US Army faced with effective guerilla resistance after end of Mexican-American War

http://www.historyguy.com/Mexican-American_War.html

So WI the irregular resistance against Winfield Scott's forces after the end of conventional fighting in 1848 had actually been more widespread & organised ? Would there have been any prospect of US forces being drawn into a guerilla quagmire as bad as the Philippines after 1900 or in Iraq in 2003 ?

I don't think so. The Mexican government/officials were eager to have the war over and the US troops out. Their capital was occupied and in the end the territory in question was really past even the fringe of control anyways. I think they probably eventually just seen a repeat of territories going the Texas route, breaking off piece by piece. Realized the war was bungled and lost, negotiations were probably not effected by resistance.

Side note, but you really can't compare the modern 2003 occupations with those of past centuries ... the way in which a military conducts such operations is completely different. Too much has changed to compare the Philippines or events prior to 1950 really with the post Nam world.
 
Most likely not. The Mexicans in northern Mexico were largely ambivalent towards their own government and the change had few major short term repercussions. If perhaps the Mexican population in the region was higher at the time, perhaps if Lake Cahuilla (aka the Salton Sea) had survived and led to higher settlement in the Baja area or if further annexations occurred after Pancho Villa raids you could have a guerrilla war.

But remember there was a time when the US was quiet proficient at fighting guerrilla wars...just ask the British, Indians and Philippinos.

Benjamin
 
Actually, the American occupation is one of the few times in Mexico's early history that the Mexican government was relatively well organized. As already stated it was not in Mexico's best interest to continue fighting in any form. Santa Anna also knew that if he wanted to stay in power afterwards he had to control his people and please the Americans. If not the US would never allow him to get back in power.
The Mexican government did a really good job in using the Church as a way of stopping the Mexican's from using guerrilla resistance. Basically every parish, church, and monastery had strict orders of telling its congregation that killing an American was a punishable sin. Amazingly, it worked! Once the capital was taken most major cities, even Puebla which had previously resisted brutally against the french, did not see a single gun shot once occupation started.
 
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