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:''For other battles at Veracruz see Battle of Veracruz (disambiguation).'' The Battle of Veracruz, or the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a naval battle which pitted a French frigate squadron under Contre-amiral Charles Baudin against the Mexican citadel of San Juan de Ulúa that defended the city of Veracruz between 27 November 1838 to 5 December. Having crossed the Atlantic to settle a dispute between France and Mexico, the squadron anchored off Veracruz and negotiated until all diplomatic means to resolve the dispute appeared exhausted. After announcing that hostilities would begin, Baudin had his squadron bombard the fort. French fire, particularly heavy mortars mounted on bomb vessels and Paixhans guns on frigates, silenced the citadel and forced it to surrender on 28 November, a remarkable feat for the time. Mexican authorities, however, refused to cave in to French demands, forcing Baudin to mount a raid against the city itself on 5 December. Despite its limited ground forces, the French squadron succeeded in capturing Mariano Arista and in wounding General Antonio López de Santa Anna. The swift capture of the citadel by a small squadron of relatively light warships stunned military observers who had gathered to watch the scene, and marked the beginning of the era of shell artillery and the modernisation of navies across the world. Politically, the attack undermined the Mexican regime while bolstering the prestige of Santa Anna, contributing to the political instability of Mexico. In France, the battle attracted considerable public attention at the moment, but was later overshadowed by the much more considerable French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s. ==Background== The Mexican War of Independence concluded with the country of Mexico gaining independence from Spain, and a flourishing of different factions attempting to seize power. Several generals disputed authority over the country through the force of arms, resulting in 20 different Presidents of Mexico in 20 years. Civilian populations suffered from these struggles for power, as well as foreign expatriates, as the country had attracted considerable investments, notably in the mining industry. In particular, the 6000 French that had settled in Mexico periodically requested intervention on their behalf from the French government, and their allies were becoming more numerous and urgent. Between 1828 and 1838, a wealth of killings, expropriations, forced borrowings, arbitrary arrests and other abuses were committed.〔Penot, ''op. cit.'', p. 169-170〕 The French government made several attempts at settling the matter by commercial agreements, demands for compensations and even threats of armed interventions, but to no avail. In 1837, a French pastry cook named Remontel, established in Tacubaya, had his stocks pillaged by drunken Mexican soldiers. The French government decided to settle the matter once for all by sending a military expedition to Mexico, tasked with demanding punishment for the culprits, guarantees for the security of French interests in the future, that French citizens in the country be exempted from forced war contributions and borrowings, and 600 000 Piastres, equivalent to three million francs. The Mexican government refused, and because of the triggering incident, the conflict was nicknamed "Pastry War". A first French frigate squadron under Captain , comprising the 60-gun frigate ''Herminie'' and three brigs, was sent to Mexico in late 1837 in order to demonstrate French resolve off Vera Cruz. As Mexico did not possess any warship capable of challenging the squadron, the frigates blockaded the city unopposed, seizing a 36 merchantmen in the process, but President Anastasio Bustamante refused to satisfy the demands. On 16 April 1838, diplomatic relations between France and Mexico broke down, leaving armed action as a last recourse. However, the fortress of San Juan de Ulua was much too strong for Bazoche's forces, who were furthermore exhausted by months of campaign, and suffered from Yellow fever. A stronger second squadron, under Counter admiral Charles Baudin, was then sent the next year. The backbone of this squadron was constituted by four powerful frigates: the 60-gun ''Iphigénie'', the 50-gun ''Néréide'', ''Gloire'' and ''Médée''; Bazoche's ''|Herminie'' was supposed to reinforce the squadron, but she was wrecked in Bermuda. Frigates were chosen because they were deemed strong enough to carry out a serious military mission, but sufficiently light to avoid challenging the British naval supremacy. The squadron also comprised the 24-gun corvettes ''Créole'' and ''Naïade''; the brigs ''Alcibiade'', ''Lapérouse'', ''Voltigeur'', ''Cuirassier'', ''Eclipse'', ''Dupetit-Thouars'', ''Dunois'' and ''Zèbre'' (a ninth brig, the 10-gun ''Laurier'', had to reroute to Havana after sustaining damage in a storm), and two bomb ships, ''Vulcain'' and ''Cyclope''. Furthermore, the squadron had two steamers, ''Météore'' and ''Phaéton'', to facilitate maneuvers in the harbour, and two corvettes armed en flûte, ''Fortune'' and ''Caravane'', for logistics. Baudin had his flag on ''Néréide''. The squadron sported 380 guns, some of them heavy mortars mounted on the Bomb vessels and newly introduced Paixhans guns on the frigates. It also transported three artillery companies and one engineering company, but no naval infantry. With the nearest French stations in Martinique and Guadeloupe, at the other end of the Gulf of Mexico, the squadron had to use Havana as a base, and thus leave itself dependent to the good will of Spanish authorities. The bulk of the squadron left Toulon in the summer of 1838, stopping in Cadix to rendezvous with the ships inbound from Brest, and sailed for the Caribbean. A storm partially scattered the fleet en route, whose main forces reached Vera Cruz on 29 October, to be rejoined by later ships around mid-November. The city of Vera Cruz was defended by the fort of San Juan de Ulúa, a strong fortress located about a kilometre off the city, and protected by a reef. The citadel was deemed invulnerable to naval attacks and thought of highly enough to be nicknamed "the Gibraltar of the Indies",〔Jean Pierre Edmond Jurien de La Gravière, (''Les gloires maritimes de la France: L'amiral Baudin'' ), page 3〕 However, many of these guns were by then obsolete, and with the civil turmoil endured by the country, many of the soldiers were badly equipped and armed, famished and ill. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Veracruz (1838)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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