Anglo-Mexican Alliance in Mexican-American War
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Anaxagoras
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What would Britain have gained by such an alliance? What does Mexico have to offer?
Curtailing American expansion. The Brits and the Americans had just almost gone to war over Oregon. Maybe Britain wants to invest in California as an added bonus, have an ally to the south of the Americans who can help in the case of war.
Something like that.
I find it highly unlikely. A more probable outcome would be if Mexico happens to perform well in the war and then Britain offers to mediate to arrange a favourable peace for Mexico before the USA brings more forces to bear. Therefore preventing an American victory but not directly committing.
Anaxagoras
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Would it really make sense to go to war with the Americans in order to gain an ally who might be able to help in the event that they went to war with the Americans?
that's not what i was saying. perhaps i should be more clear.
invest in Mexican-held California (with businessmen, added military help, ect) to achieve an alliance with Mexico in the event of a war with the US, which during the early 1800s seemed pretty likely.
There is simply the question of why.
California didn't exactly have a large population prior to the Mexican American war, nor did it have much of value prior to the Gold Rush. Whatever the investments made by independent British businessmen, there is the question of whether they would be worth the price of war.
Free Lancer
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There are many reasons why a Anglo-Mexican Alliance can come to pass but the main issue is that Britain will not do so if Mexico has the same strength it had OTL or lack of strength to be specify.
I think the only reason they would ally themselves with Mexico is if they were already at war with the United States and wanted someone to relieve some of the pressure on land. Otherwise before the Gold Rush there isn't any reason for the British to get involved. If the Gold rush started just before the Mexican-American War, we could possibly see their involvement.
Butterfly the crash of 1825, which wiped out much British investment in newly independent Mexico. With a greater stake in the regional economy, the UK might help arm Mexico to protect an export market and source of raw materials.
The primary difficulty I see with this scenario is that it would require post-independence Mexico to be somewhat more prosperous in the first place, with generally more to sell. I think the UK would only champion Mexican interests if the potential economic gains were vast.
The primary difficulty I see with this scenario is that it would require post-independence Mexico to be somewhat more prosperous in the first place, with generally more to sell. I think the UK would only champion Mexican interests if the potential economic gains were vast.
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Maybe have the Spanish royal family move to Mexico during the Napoleonic period and a branch remain there as rulers afterwards (that is if there was a suitable candidate, which I don't know offhand...), as happened with the Portuguese royal family and Brazil... Might that possibly stabilise the situation enough?
Interesting that slavery hasn't been mentioned. I don't know when Mexico outlawed slavery but I wonder, if America's clear war objective is territorial expansion, and by extension the expansion of slavery, whether the more anti-slavery liberal movement in the UK, both publically and in parliament could lobby for British intervention?
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
I'm not sure anyone at the time really thought much of the slavery issue, simply because so much of the land in question was so obviously unsuited for it. In all the land taken from Mexico, large scale slavery was pretty much limited to eastern/gulf coast Texas. IIRC, there was some grumbling about the unjust war against Mexico just so slavery could expand, but it was apparently a very minor opinion, and it didn't stop men from all over the union from volunteering to join the army...