Customer Reviews

The Mexican-American War

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2 star:		(1)
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I am surprised no one has yet written a review of this DVD. Issues with Mexicans are important today as they were in 1846.

A war that started over the perceived border between Texas and Mexico turned into a long and drawn-out war that at the time cost more American lives that all its previous wars to date. The historians interviewed for this documentary were unbiased; we learn about both sides and see history from both points of view.

"President Polk lied!" said one Mexican historian.

What started as a border dispute turned into an invasion of Mexico. Internal fighting in Mexico City caused the Mexican government to withdraw its troops along its northern frontier to fight the growing civil war in the capital. This was the turning point in this war; not even the Mexicans were in accord of how to fight this war against the US.

Although some of the reenactments were cheesy (there were few photographs taken of this war to be used as visuals) maps, quotes from diaries and documents were used to explain this war that took away half of Mexico's landmass and fulfilled the American dream of Manifest Destiny.

For someone who has only picked up American history within the last two years, this documentary opened up many eyes for me. I learn about Los Patricios, Irish-American deserters from the US Army who fought for the Mexican side because the Mexicans were, like the Irish, Catholic and there was much discrimination against the Irish in the 18th through 20th centuries. This is real history, both brutal and unjust but unscripted.

Oscar de la Hoya narrated parts of this documentary. "When I won that Olympic medal I won it for both countries" perhaps explains the importance of US-Mexican relations even for today.

In 1846 President Polk had offered Mexico $30 million for the land that is now our Southwest and West. Mexico refused. Two years later Mexico relented and surrendered that same landmass for a mere $15 million.

The Mexican War tends to be a neglected episode in American history which is arguably strange since it so dramatically increased the size of the nation. Unfortunately, I felt that this treatment portrays the conflict simply as a naked land grab on the part of President James Polk. In fact, both sides were looking for a fight and both sides sent troops into disputed territory and the Mexicans fired first. Which certainly delighted Polk. The fact that in 1846 Mexico had the larger army and a strong desire to recapture it's lost Texas province seems to be overlooked. This was not a super power fighting a Third World nation in 1846. Many European military experts expected Mexico to win. Even a war criminal like Santa Anna gets something of a free pass and his crimes at the Alamo and Goliad ten years earlier are not even mentioned. I don't mean to minimize the expansionist thrust of the Polk Administration, but the war was considerably more complicated politically and morally than this documentary would have you believe.

This is a good summary of the war and does a fair job explaining the military tactics of the period and the rationale behind then President Polk's ideology of Manifest Destiny. This documentary is not for scholars but still a nice production.

This DVD gives a good history of the Mexican-American War, particularly focusing on the battles. It also offers the views of Mexican scholars and goes into the idea of Manifest Destiny and Polk's policies. More information on the anti-war protesters such as Henry David Thoreau would be desirable, but all in all a good product for history lovers.

"America's War of Conquest" is not a phrase that rolls easily off the tongue, the pen, or the keyboard. But that's exactly what this war was all about. That may explain why the Mexican-American War is, arguably, the nation's most neglected conflict.

The concept of the U.S.'s Manifest Destiny--that it was the nation's God-endorsed role to overspread the American continent from "sea to shining sea" had well taken root in the national consciousness by the mid-1840s; President James Knox Polk was an adherent. Campaigning for the Presidency in 1844, Polk not only advocated the annexation of the Republic of Texas (which actually occurred in the waning days of the Tyler Administration, after the election) and the purchase of California and other northern Mexican territory, Polk also talked belligerently of taking "all" of the disputed Oregon Country. "Fifty-four forty or fight" was one of the pro-Polk campaign slogans, a reference to the disputed area's northern latitude demarcation. Cooler heads prevailed, and the United States did not pick a war with a stronger opponent, Britain. Instead, after a relatively arrogantly-expressed offer to buy the northern Mexican Territory for $30 million was rejected, the U.S. picked a war with a weaker opponent, Mexico.

