For this book review, I am going to be talking about David Montejano’s book entitled Quixote’s Soldiers, A local history of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981. The author’s purpose is very well explained and it is not hard to understand. The author clearly tries to explain different ideologies, individuals and organizations located in one of the Southwest’s major cities, San Antonio, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 190s. All these varieties mentioned above made possible that a movement was created called Chicano Movement, a group that David Montejano provides a deeply understanding and description of the movement during the reading of the book. Since, the city was governed by a tough Anglosocial elite that was firmly convinced in the way
Europeans had many effects on the area now known as Texas and on the Indians. Few if any of those effects were positive. The Conquistadors affected the people, the land, and caused the colonization of Texas. They had many motives for their deeds, converting the Indians to Christianity, finding cities of gold, or just claiming land. A Spanish conquistador named Cabeza de Vaca crashed into the mainland near Galveston in 1528 and began exploring the area now known as Texas.
During the Texan Revolution, one of the most important battles was the Alamo or “El Alamo”, named after the cottonwood trees surrounding it. The Alamo was built by the Spanish in the 18th century as a mission to convert Native Americans to Christianity, but was later converted into a fort by Mexican soldiers in the 1800s. In the summer of 1821, around 300 American citizens entered Texas and settled down in San Antonio. The American citizens entering Texas increased over the next few decades, starting a revolutinary movement that would blossom into an armed conflict with Mexico by the 1830s. By Feburary 1836, things had become heated and the Texans had grown tired of Mexican rule.
However, Tyler fell short of collecting enough Senate votes to ratify the treaty. With the help of President-elect Polk and house of Congress; on March 1, 1845, Texas was admitted into the United States. Texas Annexation began the feud between Mexico and United States over Texas border. Texas State included Colorado and New Mexico. The conflict arose over
Moreover, in 1537, another Spanish explorer known as Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, wrote a book titled La Relación, where he explained the obstacles him and his crew had to face during the Narvaez expedition in 1527 to the Spanish King, Charles I. In connection to all the men who sailed “from Cuba to Tampa Bay in present-day Florida” only “Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and three other men survived the expedition, but only after enduring a nine-year, six-hundred-mile trek across Texas and Mexico and enslavement by Indians…….” In my opinion, this letter gives the reader a much clearer understanding of the things that Cabeza de Vaca saw during his journey because he writes his letters using words like “my”, “I”, and “me” which makes it clear to us
The other conquest film is about the Spanish conquest of Mexico, and more specifically the indigenous Aztec people. However, the film is less focused on the physical conquest of the land and more focused on the conquest made by the catholic church. In other words, the film is more focused on the spiritual conquest of the Amerindians. The films main focus is on Friar Diego whose main mission is to convert the uncivilized Amerindians into civilized Christians. The main character is an Aztec man named Topilzin who is supposedly the son of the great Aztec leader Montezuma.
The Spanish-American war The Spanish-American War happened in 1898 between Spain and the United States. During the war, the Spanish colonial rule was ended in America, leading to the U.S acquiring territories in Latin America and Western Pacific. The origin of the war was Cuba’s struggle to get its independence from Spain that started in 1895. The war was a short one that lasted for four months. During this time, Spain used brutal measures in stopping the rebellion, and various sensational newspapers in the United States showed this, leading to Americans developing sympathy for the Cuban rebels.
Mexican immigration has been a controversy in the United States before 1980. According to Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, Mexican immigration can be divided in three waves: the first one, before World War two, the second one started with the Bracero program, and the last one after it. Nevertheless, Mexican immigration can be seen as something threat or as the opposite, a benefit to the country and it all depends on which side you want to be. The American, Cesar Chavez who was a farm worker, also creator/leader of the United Farm Workers Union, influenced ad contributed to United States history by using Mexican’s “dignity” and nonviolent strategies to showed Americans that Mexicans could accomplished hard work and being successful for the country. Mexican’s deal with discrimination since 1962, schools, minorities, and farmers were the main target, this guide Chavez to create the National Farm Workers Association, now the United Farm Workers Union.
The conquest caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of Mexico under the rule of the Spanish crown in the early 16th century. In 1518 Cortes was put in command of an expedition to explore and secure the coast of Mexico for colonization. Accompanied by 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons, he landed in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mayan territory. In March 1519, Cortés formally claimed this land for the Spanish crown. In Veracruz, he attempted to meet Montezuma, the ruler of the Aztec Empire.
The Catholics formed their own government called the Catholic Confederation, and had support from clergy and most of the Irish Catholics throughout Ireland. Upper class Catholics were less supportive in fear of losing their lands. As time went by the Confederation gained and lost holdings throughout the country and by 1649 on Dublin was left in their grasp. When the English Civil War ended with the execution of Charles I, English troops could set their sights on Ireland. Cromwell landed in Ireland in 1649 and quickly took the towns of Drogheda and Wexford through massacre.