Mexican War and the Austrian Succession War

The devil nations that wrestled in the Mexican War were two ill prompt and unequipped to fight. The coupled States, whose population largely did non expect a struggle with the Mexicans almost immediately following the independence struggle in Texas, naturally did not arm its soldiers. Though Congress voted to declare fight in an overwhelming major(ip)ity, it did not readily act to enlarge the army or navy until after the declaration. Indeed, there were less than 10,000 promenade on some(prenominal) of the few expeditions launched by the government in Mexican territory.If the United States was not prepared for a struggle with the Mexicans, the last mentioned was less than suited for the conflict. At the time, Mexico was languishing under the on-again, absent-again swayer by the war hero and tyrant Santa Anna. He had fought against the Texans, lost and was ejected by an angry mob, leaving all a customary or another to stand in his place. When the latter became unpopular , Santa Anna would return and rule Mexico anew. Prior to the Mexican War, the dictator was again toppled by mutinous soldiers, a General Paredes, and his own capital, Mexico City. When the Mexican government did declare war against the United States, several factions by erupt the country declared themselves against the government. In the midst of this, Santa Anna was called in again to take the reins.Thus it was that the Mexican War utilized a small number of troops, and its subsequent major engagements involved less than 5,000 troops at any one time. The objectives of the Americans, at the extravasation of the War had been to long suit the annexation of atomic number 20 and resolve the border dispute between it and Mexico. These were the initial goals, and it was only out of sheer paralysis in Mexican political sympathies that the war was dragged on and led to the long American march to Mexico.This was not at all different from any of the wars fought among the major powers of the 17th and eighteenth ampere-second for dynastic succession, particularly the Austrian Succession. In idea it was the take exception of the succession of mare Theresa as Empress of Austria. In practice, it was primarily the Prussian goal of seizing the Austrian province of Silesia. Dynastic wars like this were limited to regions of conflict, and were presently ended once an army of one power had been decisively defeated, or had reached their objectives. Oftentimes, allies would agree to a separate love-in-idleness with their enemies, and the war would only be prosecuted to its totality if the sovereignty of one nation were endangered.At the outbreak of war the Mexicans had 20,000 men on the roles, and 24,000 officers. Most were not even prepared to go to war, and were hundreds of miles away from the fighting. The subsequent American punitive expeditions in atomic number 20 were aromatic of the engagements between Prussia and Austria during the Austrian Succession. Much of the initial fighting in that war occurred in Silesia, and gradually spread, still was mostly limited to the southern German territories.The fighting in calcium was mostly between armies in the mere hundreds the decisive battles of Rio San Gabriel, and La Mesa were fought off between Americans in the hundreds and native Californians with less than that number. In the former, the Californian artillery failed them, and in the latter the Californians had mere cavalry lancers to the American rifles.The fighting, meanwhile, in Northeastern Mexico, and on the passageway to Mexico itself, was harder fought. Zachary Taylor fought a hard-fought, stalemate in the city of Monterrey, where the able Mexican air force officer General Pedro de Ampudia held off 2,638 American troops to his 3,140, for two days with coarse losses. Eventually the fighting degenerated to the city streets, and Taylor, rather than grant to go through and through the effort of a protracted battle against the rival, agreed to an armistice with the Mexicans. The world(a) soon broke this agreement, and resumed the march to Mexico.The rampant demoralization of Mexico made the American candidacy easier, as the Mexican military command was disjointed, and divided. deal Maria Theresa going off herself into the field of battle, Santa Anna, after being forced out of exile by his government, promptly took its reins, levied 16,000 troops by sheer will, and marched off to meet Taylor himself in Buenavista. When General Taylor finally faced the Mexican army, in the fighting of Buena Vista, 4,000 of Santa Annas troops had died of hunger, disease and desertion.They were exhausted when they faced the enemy. Nevertheless, through the discip gillyflower of the ranks, the Mexican forces had at one point outflanked and near to routing the enemy, but for the timely reprieve of American artillery that drove the Mexican chargers off. Defeated, Santa Anna was forced to march humiliatingly all the way back to Mex ico City.These were the only major battles in the war that involved armies of thousands, and they were concentrated on the cities and employed siege warfare. The battles that were fought forward that time were greatly smaller in scale as to the battles fought between the Austrians and the Prussians in Silesia, or the Austrians against the Prussian ally in Bavaria. wish well the Austrian Succession War, however, these Mexican-American engagements involved sweeping cavalry attacks. The necessity of battle would compare Santa Anna with the despairing Queen of Austria, but the tactics he wielded were reminiscent of the Prussian Frederick.California having been occupied by the Americans, and Santa Anna having been defeated, the Americans would have assumed the Mexicans would work on for peace. Indeed, Mexico fragmented yet again upon news of the defeat. However, like Maria Theresa before him, who faced the Prussians alone and with no European ally left both during and after the First Silesian War (which was part of the Succession War), Santa Anna and his government refused to strike peace, forcing the sending of another American expedition this time to force peace upon the capital.This was the army of General Winfield Scott, opening the campaign by an ambitious amphibian assault on the city of Vera Cruz. Following the citys abdicate after a violent trade-off of artillery fire, Scott marched off to Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna with a force of 12,000 men prepared to ambush them. A forward regiment of the American commander discovered the hidden location, and Scott moved away from the line of ambush and outflanked the enemy, killing 1000 to 3000.The dynastic, limited wars of Europe were prone to disunity in command. France and Prussia had been united in an alliance against Austria, in the second phase of the war when Prussian troops had been used to siphon off the Austrian usurpation in France, the latter countrys army refused to aid their allies. So, too, in the course of the American campaign leading to the capture of Mexico City, General Gabriel Valencia, who held numeric superiority over the Americans, was ordered to withdraw just as the Battle in Contreras was already set. Santa Anna promptly left the general and his army to be sizably crushed by the Americans. The subsequent battle of Chapultepec where a greatly outnumbered enemy force was abandoned by Santa Anna.Finally, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded almost half of Mexico to the Americans. Like Austria acceding to the Silesian loss, Mexico resigned to the loss of Texas. Unlike the Austrian War, however, they also lost the California territory, as well as land that would comprise New Mexico. It was a limited, set-piece campaign by the Americans, though it was not the first in the latters history. The lack of discipline and unity of command of the armies of 17th and 18th century Europe haunted the Mexican army Santa Anna acted more of a mercenary(a) than a general.Had he p rosecuted the war more competently, he would at least(prenominal) have forced better concessions from the Americans, for at the time of Buena Vista, most of California had already been lost. The Mexican general could at least have fought battles that would have shaped the terms on the bargaining table. As it was, brilliant though he might have been, Santa Anna lacked the fiber of integrity that Maria Theresa had.References Ritchie, D. A. & Altoff A. & Wilson, Dr. R. (1985). heritage of Freedom History of the United States. New York MacMillan Publishing Company.Simpson, L.B. (1966). Many Mexicos. Berkeley and Los Angeles University of California Press.Durant, W. (1965). The Age of Voltaire. New York Mahony & Roese.Mexican-American War. (n.d.) Retrieved April 9, 2008 from Wikipedia. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War.