Review Of A Glorious Defeat, Mexico And Its War With The United States

Mexico as a nation is relatively new, only gaining independence from Spain some 300 years ago. During this time of independence, Mexico had trouble getting on their feet and was a newly nationalized nation. In the book “A Glorious Defeat, Mexico and its War with the United States” by Timothy J. Henderson, the author, gives insight into the newly founded nation of Mexico, and how they came to be. Henderson also gives the reader an in-depth point of view from Mexico pertaining to the Mexican-American war, from how it led up to it and the events that happened during it. Being a newly founded nation, Mexico was strongly defined on expressing their own nationalistic values and ideas, most of which were passed on through the long history of Spanish

Agustin de Itubride was responsible for wanting to establish a constitutional monarchy but Mexico was not recognized by Spain at the time. This led to a Mexican appointed ruler that was not accepted well by the Mexican people. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna rebelled against this monarchy and through his success was named governor and general in the upcoming war for Texan territory. “It is true that the United States was easily twice as wealthy as Mexico, but Mexicans tended to attribute this disparity to Spain’s tyrannical mismanagement of its colonial economy. With independence, they expected soon to close the gap.” (Henderson 1) He explains how even though both the United States and Mexico are past colonies of European powers, their legacies very much differ. The United States was the world’s most successful and oldest federal republic, and while Mexico tried to do the same; coming from different backgrounds was a big detriment that impeded national success for them. Even so, Mexico suffered greatly from its internal conflicts and strifes; something that the United States already had time to differentiate and settle. These points tie into the defeat in the Battle of San Jacinto where the efforts in maintaining Texas as a Mexican colony was unsuccessful due to the lack of power within Mexico, while the U.S believed it was their god given right to colonize the west due to manifest destiny. Mexico as a military power did not have the sufficient weapons and advancements as the United States did, therefore lost the battle in efforts to keep Texas as a Mexican