Most books have either portrayed Hernán Cortés as either a brave conquistador hero who helped transform Mexico for Spanish use, or as a cruel racist who helped instill a genocide upon millions of Mexican natives. The truth, however, can be a lot less black or white. In the book Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico, we see that the moral nature of Cortés is more grey than most think. Cortés, in his conquest of Mexico, has performed good and bad deeds towards his own men and towards the Nahua people.
General Patton, in the Battle of the Bulge exercised the principles of mission command to the fullest and they yielded significantly great results for the Allied forces. General Patton employed each of the principles in different ways in order to ensure that the German surprise attack did not significantly set back the Allied forces in the war. The exercise of mission command allows a commander to conduct military operations and missions through dispersed execution. According to Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-0, Mission Command, the definition of mission command is “the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations”. General Patton exhibited four of the mission command principles extremely well during the Battle of the Bulge. General Patton drove the Allied forces since he had already built the cohesive team through mutual trust. General Patton also created a shared understanding throughout all of his troops of the mission they had to accomplish. General Patton also was highly known throughout the war for always giving a clear commander’s intent and did so again in the Battle of the Bulge. General Patton also used mission orders to ensure that his subordinate units completed the strategic objective of the operation and didn’t worry about micromanaging their Soldiers. General Patton helped put the
The Cubans wanted independence from Spain because they believe that they were under control of an imperial master, also foreign affairs such as the Wilson-Gorman Tarriff sent Cuban economy spiraling into turmoil. The Wilson-Gorman Tarriff Act put restrictions on sugar imports to the United States to meet the congressional demands for free sugar. Sadly, this hurt Cubans because they relied heavily on producing and selling sugar to the United States. The on rising violence of the Cuban rebellion between Spain and Cuba during 1898 lead to president McKinley trying to get Spain to agree to a diplomatic solution but ended up requesting American intervention when the situation worsened. This called for naval intervention so the government sent over
In the novel Insurgent Mexico, John Reed travels south of the border to experience the Mexican Revolution first hand while traveling in the year 1914. Reed was a journalist writing for Metropolitan and was ordered to bring back his work to publish in the United States. During this time Reed travelled to many places and met all different types of people from war generals, to peones, to Indians and many others. Reed has described his time in Mexico as the “most satisfactory period” in his life (Publisher’s Note), and it can be reflected through the stories he shares in Insurgent Mexico about his traveling companions and his experiences. Some moments were very serious, and at times even dangerous, while others were light hearted and amusing for
Throughout the 1840s and 1850s a major war happened called the Mexican American War which drastically changed the U.S. and Mexico and lead to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to be signed and which established the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S Border. This also lead to the U.S. annexation of Texas and lead to the Mexico agreeing to sell California and the rest of the territory for 15 million.
The Mexican American War started in 1846 because of Mexican resentment caused by the 1836 loss of Texas and the American’s desire for Mexico’s more northern territory. “On September 9, 1847 after two years of fighting, the Mexican American war essentially ended when the American Army captured Mexico City after the Battle of Chapultepec”( 6). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war. United States leaders then acted morally superior in their negotiations of the treaty 1. During negotiations, United States officials viewed the “forcible incorporations” (1) of almost one half of Mexico’s land as an “event foreordained by providence and Manifest Destiny” (1). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is written evidence of the biggest land acquisition in American history.
The United States war with Mexico continues to be a divisive topic among many people because of its background. The Mexican-American war was a fight between Mexico and America for land. America’s belief at the time was Manifest Destiny, which meant that they believed that America should extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. In the end, America benefited from the war and got the land. The United States expanded its size, achieving their dream of Manifest Destiny. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself wasn’t legitimate because of the revolution in Texas, motivation for superiority, and the U.S. government’s actions.
The Spanish American war was a product of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis and the urbanization of America. In 1895, a rebellion broke out in Cuba, as Cuban patriots wanted independences from Spain. Through the yellow journalism, reports of Spain’s cruel military tactics lead to a public uproar in the U.S. However, most of these stories were exaggerated as a form to promote war. After an American battleship, the USS Maine, was destroyed, America was “forced” to start war and stop Spanish occupation. The war lasted from April 1898 till August 1898; through this war we took control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the islands of the Philippines. The end result of this war comes to show that the reasoning behind the war has more to do with
The United States has always displayed a rich diverse culture, even before it gained its independence from Great Britain in 1776. European colonists were not the first groups of people to have lived in the America, as many indigenous groups have occupied this land hundreds of years before colonization. These indigenous groups played a major role in the makeup of Latin America and Caribbean, which is what made the Americas so diverse during the time of colonization. Academics Juan Gonzales and Paul Ortiz contribute to a current school of thought that discusses the role Latin and Caribbean Americans had in the development and liberation within the United Sates and across America. Many academics in this school of thought draw upon events like
Imagine inviting neighbors into one 's space and they take it for themselves. This is how Mexico felt in the Mexican-American war. Mexico had a substantial amount of land after declaring itself free from Spain. They wanted to increase the population by allowing U.S. settlers to come into Texas. However, this wasn’t a good idea because Americans had different beliefs on things such as slavery. After many fatal encounters between the two, America had gained control of the territory. They applied for annexation into the United States twice, but congress did not want to aggravate Mexican officials. Although, after James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, congress voted to annex Texas. The United States was not justified in the war with Mexico because they didn’t follow their laws, undisputed territory, and the idea of manifest destiny.
The conqueror of the Aztecs, murder of an empire, and a kidnapper, all of these
The Mexican-American War changed the Unites States of America in a monumental way. This war changed The U.S.A.’s relationship with foreign powers and the economic standpoint of the nation. The Mexican- American war, and its strong ties to manifest destiny, shaped the nation in a country bordered by two seas with a chance for common folk and foreigners to have a sustainable life due to the gold rush. The war can also be accounted for the downfall leading to the Civil War over the conflict of slavery due to the land purchased in the wars treaty.
Years later from 1935 to 1939 Eisenhower was under MacArthur as an assistant military advisor. During World War II, Eisenhower rose to prominence., Eisenhower was appointed to plan the strategy for the Third Army in war games in Louisiana. The Third Army defeated an enemy force that included a tank division commanded by George S. Patton Jr., a World War II hero and a friend to Eisenhower. In September of 1941, Eisenhower earned a promotion to brigadier general for his outstanding performance and caught the attention of General George C. Marshall, who had replaced MacArthur as Army chief of
The Spanish American War was a big step towards American War power and influenced foreign countries greatly with trade, naval power, and territory.
On November 11th, 1885 the hardnosed man General George S. Patton was born. From the very beginning of his life General Patton knew that someday he wanted to be a military leader. As a young boy he took a huge interest in anything related to the military. For example, when his father would have army friends over he would beg them to tell him war stories. General Patton was so involved in the military that by the age of seven he was reading advanced military maps. By the age of ten people started to not General Patton was doing very poor in school and although it was probably because he was paying so much attention to military aspects his parents decided to place him in a private school. After high school General Paton wanted to get into West point but had to settle for the Virginia Military Institute until he found an appointment that allowed him to get accepted.