(Breaking this down to bite sized chunks to respond.)
And whose fault is it that the state is bankrupt? Whose fault is it that the armies are so horrible? The US is hardly a military/economic titan in this period.
1) Hostile Mexican natives are hostile why?
2) Internal civil war why?
3) Flying horse artillery =/= ubertanks invulnerable to attack. Yes it played a role, but its not invincible.
4) Has nothing to do with the ability or lack thereof of Santa Anna.
5) Has even less to do with the ability or lack thereof of Santa Anna.
The United States army was not made up of ubermensch who Santa Anna couldn't hope to defeat.
Again, when he fails over over again, it has to be asked how much his own lack of ability played in it. Being determined is not the same as being able.
watch the video to understand what i am saying.
internal civil war okay, well what happened is that when Anna became president many of mexicos provinces revolted against him cause they hated the centralized power of goverment and his polocies. he crushed most of these rebbelions chiefly
Several states openly rebelled against the changes:
Coahuila y Tejas (the northern part of which would become the
Republic of Texas),
San Luis Potosí,
Querétaro,
Durango,
Guanajuato,
Michoacán,
Yucatán,
Jalisco,
Nuevo León,
Tamaulipas, and
Zacatecas. Several of these states formed their own governments, the
Republic of the Rio Grande, the
Republic of Yucatan, and the
Republic of Texas. (Only the Texans defeated Santa Anna and retained their independence). Their fierce resistance was possibly fueled by reprisals Santa Anna committed against his defeated enemies.
[6] The
New York Post editorialized that "had [Santa Anna] treated the vanquished with moderation and generosity, it would have been difficult if not impossible to awaken that general sympathy for the people of Texas which now impels so many adventurous and ardent spirits to throng to the aid of their brethren".
[7]
The Zacatecan
militia, the largest and best supplied of the Mexican states, led by Francisco Garcia, was well armed with .753 caliber British '
Brown Bess'
muskets and Baker .61
rifles. Nonetheless, after two hours of combat on May 12, 1835, Santa Anna's "Army of Operations" defeated the Zacatecan militia and took almost 3,000 prisoners. Santa Anna allowed his army to loot Zacatecas for forty-eight hours. After defeating Zacatecas, he planned to move on to
Coahuila y Tejas to quell the rebellion there, which was being supported by settlers from the United States (aka
Texians).
all these were his victories
2) flying artillary:
On May 8, Zachary Taylor and 2,400 troops arrived to relieve the fort.
[30] However, Arista rushed north and intercepted him with a force of 3,400 at
Palo Alto. The Americans employed "flying artillery," the American term for
horse artillery, a type of mobile light artillery that was mounted on horse carriages with the entire crew riding horses into battle. It had a devastating effect on the Mexican army. The Mexicans replied with cavalry skirmishes and their own artillery. The U.S. flying artillery somewhat demoralized the Mexican side, and seeking terrain more to their advantage, the Mexicans retreated to the far side of a dry riverbed
(resaca) during the night. It provided a natural fortification, but during the retreat, Mexican troops were scattered, making communication difficult. During the
Battle of Resaca de la Palma the next day, the two sides engaged in fierce
hand to hand combat. The U.S. cavalry managed to capture the Mexican artillery, causing the Mexican side to retreat—a retreat that turned into a rout.
[28] Fighting on unfamiliar terrain, his troops fleeing in retreat, Arista found it impossible to rally his forces. Mexican casualties were heavy, and the Mexicans were forced to abandon their artillery and baggage. Fort Brown inflicted additional casualties as the withdrawing troops passed by the fort. Many Mexican soldiers drowned trying to swim across the Rio Grande.
led by
José María Flores, forced the American garrison to retreat, late in September. The
rancho vaqueros who had banded together to defend their land fought as
Californio lancers; they were a force the
Americans had not anticipated. More than three hundred American reinforcements, sent by Stockton and led by Captain
William Mervine, U.S.N., were repulsed in the
Battle of Dominguez Rancho, fought from October 7 through October 9, 1846, near San Pedro. Fourteen
American Marines were killed.
