And pushing for independence together, things went very well. The Creole general Iturbide and the rebel mestizo commander Guerrero joined forces and won independence with most of the Peninsulares returning to Spain. Iturbide, the whiter of the two generals, became king of Mexico in 1822. Remember, this was a revolution essentially against representative government. But that didn't work out, and within a year he was overthrown by the military and a republic was declared. Popular sovereignty was sort of victorious, but without much benefit to the peasants who actually made independence possible. This alliance between conservative land-owning elites and the army, especially in the face of calls for land reform or economic justice, would happen over and over again in Latin America for the next century and a half.