That was the backdrop for the "border dispute" (was the Texas/Mexico border the Rio Grande River?; or was it the Nueces River?)that triggered the outbreak of war between Mexico and the United States. The video makes clear--with brief but effective interpretive sound bites by both Mexican and U.S. historians--that Polk manipulated information from far-off Texas to obtain a declaration of war from the U.S. Congress: "American blood was shed on American soil." Shades of LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

That the war was one of American conquest is made abundantly clear by the fighting. General Zachary Taylor was initially surprised and Polk infuriated by the Mexicans' refusal to give up half their territory even after a few bloody battles. Meanwhile, General Stephen Kearny was dispatched to take and occupy California by way of Sante Fe, New Mexico--a heads-up, if one is needed, that this was no limited conflict merely to secure the Texas border.

The war slogged on. Kearny met greater-than-anticipated resistance in Southern California. Tayler was relieved of overall command by a politically jealous Polk. General Winfield Scott (his "Old Fuss and Feathers" was a polar opposite of Taylor's "Old Rough and Ready") took the lion's share of Taylor's troops to mount the then-largest amphibious attack in the history of warfare at Vera Cruz. Polk sent Nicholas Trist to negotiate a peace and continue to push for the purchase of the northern territories. Something like a war-protest movement began to develop back in the States.

Mexico recalled ousted President Antonio López de Santa Anna from exile to take command of the nation's defense. Under Santa Anna, the Mexican army fought bravely, gallantly and well--but ultimately was pushed back. The bravery of the individual Mexican soldier accounted for the very great difficulty the U.S. had in disparching an on-paper weaker foe more quickly--and more in keeping with Polk's impatient timetable. In the midst of the war political controversy amounting to virtual civil war forced Santa Anna and many of his troops back to Mexico City to restore order.

In the end, Scott's army invested Mexico City fter a spirited defense and in the end, the U.S. acquired the territory it had wanted all along--for $15 million instead of $30 million, but at the additional price of 13,780 American lives and an estimated 25,000-plus Mexican lives.

The video alternates beteen re-enactment scenes--(which are never terribly satisfying in lieu of Mathew Brady's glass-plate still photography or twentieth century motion-picture footage, both of which were of course unavailable for this conflict)--and on-location views--(the juxtaposition of shots of modern-day Mexico City and the Mexico City of Santa Anna and Scott are especially effective)--with the historians' talking heads make for a relatively lively 100 minute summary of this conflict. Very good use is also made of contemporaneous battle-scene paintings as well. The historians are, remarkably, not dry-as-dust at all. One Mexican historian calls Polk a liar and Santa Anna vain; an American historian calls Polk mean-spirited. The Mexican historians decry the vacuum of leadership at the top in their nation at the time. Punches really are not pulled at all in the commentary. The overall host/narrator is boxer Oscar de la Hoya, a man of dual citizenship who can, maybe more than most, appreciate the conflict from both sides.

I rated the dvd at 5 stars, higher than most of the others who have reviewed it, because I think it is extremely effective in the classroom--I used individual dvd chapters in an American Wars class to good effect. (I agree showing any 100-minute video--or half that long for that matter--"reel-to-reel" as it were--is an invitation to student slumber.) But this presentation's balanced approach in which the strengths--and warts--of both sides are clearly illustrated is both educational and entertaining. And for the adult general American history buff who may have missed the clear importance of the Mexican-American War in high school, this dvd is well worth an hour and a half in front of the TV.

Quick review of the battles and leaders in this conflict. Could have eliminated the comments by a boxer on his heritage. Either he is American and proud of it, or he is Mexican and proud of it, he can't be both.

does not give a full history of the conflict and the precusors to the war. Overall good though

I am a teacher and I bought this video to introduce the Mexican American War. It's very informative, but the 30 minutes we watched in class put several of my students to sleep.

USA wasn't always the 'good' side. This war grabbed California, Texas, New Mexico,Arizona and parts of other states.... not so neighborly.