Within Mexican history, there are so many major events that occurred to shape Mexico into what it is today. However, there are a few specific events that had more of an impact on Mexico than others. Those events were the Pastry War, the Mexican-American War, Cinco de Mayo, and the Mexican Revolution. These events were the results of conflicts with the people of France, America, and Mexico itself.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, dictator of Mexico at the time, played an immense role in Mexican history. Santa Anna had been waiting for a chance to redeem his name after they lost Texas to the United States. Little did he know, he would only have to wait a short amount of time. In 1838, French gunman opened fire on the Spanish, starting the Pastry
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A few months later, an angry Mexican Army attacked the camp and killed 11 U.S. soldiers. Polk pushed for a war, and U.S. forces had soon driven the Mexican people out of Texas and California. But, half of Taylor’s army had been taken by Scott to set up camp in Veracruz. During these desperate times, Santa Anna came back and miraculously formed an army of 20,000 to lead into war. Soon U.S. soldiers started to flee, and the hope of an American win decreased greatly. Suddenly, a group of Mississippi volunteers led by Jefferson Davis rode in to assist. The next day, Davis’ group found that the Mexican army had fled. In March 1847, the U.S. army of Winfield Scott arrived in Veracruz, surrounding the city forcing Mexico to surrender. Next, Mexico City was attacked and defeated. Once more, Santa Anna fled when he was needed the most. The last defeat was on Chapultepec, a military academy. With the fall of the academy, the United States had defeated Mexico and took New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California. After the Mexican-American war, the U.S. became very stable and successful. Mexico, on the other hand, tried to revive themselves, but they had lost much of their land. Crime rates had also risen throughout the country, and they had substantial amounts of damage in their cities. A new constitution was created in 1857 calling for an end of feudalism and a reduction in the power of the church, giving the natives
In 1832 santa anna endorsed and admitted that a jalapa layer explained to him about republicanism. He remained a political illiterate all his life and was a rabid jacobin liberal and a monarchist. Santa anna served as president six times so he could run his army the way he wanted it to be runned. Santa anna tried to escape Sam houston because santa anna saw that they were losing the war. .Santa anna was captured by Sam houston when they were fighting in the war. Santa anna served many mexican governments as an officer first in Yucatan and later in Veracruz. When santa anna was is Tampico he had a small yellow fever and ridden spanish force from Cuba which had attempted to evade Mexico. Now santa anna was the hero of Tampico and he became an important figure in the chaotic world of mexican politics. The liberal congress made santa anna president and in 1833 santa anna was determined to make Valentin Gomez Farias his vice president. Santa Anna led an army into texas and after some successes santa anna’s forces were annihilated by Sam Houston at San
The Mexican American war was started in 1845; the main cause of the war then was whether the border of Texas would be at Nueces River the claim of Mexico or at the Rio Grande that was being claimed by United States. U.S. forces emerged victorious and as a result they were able to acquire more than 500,000 square miles of the Mexican territory and it extended westward all the way from Rio Grande to Pacific Ocean. However, tension between America and Mexico had been building for so long since when the Mexican government gave an invitation to the Anglo settlers back in the 1820.
Knowing that the Texans were not obeying Mexico’s laws, the Mexican President sent Antonio López de Santa Anna to fight and stop the revolting Texans. “Santa Anna gained his earliest military experience fighting for the Spanish army
On February 15 and 16, 1836, General Santa Anna and his men crossed the Rio Grande to put down the uprising and prevent Texas from becoming its own state. The Mexican Army successfully won multiple skirmishes and battles, to include the Alamo and Goliad (Hardin, 2004).
The Mexican Revolution began November 20, 1910, and ended on May 21, 1920. The revolution was against the regime of Porfirio Diaz who reigned for 35 years, after Mexico gained its independence from Spain. and was not a good president in the sense that he failed to support the middle and lower classes of Mexico. It was run by the middle (some in the middle (A very a little amount) and all in the lower classes, and they were all influenced by Francisco I. Madero. Although the lower classes didn’t originally full on oppose Diaz they felt neglected as a people. Madero saw this and sought out to influence the people of the country to revolt, so that they could then shift their views completely. Madero writes the Plan de San Luis Potosi, which was a political document written by Madero to describe how he was wrongly imprisoned by Diaz in order for him to lose the election. Madero also wrote the document to spread new ideas on what democracy was, and how to eradicate corruption in Mexico’s government. With the publication of this document support for Diaz and his presidency easily disappeared eventually causing him to resign. Madero then ran for president and won the election properly. But he only reigned for two years before being assassinated, by none other than the military governors, military, and lower classes because Madera failed to make any change in the social classes. A key factor that lead to his assignation was that the
In January of 1836 about 145 Texans were fortified in the soft walls of the Alamo also known as Cottonwood. Some of the important people here were lieutenant Colonel William Berret Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crocket. Meanwhile Santa Anna drove his troops into Texas in the dead of winter to level the Alamo. They arrived and began their siege on February 23. Fighting Ensued for about 13 days with minimum casualties. But on the 13th day of battle March 6, 1836 Santa Anna ordered a surprise attack from all sides in the dead of night. All defenders of the Alamo died that night.
