The 100 Sons of the Sun.

Chapter 1: 1936, the year of danger

It's 1936 and you're a Mexican citizen. How do you see the future?
Your concerns are many, and your country, Mexico, is just recovering from the terrible civil war that tore it apart two decades earlier. To make matters worse, the recent stock market crash has seriously affected the Mexican economy, widening inequalities even further.
Your country's politics are dominated by the Maximoto era, a rather disturbing mix of nationalism, republicanism, progressivism and authoritarianism, dominated by the figure of the charismatic President Plutarco Elías Calles (1877-1945), who from 1924 to 1936 ruled the roost in Mexico City.


Calles in 1930, reorganizing the country's political and social life, he introduced far-reaching reforms, including the creation of a national bank, a reform of the role of the army and an all-out attack on the Catholic clergy, However, these reforms, which were supposed to put an end to the practices of the Porfiriat, were accompanied by a very violent quasi-civil war (the Christeros War), the takeover of a large part of the country's land and economy by military leaders ("caudillos") and American investors, and finally by growing authoritarianism.

In 1934, you put an end to the undivided reign of Calles and his straw men of the PNR (National Revolutionary Party) by electing Lázaro Cárdenas (1895-1970), a socialist-inspired politician whose first major reform was a massive redistribution of land and an alliance with the Communist Party; this did not go down well with everyone, especially Calles, who was forcibly exiled.


Lázaro Cárdenas, a former regional governor, set out to continue Calles' reforms, but with a strong social program aimed at redistributing national wealth and nationalizing strange assets. Externally, he was a strong opponent of authoritarian European regimes, notably Mussolini's Italy and Nazi Germany.

If you're Mexican on this day, January 1, 1936, you may be wondering what the future holds, but to do so, you need to look back and consider the forces at work within the United Mexican States:

If you're from Jalisco or the central regions of Mexico, your allegiance may lie with the Christeros, defenders of the Catholic faith in the face of the anti-clerical measures of the 1917 constitution; perhaps you were a gunner against the army during the 26-29 war, and you harbor a hatred for the henchmen of the PNR, responsible for a wholesale purge of opponents and priests.



Christeros soldiers, led by René Capistrán Garza, president of the Mexican Catholic Youth Association, somewhere in 1926. Opposed to the anti-clerical reforms of the '17 constitution and the (atheist) personality of Callés, the Christeros fought a brutal war, responsible for over 100,000 deaths. A very precarious compromise peace, threatened by religious purges, was reached in '29.

If you happen to share with the Golden Shirts a xenophobia allied to a growing anti-Semitism and detestation of communists and trade unionists, then it's a safe bet that you're an admirer of Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco.



Nicolas Rodríguez Carrasco, leader of the Golden Shirts (Acción Revolucionaria Mexicanista) performing the national revolutionary salute at a meeting in 1935. A former lieutenant of Pancho-Villa, Carrasco led a movement opposing the mass immigration of Asian workers and the development of Marxism in Mexico.


If, however, you're one of the young braves propelled by the reforms of Minister of War Joaquim Amaro, who under Calles attacked the powers and wealth of the Caudillos (Mexican army generals who had carved out fiefdoms for themselves), it's a safe bet that you're commanding an "Agrarista" agrarian company charged with building roads or maintaining aqueducts. Maybe not the idea you had of the army when you were younger?



Joaquim Amaro, Minister of War, who after the failed coup d'état of '29, led a vast reform of the military apparatus, subjecting it to the civilian power of the PNR.

You may be working in Mexico's oilfields for the British company Pearson, unless it's for the Yankees, in which case you may be in favor of article 27 of the 17 constitution stipulating full Mexican sovereignty over their mineral resources....


The Ebano oilfield in 1930, when less than 30 percent of Mexico's oil was owned by Mexico City.

On the other hand, you may be a member of the newly-created Mexican Workers' Confederation (CTM), and an active supporter of Cárdenas' policies, which are threatened by some rather occult forces.

Indeed, many economic interests are in the hands of the country's leading millionaire, an American by the name of Williams O. Jenkins.



