The Amisdad Treaty was a mutual defense pact reached by the governments of the United States of Mexico and the Germanic Confederation in September 1886. The signing of the treaty marked the culmination of Mexican Chief of State Benito Hermión's policy of ending the U.S.M.'s traditional close ties with France and aligning the country with Germany instead.
Two weeks before the signing of the treaty, Hermión gave a speech in which he denounced the revolutionary republic in France. "Paris is not content to support the Moralistas and encourage the Indians to revolt against their own government, but is even now planning to attack us more directly. We must be watchful, for the French invasion will come, and when it does, we shall be ready for it."
Following the signing of the treaty, Hermión was able to negotiate a large loan from the Germanic Confederation, though Sobel does not say whether the loan came from private sources or from the German government. Hermión was able to use the German loan to help fund his Free Society programs.
A more immediate result of the Amisdad Treaty was Hermión's new belligerence towards Guatemala. Beginning on 4 October, Hermión began pressuring Guatemalan President Vicente Martinez to increase the width of the Kinkaid Canal Zone. Although Martinez eventually acceded to the demand, Hermión declared war anyway on 18 October.
By 1913, French President Henri Fanchon had come to believe that the Amisdad Treaty was a dead letter, and that the Germanic Confederation would not aid the U.S.M. if he seized the Mexican port city of Tampico. Fanchon's prediction proved accurate: Germany remained neutral in the subsequent Hundred Day War between the two nations.
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