Rethinking The Nature of War: Santa Ana of Mexico - Report Example

March General Santa Anas Poor Leadership Decisions Cost Him to Lose the Texas Revolution Introduction General Santa Ana lost the Texas Revolution because the general committed several avoidable battle strategy mistakes. Likewise, General Santa Anna’s lackluster leadership style precipitated to the general’s humiliating defeat, capture, and forced signing of a treaty. The treaty forced General Santa Ana to stop future invasions into United States territory, including Texas. The Texas residents were serious in their desire to eject from the General’s Mexican dictatorship government (Heidler 154). Lackluster war strategy Further, General Santa Ana’s lackluster war strategy led to the Texas Revolution loss. The research delves on General Santa Ana’s leadership styles. The research delves on the reasons for General Santa Ana losing the Texas War of Independence war. General Santa Ana’s poor leadership style cost him the Texas Revolution (Heidler 154) The Effects of the Decision to Charge the Alamo Complex versus Waiting Them Out The effects of the decision to charge the Alamo fort were disastrously unfavorable to the Mexican army when compared to waiting them out. Because of General Santa Ana’s unnecessary forcible attack on the smaller Alamo building defenders, many Texas residents appreciated the heroic deeds of the Alamo defenders. The Texas residents interpreted the heroic acts of the fewer but more determined Alamo defenders’ successful killing of more than 550 Mexican soldiers as a strong and vivid signal to counterattack. Using the favorable heroic outcome of the Alamo defense, many Texas residents immediately signed up to join the war. The new Texas recruits were determined to carry on the Alamo defenders’ heroic fight to extricate Texas from the long dictatorship hold of General Santa Ana, the Mexican president and army general (Eisenhower 13). Aftermath of the Alamo Complex Battle Consequently, the entire Texas army grew in number. With more soldiers patriotically joining the ranks of the Texas army, the Texas army finally was able to win the war. Within less than 58 days after the Mexican army’s capture of Alamo, Texas General Sam Houston led the bigger and better equipped Texas army to defeat General Santa Ana in the battle of San Jacinto. The San Jacinto battle ended with the defeat of the entire Mexican army. During the same battle, the Texas army captured General Santa Ana. With General Santa Ana’s capture, the general was forced to sign a treaty indicating the Mexican army will respect and accept the Texas people’s desire to be counted as part of the United States (Eisenhower 13). With the Texans gaining their independence from Mexico, several Alamo defenders are continually remembered today as heroes. The heroes gave up their lives for the sake of Texas independence. Bowie and Travis died during the Alamo battle. Likewise, Bonham and Crockett sacrificed their lives for the sake of Alamo’s defense (Eisenhower 13). Stronger Mexican army versus Smaller Alamo defenders Further, the Mexican army that charged into Alamo was composed of more than 5,900 soldiers. The defenders of Alamo were estimated to be only a ragtag 198 soldiers. The soldiers were part included a ragtag group of volunteer and greenhorn soldiers. General Santa Ana believed that his overwhelming force was more than enough to quell the smaller group of independence-minded Texans. With the sacrifice of the Texas soldiers in the Alamo Complex battle, Texas won the Texas Revolution. Winning a battle is less favorable to winning the war. Consequently, Texas’ winning the Texas Revolution overshadowed the prior Mexican capture of San Antonio’s Alamo Complex (Eisenhower 20). Prior to the Mexican attack on Alamo, the Texas defenders of the Alamo Complex reached an estimated 97 soldiers. With news of the approaching Mexican army carrying an estimated 18 cannons and several soldiers into the battle, several Texas residents volunteered to cross help defend the Alamo Complex (Eisenhower 24). General Santa Ana mistakes hastened his defeat in the Mexico-Texas War General Santa Ana committed the mistake of not gathering enough relevant and reliable information as basis for crafting a winning battle plan, especially in terms of conquering Alamo. Without the necessary information, General Santa Ana immediately attacked Alamo using plain brute force. During March of 1836, the Mexican army of General Santa Ana attacked the heavily fortified Alamo building. Further, the Mexican army won the battle of Alamo Complex. However the Mexicans suffered many casualties during the entire Alamo siege. Alamo was known as the old mission. The mission was strategically located in the center of the San Antonio de Bexar community. A group of about 198 Texas soldiers banded together to prevent the Mexican army of General Santa Ana from entering. One of the brave leaders of the Alamo Complex was Lt. Colonel William Travis, a Texas officer. One of the soldiers was Jim Bowie. Another soldier who significantly contributed to the defense of the Alamo Complex was Davy Crockett. Davy Crockett was elected as one of the United States elected lawmakers. The lawmakers are members of the United States Congress (Eisenhower 13). General Santa Ana led the Alamo attack Further, Mexico’s General Santa Ana personally led his more than 5,900 soldiers to attack the Alamo. Initially, Texas was part of the Mexican empire. The residents of Texas wanted to seek their own independence from the Mexican government. