TREATIES OF LONELINESS: ANTECEDENTS, OBJECTIVES, CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The La Soledad Treaties were agreements that Mexico reached with Spain, France and England in 1862, after this trio of countries claimed the payment of the debt that the American country had with them. They were made to avoid a war between the states involved.

The three European nations were willing to intervene with weapons in Mexico, but an agreement was reached on February 19 in a town in Veracruz whose name is La Soledad. The purpose of this agreement was to avoid any armed conflict, to negotiate the debt and for Mexico to maintain its sovereignty.

Reproduction of the Preliminary Treaties of Solitude that is in the National Museum of Interventions, in Mexico City. Source: Adamcastforth, via Wikimedia Commons.

The only country that did not accept the conditions proposed in the La Soledad agreement was France, which had other interests in mind apart from collecting the debt. By rejecting the treaty, the second intervention of this country on Mexican soil began, a fight that Mexico won.

Historical background

Once the Reform War ended, which occurred between 1858 and 1861, Mexico suffered important consequences, which were especially noticeable in the economy. The capacity to produce was also diminished by the number of opponents of the Juárez government.

Therefore, Benito Juárez decided to enact the Suspension of Payments Law in 1861. It was a unilateral decision of the Mexican president, who decided to freeze his commitments to pay the foreign debt, with the sole purpose of trying to benefit the Mexican economy and give it a I breathe the finances of the country.

Coupled with this, Mexico's relations with European countries were not going through their best moment. For example, ties with Spain had already been severed in 1857.

The Suspension of Payments Law promulgated by Juárez did not eliminate the existing debt, nor did it deny it, but it was obviously not to the liking of Spain, England and France, which were the main affected by the lack of payments.

The three European nations then formed an alliance and signed an agreement that was called the London Convention. There they agreed and sent their troops to Mexican soil. Spain arrived first, at the end of 1861, with 6,000 soldiers. Already in January the British troops with less than a thousand people joined, and later those of France did.

With the arrival of foreign troops Juárez eliminated the decree of suspension of payments promulgated months before. It also promoted negotiations that would allow an agreement to be reached and avoid any armed conflict.

Objectives of the treaties

The Treaties of La Soledad were made up of six points in which they tried to make it clear that Mexico did not need the help of European countries to get out of the economic crisis that afflicted it.

The most important objective was to achieve a commitment from France, Spain and England to respect Mexican sovereignty, while the negotiations for the payment of the debt were carried out. The place of the negotiations and the place where the foreign troops had to be located were established.

Featured Characters Involved

Each country had characters who played an important role in the development before and after the preliminary Treaties of La Soledad.

Mexico

Benito Juárez was the great cause of all the conflict between the four countries. The Mexican president put the country into debt, and promulgated the Law of suspension of payments of the foreign debt that it had with France, Spain and England, which had as a final consequence the second attempt to conquer the French of Mexico.

In the case of Mexico, Manuel Doblado was the one who managed to convince the envoys from Spain and England to accept the agreement. Doblado held the position of minister of foreign relations in the government of Benito Juárez, whom he had faced in the presidential elections of 1861.

Spain

Juan Prim was a general sent by the Spanish government to Mexico. His wife was of Mexican origin and had a niece who served as a minister in the Juárez government. His role was of great importance so that the intervention of Spain and England did not go to greater lengths and the Treaty of La Soledad was signed.

Prim was in charge of taking the thousands of Spanish soldiers out of Mexico and convincing the English to do the same with their troops. In Spain they did not agree very much with the decisions he made, as they considered that he gave many concessions to the Mexican government.

England

On the part of England was John Russell, an English politician who was Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom on two occasions.

France

As representative of France was Jean Pierre Isidore Alphonse Dubois, a Caen politician who broke the Treaty of La Soledad and participated in the second attempt to conquer the French in Mexico.

His justification for not accepting the treaty was that the debt that Mexico had acquired had to be canceled without delay.

He also demanded a series of conditions that Mexico was not willing to meet, such as giving the French nation power over customs on Mexican soil or that they be overcharged for damages that occurred in the War of Reform.

Napoleon III was the president of France when the Treaties of La Soledad were signed. He had a great interest in conquering territories in the American continent to be able to curb a bit the influence that the United States was gaining.

Consequences

As a consequence of the signing of the Treaty of La Soledad, Spain and England withdrew their troops from Mexico. Both nations accepted the proposed agreement in this locality and broke the agreement previously signed in London.

For its part, France remained firm in its stance against Mexico. She rejected the La Soledad agreement and the second French intervention in Mexican territory began. This began with a first advance that reached Puebla. Then, at the end of April, she continued with the process of conquering Mexico City.

The French lost in their attempt to conquer despite their power and having one of the most feared armies in the world. It was a total of five years of conflict between France and Mexico.

References

1. Consequences of the preliminaries of La Soledad. Recovered from cdigital.dgb.uanl.mx
2. Delgado de Cantú, G. (2002). Mexico history. Mexico: Pearson Education.
3. Gloria, M. (2011). History of Mexico historical legacy and recent past. Pearson Educación de México, SA de CV.
4. The La Soledad Agreements. (2019). Recovered historiademexicobreve.com
5. Preliminary Treaties of La Soledad. (2019). Recovered from lamiradacompartida.es