Professor Cervantes
US History/ 3rd Period
October 18 2013 The MexicanAmerican war of 1846 played a very significant role in the history of the United
States and Mexico. The United States gained 529,000 square miles of valuable Mexican territory.
Due to the war Mexico lost half of it’s land and resources which left Mexico with half of the territory they had before the war began. Wars are typically fought to defend or seize land, or to destroy an enemy. But in this case, the United States aggressively invaded Mexico. Polk’s over ambition to seize new territory from the Mexicans surfaced something that sooner or later would lead to a war. Therefore the real question here would be “What caused the war, and how did it …show more content…
The
Battle to take Chapultepec Castle started on the 13th with artillery and canon attack by the
Americans which left the Castle visibly scarred. At 9:00 am the Americans launched three assault columns under heavy artillery and defeated the San Blas Battalion, and Santa Anna's foot soldiers. Two assaults parties of close to three hundred strong each, with scaling ladders attacked the Castle from the west and south, advancing up the hillside. The remaining teenage cadets, barricaded inside the castle, surprised the 600 strong raiding parties by detaining their advance for several hours. In order to keep their spirits up, these brave young men answered the unrelenting attack of their enemy not only with gunfire, but also with cheers of ¡Viva México!
Much later, the scalingladders were brought up and planted by the storming parties. The first
American soldiers in the assault were cast down, killed or wounded. Once a lodgment was made,
the two storming parties led by Captain McKenzie and Casey penetrated the Castle.
The young cadets fought nonstop, body to body, giving it their all. When General Bravo …show more content…
Mexico lost much of the American west in the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war. After the War effects:
The results of the MexicanAmerican war varied in size and scope. Some of the effects were small, and some of them were huge. Nonetheless, all of the after war effects were important in shaping the history of Mexico and the United States.
The first effect of the MexicanAmerican
War was the territorial gains made by the United States. At the end of the war, Mexico, through the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ceded California (including Alta California) and
New Mexico (which including what is now Arizona, Utah, and Nevada) to the United States, and established the Rio Grande as Texas’s southern border once and for all. This secession of land was completed for a final cost of approximately 15 million US dollars. This land exchange, which had originally led to greater U.S. expansion, ultimately led to further conflicts, both international and national when on the terms of the U.S.