Julio Vaqueiro
12K posts
@JulioVaqueiro
Mexicano. Reportero. Conductor de Noticias Telemundo. Lunes - Viernes, 6:30 pm, 5:30 C. Columna: RíoBravo, periódico El Universal.
Otra vez contando mi país
Q: You said the war is 'very complete.' But your defense secretary says 'this is just the beginning.' So which is it? TRUMP: You could say both
🗣️📖Para celebrar la vida y obra del poeta mexicano, Jaime Sabines, (Tuxtla Gutiérrez, 1926-Ciudad de México, 1999) a un siglo de su nacimiento, Joan Manuel Serrat da lectura al poema "La luna". 📽️✨Un regalo del @InstCervantes que UNAM-España comparte con emoción.
The Mexican-American War stands as one of the most consequential yet overlooked conflicts in American history. Sparked by disputes over Texas annexation and territorial boundaries, President James K. Polk deliberately provoked Mexico into firing the first shots after sending U.S. troops into contested territory between the Nueces River and Rio Grande. When Mexican forces attacked Captain Seth Thornton's patrol on April 25, 1846, killing 11 Americans, Polk declared that Mexico had "shed American blood upon American soil"—though the land's ownership remained disputed. The war became a proving ground for future Civil War commanders. Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and George McClellan all gained crucial combat experience in Mexico. American forces proved superior through better artillery, logistics, and leadership. General Zachary Taylor's victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma opened northern Mexico, while General Winfield Scott's audacious amphibious landing at Veracruz and subsequent capture of Mexico City demonstrated American military prowess. The U.S. employed innovative tactics like "flying artillery" (mobile horse-drawn cannons) that devastated Mexican defensive positions. Despite military success, the war sparked fierce domestic opposition. Congressman Abraham Lincoln challenged Polk with his "Spot Resolutions," demanding proof that American blood was shed on American soil. Writers like Henry David Thoreau went to jail rather than pay taxes supporting the war, penning "Civil Disobedience" in protest. Many Northerners saw the conflict as a Southern conspiracy to expand slavery westward. Desertion plagued both armies—the U.S. lost 8.3% to desertion, while some American soldiers, particularly Irish Catholic immigrants facing discrimination, switched sides to form the San Patricio Battalion fighting for Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) forced Mexico to cede nearly half its territory—present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming—for just $15 million. Mexico lost over 900,000 square miles, while the U.S. gained the territories that would fuel the slavery crisis leading to Civil War. Grant later wrote that the conflict was "one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation," adding prophetically: "The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times." The Mexican-American War fundamentally reshaped North America's political geography and accelerated the United States toward civil war. Mexico lost 55% of its territory and suffered lasting national trauma, political instability, and economic devastation that would plague the nation for decades. The U.S. gained the Southwest and California—soon enriched by the 1848 Gold Rush—but the question of whether slavery would expand into these territories shattered the fragile political compromise between North and South. The Wilmot Proviso's failure to ban slavery in the new territories intensified sectional hatred. Veterans' combat experience would soon turn against fellow Americans as former comrades like Grant and Lee commanded opposing armies in the Civil War. The war established dangerous precedents for American military intervention abroad, presidential war-making powers without full Congressional oversight, and manifest destiny ideology that justified territorial expansion regardless of moral considerations. For Mexico, the humiliation fueled anti-American sentiment lasting generations, while displaced Mexican and Native American populations faced systematic loss of land rights and citizenship protections despite treaty promises. #drthehistories
