Hmmm. Well, in Alamo '60, Santa Anna was something like Nikita Khrushchev by way of Ming the Merciless. Why so? The Zorro stories seem to take place well into the 1820s at least, and yet depict California firmly in Spanish control. Maybe Santa Anna's career was stymied under continued Spanish control - or perhaps he himself was given the frustrating task of foiling the masked man in black.
(Continued Spanish presence suggests some big changes for the Napoleonic wars in Europe, possibly related to
certain differences in the person of Napoleon)
The Texas Revolution is barely explained in Alamo '60, so it could just as well have happened in the wake of a delayed collapse in Spanish authority. Of course, when Santa Anna rolls up on the besieged Texians, he is appalled that for every one of the defenders that fall, they take ten men with them! Worse yet, the dying John Way- uh, Davy Crockett manages to detonate the Alamo's
substantial supply of gunpowder, kills countless Mexican soldiers.
Suitably cautious of these seemingly superhuman feats, Santa Anna takes a much larger force with him in his attempt to capture the Texas government, which gives him sufficient coverage at San Jacinto to escape. This leads to a longer, nastier, though ultimately successful Texas Revolution, with weaker national authority all around, setting the stage for the chaotic wild wild west era to come.