Nicolás Bravo Rueda (10 September 1786 – 22 April 1854) was a Mexican soldier and politician who served as interim President of Mexico three times, in 1839, 1842, and 1846.

His revolt failed and in part due to the services Bravo had provided the nation during the War of Independence, he was allowed to live, but nonetheless exiled.

[1] Bravo was captured in 1817 in the south of the country and transported to the capital where he remained imprisoned for three years, until he was amnestied by the liberal Spanish government of 1820.

[3] Bravo fled to the Santa Rosa ranch, and from here he sought to reorganize at the Mixteca region where he intended to join up at Huajuapam with Antonio Leon.

On 23 December 1827, the Escoceses, led by Vice President Bravo, proclaimed the Plan de Montaño [es], demanding the expulsion of the American ambassador Joel Poinsett, the end to secret societies, and the dismissal of the current cabinet, the latter measure due to the belief that the Yorkino dominated government was about to take decisive measures to suppress the Escoceses.

Although the law prescribed a severe punishment for his treason, his services during the Mexican War of Independence won him sympathy from his old colleagues who asked for clemency, and even President Guadalupe Victoria preferred leniency, so the court simply condemned him to banishment for two years.

After personally going out to lead his troops against the insurrection, President Guerrero was deposed at the capital in January 1830 and replaced by the conservative Anastasio Bustamante.

In response to multiple national crises, on 8 August 1841, Mariano Paredes had proclaimed against the government of Anastasio Bustamante, and when his insurgent troops reached the city of Tacubaya they were joined by Santa Anna.

A military junta was formed which wrote the Bases of Tacubaya, a plan which swept away the entire structure of government, except the judiciary, and also called for elections for a new constituent congress meant to write a new constitution.

Bravo was not in accord with Santa Anna's schemes for while he too was a centralist, he did not wish to overturn the results of the election which had led to the strongly federal congress.

[9] In the early dawn hours of that day there had been skirmishes in the Ciudadela and throughout the morning the Celaya Battalion had remained stationed in the corridor contiguous to the hall where congress met in order to prevent the deputies from entering.

[10] Bravo and Santa Anna became suspicious of Mariano Paredes who had played such a key role in establishing the Bases of Tacubaya, but who now began to express dissatisfaction with the government.

Meanwhile, a revolution had begun against the government of Santa Anna and Valentin Canalizo, and eventually Jose Joaquin Herrera ascended to the presidency on 6 December 1844.

[10] Bravo joined in the revolution, when the conservative Mariano Paredes overthrew the government of Herrera in late 1845, claiming that the president was committing treason by attempting to recognize the independence of Texas.

He was named general and chief of the forces destined for the departments of Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Tabasco, and he published a proclamation calling for the unity of all parties.

[11] Amidst increasing opposition to his policies, and the conduct of the war which had been so far a grievous set of defeats for Mexico, Mariano Paredes stepped down and passed the presidency over to Bravo on 28 July 1846.

The former president Paredes fled the city on that same night, intending to go off to the front to lead some troops he had dispatched, but he was arrested and sent back by General Avalos.

[14] Bravo continued to participate in the war effort, and was named commandant general of the Department of Puebla, but he retreated from that city when orders arrived to fall back on the capital.

After the defeats of Molino del Rey and Casa Mata he was placed in charge of defending the Chapultepec with two thousand troops, with Monterde, director of the fortifications there, as his second-in-command.

The place began to be bombarded on 12 September, and an assault followed the next day, which ultimately ended in a Mexican defeat, and Bravo was taken prisoner.

The fact that Santa Anna at the time was in the vicinity fighting the insurrection that had flared up due to the Plan of Ayutla, also gave rise to rumors that he may have been involved in their deaths.