Jenkins (center, wearing glasses) inspecting one of his plantations. Jenkins settled in Mexico in 1901, and prospered under all the Mexican regimes of the 20th century, establishing an economic empire from plantations to cinemas. Despite being considered a Yankee plutocrat, Jenkins supported the PNR and some of its social reforms (notably land redistribution).

It's at this point that, as a Mexican citizen, you tell yourself that who's going to decide Mexico's fate is going to be a tough nut to crack, so you let go of that thought and go back to your daily routine, leaving the future in hands more expert than you....

Chapter 2: Conspiracy (February-June 1936)

To understand the events of June 18, 1936 (or the second "noche triste"), we need to go back a few years to Calles' assassination of the militant José Guadalupe Rodríguez Favela in 1929.

Favela had been one of Mexico's leading Marxist activists in the 20s, and a greater threat to the Maximoto political system than might first appear: his agrarianist message, combined with a desire to create "soviets" of soldiers, threatened the stability of the presidential regime established by Calles and already well undermined by the Cristeros revolt.
At the same time as Favela was preaching his message in favor of communism in Mexico, General José Gonzalo Escobar had launched a revolt on the American border, with the aim of overthrowing Calles, so the president couldn't afford to let a popular opponent stir up the people against him, and opted for his assassination.


General José Escobar (1892-1969) in 1929, this brilliant officer decided to revolt to overthrow a regime he considered deeply corrupt, and to protest against the appointment of a civilian and Calles puppet, Portes Gil, to the presidency.
Despite a series of victories along the US border, he was finally defeated by federal forces at Jiménez in March 29.
In 1936, his legacy inspired the army to join the putchists.

Favela also wanted to overthrow the Calles regime, but in the name of the Third Communist International. His militancy in Durango province gave him rapid access to cartridges and supplies for the Mexican federal army, which was fighting on two fronts; Favela therefore proclaimed the Mexican Soviet Revolution in April 29.
On May 14, 1929, General Esquivel had Favela arrested and shot, dashing all hopes of a new Mexican revolution.

There is still some doubt as to who really ordered Favela's assassination: Calles or the landowners allied with the mutinous generals? but one thing is clear: the latter will be at the rendezvous in June 36.


May 25, 29 front page of the revolutionary newspaper "El Machete" denouncing the murder of Favela and the reactionary government.
In 1936, with the Cárdenas coalition, the forces of the traditional left and the revolutionary communists ruled the country, much to the dismay of the "reactionary" forces of landowners, American interests and the army.

Cárdenas' policies frightened many of the big landowners and generals, and even Williams Jenkins seemed worried about the current leader's rapprochement with the communists and Favela nostalgics, so action was needed, and only they had the levers to overthrow Cárdenas.
Historians are still debating the role played by Jenkins in the June 36 coup: whether he was simply a fundraiser or the real mastermind? In any case, after the restoration of democracy in 1939, he would not be bothered, leaving a black mark on the history of twentieth-century Mexico.

From February 36 onwards, the dreadful spiral of events was set in motion, bringing together a heterogeneous coalition of Escobar's military supporters, landowners and ARM fascists at meetings held in haciendas in the north of the country, motivated by the desire to prevent Mexico from becoming a Marxist state at any cost.
On February 27, 1936, the expulsion of Carrasco and his forced exile to El Paso were a godsend for the conspirators, who were thus able to play on the resentment of the ARM's big guns while getting rid of a much too troublesome ally.



A horse hit by a car during the Zocalo riot, November 20, 1935.
4 people were killed and hundreds wounded during a riot between communist militants and the Golden Shirts. This incident justified the banning of the ARM and the exile of its leader, but ultimately strengthened the putchists of June 36.




It would take several months to meticulously prepare an operation that would suffer no setbacks; a month during which the precarious international order would begin its long fall into hell with the militarization of the Rhineland by German armed forces following their entry, in defiance of agreements, into the region on March 7, 1936.

Rome TW, I've played this one around 2008-9, always lost to Pyrrhus ;(