The priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a…

The priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest from Guanajuato, begins the fight for Mexican independence from Spain in the early morning of September 16, 1810, when he rings the bell of his church in the small town of Dolores and gives the pronunciamiento that triggers the Mexican War of Independence.

The first insurgent group is formed by Hidalgo, the Spanish viceregal army captain Ignacio Allende, the militia captain Juan Aldama and "La Corregidora" Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez.

After the abortive Conspiracy of the Machetes in 1799, the War of Independence led by the Mexican-born Spaniards becomes a reality with the Grito de Dolores (”Cry of Dolores”; it's double meaning is "Scream of Pain") coming eleven years after the conspiracy, which is considered in modern Mexico to be a precursor of the War of Independence.

As indicated perhaps by the failed conspiracy, before 1810 the movement for independence had been far from gaining unanimous support among Mexicans, who have become divided between persons, against independence, autonomists and royalists.