Mexican-American War

Confederate General Robert. E Lee oversees the liberation of Richmond

### Territorial Changes

* Mexican Cession of Cuba, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, New Mexico, and Arizona to the United States

## Belligerents

### Aggressor(s)

* Mexican Republic (until 1866)
* Mexican People's Republic (from 1866)
* **Supported by:**
	+ Gran Colombia (until 1867)
	+ Italy (until 1867)
	+ Canada (until 1869)

### Defender(s)

* American Alliance
	+ United States
	+ Confederate States (until 1870)
	+ Deseret (1872 - 1875)
* **Supported by:**
	+ Gran Colombia (from 1867 )
	+ Sweden-Norway (from 1868)
	+ Germany (from 1868)
	+ Italy (from 1873)

### Third Party(ies)

* Christian States (until 1869)
* EPLM (1864 - 1866)
* Deseret (1868 - 1872, 1875 - 1876)
* Mexican Empire (from 1873)

## Commanders and Leaders

### Aggressors

* Antonio López de Santa Anna†
* Porfirio Diaz†
* Miguel Ángel Morillo†
* Juan Andrés Cazalla†
* Juan Manuel de la Cavallería†
* Juan Diego Galán
* Bernado Allerano†
* Tomás de Santa

### Defenders

* Abraham Lincoln
* William Sylvis
* Ulysses S. Grant
* Benjamin G. Brown
* Uriah Smith Stephens
* Jefferson Davis
* Alexander H. Stephens
* John Bell
* Robert E. Lee
* John Simpson

### Third Parties

* Paul Pearson†
* Miguel Ángel Morillo
* William Marks†
* Joseph Smith III
* John Simpson
* Maximilian I

## Meta

### Campaign

Game 17

The **Mexican-American War**, also known in the United States as the **Mexican War** and in Mexico as the ***Guerra Americana*** (American War), was an armed conflict between the American Alliance of the United States and Confederate States against Mexico fought between 1864 and 1876. The war was concurrent with the American Civil War, Mormon-American War, Mormon Insurrection, and Mexican Civil Wars, the latter two of which were incited by American spies and foreign supporters. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the explosion at Havana harbor, a false flag attack launched by Mexico in its own territory to justify invading the Confederate States. The war led to the reunifcation of the Confederate States with the United States and the cession of a large portion of Mexican territory to the United States.

Though the Mexican government under Antonio López de Santa Anna used the explosion at Havana harbor as justification for its invasion of the Confederacy, in reality Mexico had initiated the war in hopes of seizing Lousiana. Though relations between the Confederate States and Mexico had been mostly cordial prior to the invasion, the Confederacy had been largely ostracized by the international community for its reliance on and protection of slavery, another factor used by Mexico justify its invasion in 1864.

In the opening stages of the war, the Mexican Army saw little success against the Confederacy, failing to capture Louisiana despite a long and costly offensive into the state in 1864. The Confederate assassination of Santa Anna and subsequent uprising of the Mexican People's Liberation Army (EPLM) later that year forced the Mexican Army to retreat, allowing the Confederacy to occupy Texas in 1865, though it was repelled from Cuba that same year. In 1866, the Confederate States began skirmishing with the EPLM, leading to a backroom deal that saw Mexican President Pofirio Díaz executed and replaced with EPLM leader Miguel Ángel Morillo and the Mexican People's Republic proclaimed. Despite the hastiness with which the Mexican Army was coopted into the EPLM, it was able to repel the Confederate Army from Oklahoma in 1866 and in 1867 capture the Confederate capital of Richmond and occupy Virginia and North Carolina.

Though Gran Colombia had initally supported Mexico in the war, after Mexico left the Panama Pact (of which Gran Colombia was the leader), Gran Colombia began supporting the Confederate States instead, publicly guarunteeing its independence from Italy (who had threatened to intervene on the side of the Mexicans) In exchange, however, the Confederacy ceded the territories it had captured from Haiti during its intervention against Emperor Faustin a few years earlier to Gran Colombia. Though it staved off Italian intervention, this move only further weakened the Confederate war effort, and in 1868 Mexico made further gains by occupying the Confederate states of Georgia and Alabama.

