What kept Mexico from reconquering Texas after 1836?

2,831 Views | 11 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by huisachel
Smokedraw01
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I'm assuming that much of it had to do with the internal conflicts in Mexico, both politically and militarily but I can't seem to find an answer after a very quick search.

Any books to recommend on this period that are in English?
huisachel
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Justin Smith's History of the War with Mexico is excellent on the subject. Any history of that war will spell it out. There is a history of the Mexican army that is good

They wanted to but were broke, had a corrupt government, were broke, had an incompetent army, were broke and the only thing that worked was their mouths. And the population as a whole did not care enough. When the US invaded 11 years later they bought all the mules or food they needed from Mexicans, who were pleased to see an army that paid in gold rather than stealing it.
Whiskey Before Breakfast
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AG
mud...
Cen-Tex
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Also, two years after San Jacinto, Mexico was involved in a military conflict with the French (Pastry War).
aalan94
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Logistics. Even if they had "won" in 1836, they couldn't have kept an army in Texas for long. No food, no supplies, and no port. The reason Texas was always poorly defended, from the Spanish times to Mexican times, was they didn't have enough people to sustain an army. When Arredondo conquered San Antonio in 1813, and kept his army in Texas for a year, he basically starved the colony. It was one of the reasons (along with his brutality) that accelerated the downward spiral of Hispanic Texas.

Even North Korea doesn't have a military-to-civilian ratio comparable to what he had, and what Mexico would have had to have had, to hold Texas. Assuming 100 percent of Anglos and 25-50 percent of Hispanics were hostile, they would have needed an extensive, and vulnerable supply line just to keep their army from starving.
The Original AG 76
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and , in reality, the war never really stopped even up to annexation. Mexican " armies" were constantly making forays into Texas territory for many years after San Jacinto. The Texas Navy , inspite of Sam Houstons constant schemes to destroy our navy, waged a largely successful campaign against Mexican ships during the years of the Republic, even assisting a revolt against Santa Ana down in the Yucatan. The Mexicans actually re-occupied San Antonio , briefly, on several occasions during the Republic. President Houston constantly interfered and sabotaged most attempts to strengthen Texan military resources fearing that a strong and secure republic might be tempted to abandon HIS quest and dream of annexation and strive to remain a free and independent Republic. Houston strategy was to deliberately keep the Republic in constant fear of Mexican aggression while actively preventing the Republic from successfully defending herself in order to force the citizens to look to the US for salvation. The Hero of San Jacinto is NOT exactly the Hero of the Republic.
As stated Mexico never really had the resources to reconquer Texas but Texas , largely thanks to Houston and his annexation schemes, also didn't have the resources to secure the territory from Mexico either. Fascinating period that does not get enough attention.
Smokedraw01
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I get it that you aren't a fan of Houston. It's my understanding that much of his "scheming" was due to the financial situation in Texas at the time, right?
huisachel
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The "Republic" was a joke because it was always broke. And that was not Houston's fault. He was just the guy who understood it.
The Original AG 76
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RedAgs01 said:

I get it that you aren't a fan of Houston. It's my understanding that much of his "scheming" was due to the financial situation in Texas at the time, right?
Its not about being a fan or not. IF you believe, as do most, that the entire Texas revolution had one ultimate goal and that was statehood then Sam is a hero in every respect. If you are a fan of the Republic, even with its tenuous hold on independence, you need to see Sam in a realistic light. Of course we were broke as hell and remains free and independent would have been a tremendous struggle and possibly doomed , the goal of annexation was probably the only real hope for Texas. But ole Sam made sure that damn near every attempt to shore up the nation and enhance our security and freedom was somewhat less than stellar and had dismal results. Perhaps he is the true hero, probably is, since he fully understood reality and the only hope was statehood.
FTACo88-FDT24dad
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Had Sam ignored the irresistible weight of the new republic's reality the fledgling nation would surely have failed and then how would we view him?

He's a hero because he had the intelligence, wisdom and courage to see what needed to be done and he managed to do it against all odds, starting with the Runaway Scrape, through San jacinto and well into the early years of the Republic. If only the luminaries of the new state had listened to his wisdom on secession ...

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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Mexico tried ! See reason for Mier Expedition !
BigJim49AustinnowDallas
bigtruckguy3500
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Anyone remember Germany trying to court a military alliance with Mexico? In exchange they'd help return Texas to Mexico. The Brits intercepted the message and used it to help bring the US into the war on their side.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram
huisachel
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What I remember is that the Brits gave the message to that jerk Wilson as part of a vast attempt to get the US into the war to bail their worthless butts out and it worked-----in spite of the fact that Mexico had neither the ability or inclination to do anything of the sort. Mexico was on the tail end of its disastrous revolution and could not have stood any chance of liberating Texas. They were exhausted and their economy destroyed from slaughtering each other, which they weren't finished with just yet anyway.

Wilson was an anglophile, like most Americans to this day, and was distraught that the Limeys were getting ready to go down for the count. And there were all those holders of British bonds in Nuevo York who would lose all their money, boo hoo hoo, and so let's get involved in the big slaughter to bail them all out.

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