The Mexicans started the Mexican-American War in 1846 because of three main reasons. One reason was that Santa Anna, a general and president of Mexico during 1836, signed the Treaty of Velasco, which stated that Texas was a free and independent nation, and is not a part of Mexico. When Santa Anna returned to the capital of Mexico, he completely disregarded this treaty and claimed to have never signed it with General Houston, even though the Texans had the papers, and claimed that Texas was in rebellion, so he got his army ready and went after the Texans. Because of this, General Zachary Taylor was told by the War Department to be ready to move his men from Louisiana to a site near or on the Rio Grande river in order to protect and/or repel
The Mexican-American war fought between 1846 and 1848 remains a topic of much contention amongst modern historians. Differing accounts and conclusions of the war are often presented and one must remain pragmatic when analysing both primary and secondary sources regarding the war. There is a clear time line of events that led to the outbreak of the war, but there is one major event, and one minor action, which directly resulted in the declarations of war on both sides of the conflict between Mexico and the United States. Most scholars agree that the annexation of the Republic of Texas by
In 1834, Santa Anna emerged as a military dictator and overturned the Constitution of 1824. In October 1835 the centralist congress dissolved the state legislatures and transformed the former states into military departments. When the federalists resisted the centralist coup, Mexico descended into civil war.
General Santa Anna couldn't continue to fight due to how many men he lost(Tinkle 82). The Texas Republic took the Alamo once again and kept many prisoners and slaves from the Mexican army also including the General Antonio De lopez Santa Anna. The victory was in the hands of the Americans now that they held all these prisoners. Since Santa Anna held captives, the Americans gave him an option to either die as a slave in a cell or sign a treaty for
The war with Mexico is long remembered as an episode, and by no means is it an unimportant one. With the events that led up to its happening, from the Manifest Destiny to the disputes on territory, it has severely marked the United States. American historians regard the Mexican-American war as “the foulest blot on our national honor”. (sfmuseum.org) Unethical actions were taken gain Mexican territory. Polk and his hunger for land drove him to find some devious way to fight a war with Mexico. His belligerent attitude in regard to this war was the “foulest blot on our national honor.” However, as one studies the events that led to it, was it an unprovoked act of aggression? Or did the US unjustifiably lure Mexico into one of the bloodiest wars on American soil?
The author provides background into the events leading up to the war, particularly the collapse, imprisonment, and exile of Santa Anna. Events and key personnel on the American side are also outlined in detail. President Tyler is described as “seizing the initiative” to shift public opinion against Mexico by assigning a troublemaker, Wilson Shannon, as the minister to that country in 1844. Eisenhower provides a detailed description on the implementation of weaponry and tactics during all stages of warfare. He often refers to the performance of the main characters in other conflicts such as the war of 1812 and forward to the civil war. The cause of this war is summed up early in the text followed by
The Mexican-American war, also known as the Mexican war happened between 1846 and 1848 with the participants being United States of America and Mexico. Texas, previously a Mexican state, was the primary cause of the war. A series of disagreements had occurred between Texans and the Mexican government leading to Texas declaration of its independence in 1836. Later, Texas decided to join the United States as the 28th state and this infuriated Mexico. Additionally, border disagreements came up with Mexico claiming the border was at Nueces River while Texas claimed it was at Rio Grande River. James K. Polk, the president, sent his army to protect the border which ended up in shooting between Mexican and American troops. It is after this that
Many nations across time and the world have experienced a revolution. From the American revolution to the French revolution, history has proven conflict can engage a nation at any moment. Tanter explains that two possible scenarios, changes in the economic development and the level of education are likely to cause revolutions (Tanter 264). A revolution can be composed of a group of individuals who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in exchange for change in the existing
Throughout its history Mexico has had many revolutions. The most famous perhaps is the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1920. The people of Mexico were getting tired of the dictator rule of President Porfino Diaz. People of all classes were fighting in the revolution. The middle and upper classes were dissatisfied with the President’s ways. The lower and working class people had many factors such as poor working conditions, inflation, inferior housing, low wages, and deficient social services. Within the classes everyone was fighting; men, women, and children all contributed to the fight for freedom from Diaz (Baxman 2). This revolution proved to be the rise and fall of many leaders.