Just as Mexico was beginning to seriously gain the upper hand, however, Sweden-Norway and Germany began covertly supporting the American Alliance, with agents of the Swedish Säkerhetspolisen assassinating Mexican President Miguel Ángel Morillo as well as his successor President Juan Andrés Cazalla in 1868. Later that same year, the end of the stalemate between the Christian States and the United States allowed the U.S. to send an army to aid the Confederacy in the liberation of Richmond. Armed and incited to rebellion by U.S. and Confederate agents, in 1868 the Mormons of Utah rose up in revolt against Mexico, proclaiming the State of Greater Deseret and launching the Mormon Insurrection, once again distracting Mexicans and forcing them to send some of the EPLM back west. While the EPLM was distracted fighting the Mormons in 1869, the United States and Confederate States worked together to defeat the Christian States, ending the American Civil War. The American Alliance then proceeded to invade Deseret, knowing that it would be easier to capture the west from poorly-armed rebels than from the mostly professional EPLM. The U.S. Army made quick work of the Mormons, and by the end of 1869 the U.S. had occupied the Mormon capital of Salt Lake City as well as the territories of Utah and Arizona.

Though the EPLM was able to recapture Texas from the Confederacy in 1870, any hopes the Mexicans might have had of victory over the Americans were dashed as John Bell and the Constituional Union Party won sweeping victories in the 1870 Confederate elections. Considered "radicals" by some, Bell and his party placed preservation of American independence and victory over Mexico above the issue of slavery, and under their guidance the Confederacy only abolished the practice but rejoined the Union. Once word of the abolition of slavery reached the ears of King Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy publicly guaranteed the independence of the United States. Once combined with the Confederate Army, the U.S. Army was able to drive the Mexicans from North Carolina, and though the EPLM was able to briefly occupy the U.S. capital, Washington DC, in 1871, it was quickly driven out and never again held it.

Mexico's fortunes only worsened in 1872 when, crumbling under attack by the U.S. Army, Deseret surrendered to the United States and signed the Treaty of Salt Lake City, becoming a U.S. client state south of the Rio Grande and granting the United States control of most of what would become known as the Mexican Cession. Though the EPLM attempted to capture the new Mormon capital in Laredo in 1873, this failed. Though the U.S. Army was hardly any more succesful in recapturing Texas that year, agents of the United States' newly established Army Intelligence Bureau (AIB) assassinated Mexican President Juan Manuel de la Cavallería, leading to a massive drop in confidence in the People's Republic which allowed the Austrian Prince Maximilian von Hapsburg and a junta of disgruntled EPLM generals to proclaim an Empire of Mexico, launching the Second Mexican Civil War.

Severely weakened, the EPLM was practically powerless against the U.S. Army and the Mormons, failing to recapture North Carolina and Guanajuato in 1874. That same year, the U.S. Army liberated eastern Georgia and Alabama, and the Mormons captured Mexico City and the Mexican state of Guerrero. As Imperial Mexican Army also made gains against the EPLM, it became clear that situation was hopless for the Mexican People's Republic. In 1874, EPLM General Bernardo Arellano, who had been occupying Atlanta, Georgia, for years, ordered a bloody massacre of all non-Mexicans in the city, one of the worst atrocities ever comitted on U.S. soil. In 1875, the Mexican Empire ceded Texas and Cuba to the United States in exchange for the end of U.S. support of Deseret. With all the lands the United States intended to demand from Mexico secured, the United States needed only defeat the last EPLM holdouts in Atlanta and Hawaii. Though Atlanta was liberated in 1875, the fierce defense of Hawaii by Mexican General Tómas de Santa allowed the EPLM to survive for one more year before finally being defeated by the U.S. Marines in 1876.

The end of EPLM brought an end to the Mexican-American War, as the Mexican Empire under Maximilian I was friendly to the United States and gladly recognized its control of Cuba, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Though described by many as a failed state at the beginning of the war, the United States emerged from the Mexican-American War victorious and became one of the world's strongest nations almost overnight.