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In the early 19th century, the United States and Mexico share a massive cross- continental border, but US settlement in Mexico, expansionist ideals and religious differences put the young republics on a collision course. As tensions boil over into bloodshed, the tiny, inexperienced US army marches to a war which will forge the modern United States.

Chapters:
00:00 Texas Republic
05:06 Declaration of War
07:03 The US Army
09:26 British Muskets in the Mexican Army
16:19 The Mexican Army
18:24 The Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma
21:38 California and New Mexico
25:11 US Volunteers
28:40 Battle of Monterrey
33:03 Expanding the War
36:59 The Pedregal Battles
40:18 Battles for Mexico City
43:42 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
45:14 Legacy

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Rose Flaglor, Reed Spilmann, Jim Frame, Erik Ritter, Cardboard, Ken Brownfield, David Garfinkle, Raymond Martin, Konstantin Bredyuk, Lisa Anderson, Brad Durbin, Jeremy K Jones, Murray Godfrey, John Ozment, Stephen Parker, Mavrides, Kristina Colburn, Stefan Jackowski, Cardboard, William Kincade, William Wallace, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Malcolm Swan, Christoph Wolf, Simen Røste, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, James Giliberto, Albert B. Knapp MD, Tobias Wildenblanck, Richard L Benkin, Marco Kuhnert, Matt Barnes, Ramon Rijkhoek, Jan, Scott Deederly, gsporie, Kekoa, Bruce G. Hearns, Hans Broberg, Fogeltje
» SOURCES
Adams, Anton, The War in Mexico, (Chicago, IL : Emperor's Press, 1998)
Bauer, K.J., The Mexican War, 1846–1848, (New York, NY : Macmillan, 1974)
Belohlavek, John, Patriots, Prostitutes, and Spies: Women and the Mexican-American War, (Charlottesville, VA : University of Virginia Press, 2017)
Carnagie, Jule L. & Kelly King Howes (ed.), Mexican-American War, (Detroit, MI : UXL, 2003)
Chance, Joseph E. (ed.) Mexico Under Fire: being the diary of Samuel Ryan Curtis, 3rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment, during the American military occupation of northern Mexico, 1846-1847 (Fort Worth, TX : Texas Christian University Press, 1994)
Christensen, Carol & Thomas Christensen, The U.S.-Mexican War, (San Francisco, CA : San Francisco Bay Books, 1998)
Giddings, Joshua, “Debate on the Mexican War”, House of Representatives, (May 13, 1846)
Guardino, Peter F. The Dead March: A History of the Mexican-American War, (Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2017)
Hinckley, Red C., “American Anti-Catholicism during the Mexican War” (Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 31, Issue 2, (1962)
Huseman Ben W., Sandweiss, Martha A. & Rick Stewart, Eyewitness to War: Prints and Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War, (Fort Worth, TX : Amon Carter Museum, 1989)
Isenberg, Andrew C, & Thomas Richards Jr. Alternative Wests: Rethinking Manifest Destiny, Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 86, Issue 1 (2017)
Jennings, Nathan A., “Expeditionary land power: lessons from the Mexican-American war”, Military Review, Vol. 97, Issue 1, (2017)
McCaffrey, James M., Army of Manifest Destiny: American soldier in the Mexican War, 1846-48, (New York, NY : New York University Press, 1994)
Merry, Robert W., A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent, (New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2009)
Pinheiro, John C., Missionaries of Republicanism: A Religious History of the Mexican-American War, (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014)
Watson, Samuel J. Manifest Destiny and Military Professionalism: Junior U.S. Army Officers’ Attitudes toward War with Mexico, 1844-1846, (1996)
Zeh, Frederick, An Immigrant Soldier in the Mexican War, (College Station, TX : Texas A & M University Press, 1995)

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Mark Newton
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Toni Steller
Illustrations: Juan Gómez Cabello
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: above-zero.com/
Research by: Mark Newton
Fact checking: Florian Wittig
Executive Producer: Florian Wittig

Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster

Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3
Music Library: Epidemic Sound

All photos and film in our documentaries are authentic historical footage. We do not use generative AI to create new assets. However, we may use AI tools to upscale or clean up certain assets without distorting or compromising the original image.
All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2025