"Iturbide Emperador" attributed to
Josephus Arias Huerta
Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu (27 September 1783 – 19 July 1824), also known as Augustine I of Mexico, was a Mexican army general who built a successful political and military coalition that was able to march into Mexico City on 27 September 1821, decisively ending the Mexican War of Independence. After the liberation of Mexico was secured, he was proclaimed President of the Regency in 1821 and Constitutional Emperor of the new nation, reigning as Emperor briefly from 19 May 1822 to 19 March 1823, and he is credited as the original designer of the first Mexican flag.
Although Iturbide's reign was short, it defined the political struggles before and after independence that Mexico would endure until the 20th century. The two ends of Mexico's political spectrum – liberals that favored populist representative government and conservatives that favored a more dictatorial regime – would each gain the upper hand at various times in the decades after Iturbide's abdication.