 March 1927 under the orders of Hernández. Exact casualty figures are unknown, but civilian and Cristero casualties were high. The battle was the greatest military defeat of the Mexican federal government during the entire war and was an embarrassment to Rodríguez Escobar and Calles' government. The defeat made Calles recognize the Cristeros as a genuine threat to his government. On 26 March 1927, Amaro Domínguez marched soldiers to San Julián and had Julio Álvarez Mendoza, a Catholic priest, arrested and later executed on 30 March 1927 in retaliation for the defeat at San Julián. Álvarez Mendoza was later canonized as a saint by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 21 May 2000.

In popular culture

corrido The corrido () is a popular narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a ballad. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaquero lifestyle, and other socially relevant topics. Corridos were widely popular ...

, a Mexican form of narrative song, called "Corrido de los combates de San Julián" ("Corrido of the Combatants of San Julián") was written about the battle in 2002 by singers Evaristo Soto Cruz and Alfredo Soto Alcalá.

References

Bibliography

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External links

"Corrido de los combates de San Julián"
by Evaristo Soto Cruz and Alfredo Soto Alcalá, 2002 (in Spanish).
"San Julian Jalisco, Cuna de la Revolución Cristera"
by Rafael Ruiz González, 5 October 2012 (in Spanish). {{Authority control Cristero War 1920s in Mexico Conflicts in 1927 History of Jalisco San Julián