The Defense of Puebla was a government authorized medal for the militia defenders at Puebla during the Revolt of the Polkos in Mexico in 1833.
Valentín Gómez Farías (14 February 1781 – 5 July 1858) was the President of Mexico for five short periods between the 1830s and 1840s. During his term in 1833 and in the absence of President Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794–1876), he enacted significant liberal reforms that were aimed at undermining the power of the Roman Catholic Church and the army in Mexico – for example, he advised Catholic clerics to limit their sermons to religious concerns and stop intervening in politics.
Some of Gómez Farías’ legislation restricted the Catholic Church’s power and eliminated some military privileges. The Conservatives, the Church, and the Army quickly responded in the form of the Revolt of the Polkos, calling for the removal of the Liberal government. During it, five Mexican National Guard regiments rose up in rebellion against the Mexican government, in protest over legislation that permitted the government to requisition money and property from the Catholic Church.
After the revolt was put down, the government authorized a medal for the militia defenders at Puebla: The Defense of Puebla medal.