Meanwhile, General
Stephen W. Kearny, with a squadron of 139
dragoons that he had led on a grueling march across
New Mexico,
Arizona, and the
Sonoran Desert, finally reached California on December 6, 1846, and fought in a small battle with
Californio lancers at the
Battle of San Pasqual near San Diego, California, where 22 of Kearny's troops were killed.
Kearny's command was bloodied and in poor condition but pushed on until they had to establish a defensive position on "Mule" Hill near present-day Escondido. The
Californios besieged the dragoons for four days until Commodore Stockton's relief force arrived. The resupplied, combined American force marched north from San Diego on December 29 and entered the Los Angeles area on January 8, 1847,
[32] linking up with Frémont's men there. American forces totalling 607 soldiers and marines fought and defeated a
Californio force of about 300 men under the command of Captain-general Flores in the decisive
Battle of Rio San Gabriel.
[33] The next day, January 9, 1847, the Americans fought and won the
Battle of La Mesa. On January 12, the last significant body of
Californios surrendered to U.S. forces. That marked the end of armed resistance in California, and the
Treaty of Cahuenga was
All these generals were commanded by santa anna
More problems for anna
The defeats at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma caused political turmoil in Mexico, turmoil which
Antonio López de Santa Anna used to revive his political career and return from self-imposed exile in Cuba in mid-August 1846.
[35] He promised the U.S. that if allowed to pass through the blockade, he would negotiate a peaceful conclusion to the war and sell the New Mexico and Alta California territories to the United States.
[36] Once Santa Anna arrived in Mexico City, however, he reneged and offered his services to the Mexican government. Then, after being appointed commanding general, he reneged again and seized the presidency.
Led by Taylor, 2,300 U.S. troops crossed the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) after some initial difficulties in obtaining river transport. His soldiers occupied the city of
Matamoros, then
Camargo (where the soldiery suffered the first of many problems with disease) and then proceeded south and besieged the city of
Monterrey. The hard-fought
Battle of Monterrey resulted in serious losses on both sides. The American light artillery was ineffective against the stone fortifications of the city. The Mexican forces were under General
Pedro de Ampudia and repulsed Taylor's best infantry division at Fort Teneria. American soldiers, including many West Pointers, had never engaged in urban warfare before and they marched straight down the open streets, where they were annihilated by Mexican defenders well-hidden in Monterrey's thick adobe homes.
[37] Two days later they changed their urban warfare tactics. Texan soldiers had fought in a Mexican city before and advised Taylor's generals that the Americans needed to "mouse hole" through the city's homes. In other words, they needed to punch holes in the side or roofs of the homes and fight hand to hand inside the structures. This method proved successful and Ampudia eventually surrendered.
[38]
Battle of Monterrey
Eventually, these actions drove and trapped Ampudia's men into the city's central plaza, where howitzer shelling forced Ampudia to negotiate. Taylor agreed to allow the Mexican Army to evacuate and to an eight-week armistice in return for the surrender of the city. Under pressure from Washington, Taylor broke the armistice and occupied the city of Saltillo, southwest of Monterrey. Santa Anna blamed the loss of Monterrey and Saltillo on Ampudia and demoted him to command a small artillery battalion. On February 22, 1847, Santa Anna personally marched north to fight Taylor with 20,000 men. Taylor, with 4,600 men, had entrenched at a mountain pass called
Buena Vista. Santa Anna suffered desertions on the way north and arrived with 15,000 men in a tired state. He demanded and was refused surrender of the U.S. army; he attacked the next morning. Santa Anna flanked the U.S. positions by sending his cavalry and some of his infantry up the steep terrain that made up one side of the pass, while a division of infantry attacked frontally along the road leading to Buena Vista. Furious fighting ensued, during which the U.S troops were nearly routed, but managed to cling to their entrenched position. The Mexicans had inflicted considerable losses but Santa Anna had gotten word of upheaval in Mexico City, so he withdrew that night, leaving Taylor in control of part of Northern Mexico. Polk distrusted Taylor, whom he felt had shown incompetence in the Battle of Monterrey by agreeing to the armistice, and may have considered him a political rival for the White House. Taylor later used the
Battle of Buena Vista as the centerpiece of his successful 1848 presidential campaign.
This is basically from wiki, i have many other sources as well as videos which sadly you elfwine completly ignore.
ALike buena vista 90 percent of annas battles ended the same way.