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain, Mexico’s President decided to retain sovereignty over Texas. However, the residents of Texas preferred to separate from the Mexican sovereignty. The Texas residents preferred to be part of the United States sovereignty (Eisenhower 13). The Alamo Complex battle occurred during October 1835. The initial war shots were fired in Gonzales, Texas. The General felt that the overwhelming force of the approaching Mexican army would easily crush the small defending Alamo force of an estimated 98 men. Consequently, General Houston instructed Jim Bowie to give up Alamo. Jim Bowie was ordered to retreat deeper into Texas where more Texas soldiers were waiting. The retreat would make the regrouping of the Texas soldiers into a stronger blockading force. However, Jim Bowie refused to comply with the General’s orders. Instead, Jim Bowie and several soldiers decided to defend Alamo to the death. The Alamo soldiers believed that their more sophisticated and more accurate weapons would easily turn the tide of war into their favor. The Alamo soldiers used cannons to defend the Alamo Complex. With the more effective rifles and the cannons, Jim Bowie led the small Alamo defenders withstand the Mexican General Santa Ana’s bigger group of more than 5, 900 soldiers (Eisenhower 13). When the Mexican army attacked the Alamo, the Mexican army finished the battle within two hours. The few Alamo Complex defenders decided to fight to the death. A few nights prior to the Alamo battle, the Texas leaders, especially Travis, made his Alamo defenders choose between defending Alamo at all cost or to escape during the thick of the night into deeper United States territory. Most of the Alamo defenders decided to fight to the death instead of giving up Alamo to the Mexican invaders. Upon learning of the approaching Mexican army’s attack, a band of about 30 Texas soldiers stationed in the nearby Gonzales fort decided to cross over into the Alamo. The 30 soldiers decided to help the Alamo defenders ward off the Mexican army’s advances (Eisenhower 13). When the battle of the Alamo was over, all the Texas soldiers were killed. The few remaining defending volunteers surrendered to the victorious Mexican attackers. Instead of incarcerating the remaining defenders, they were summarily executed. General Santa had previously warned that the Mexican army will not take any quarters if the Texas defenders will not lay down their arms and surrender to the bigger Mexican army. Consequently, the remaining defenders who surrendered were summarily executed. However, the innocent women and the children were spared by General Santa Ana because they did not take part in the battle. Even though General Santa won the battle of Alamo, he suffered severe casualties from the Alamo fort offensive. More than 550 Mexican soldiers died during the same attack. Using mathematical analysis, the death of more than 550 Mexican soldiers showed that General Santa Ana suffered an initial defeat. On the other hand, there were only estimated 198 defending Texas volunteers defending the Alamo building (Eisenhower 14). Analyzing the Alamo battle, General Santa Ana was not a good war strategist. A better war strategist would not force the issue if the issue will result to unnecessary deaths on the part of the strategist’s army. Instead, the general wrongly decided to sacrifice the precious lives of his Mexican soldiers for the sake of history telling he had overpowered and captured Alamo. With more than 550 Mexican soldiers avoidably killed, it is safe to say that the Alamo defenders won the battle of Alamo, in terms of casualties. There were only an estimated 198 Texas volunteers defending Alamo (Eisenhower 12). Further, General Santa Ana committed the mistake of not including the possible huge casualty loss during the planning phase of the Alamo Complex offensive. To avoid the huge casualty loss, General Santa Ana should have focused on attacking a weaker Texas force (Marquis 48). By attacking a lesser fortified part of the Texas territory, the Mexican army would suffer an unfavorably lesser casualties. General Santa Ana committed a very costly blunder when he Mexican army was ordered to assault the well fortified Texas building complex. The Alamo fort contained more powerful artillery hidden within its impenetrable complex walls. Similarly, the Texas army of volunteers had better rifle models compared to the rifles of the Mexican army. Wrong timing of Alamo attack Furthermore, General Santa Ana committed the mistake of not waiting for a more opportune time to spring the Mexican offensive. General Santa Ana’s engaging the enemy in unfavorable battle environment contributed to his downfall. General Santa Ana did expect that the Texas defenders of Alamo would bravely die for the sake of defending Alamo and the other Texas communities from the encroaching Mexican army. The General should have timed the attack on a day or time when the Alamo Complex defenders were not prepared or unsuspecting. General Santa Ana’s surprise attack would catch the Texas army unprepared. Being unprepared, there would be lesser Texas volunteers defending the Alamo fort. Likewise, there would be lesser weapons and cannons hidden inside the Alamo fort. With this strategy, General Santa Ana would capture the Alamo and suffer lesser casualties. Instead of timing the attack on a more opportune time, General Santa Ana hurriedly used brute force to ram into the Alamo Complex, losing an avoidable huge number of Mexican solders (Nofi 110). Lack of Viable Strategic War Plan Additionally, General Santa Ana committing the mistake of not implementing a viable strategic war plan hastened his defeat at the San Jacinto battle. General Santa Ana committed the mistake of not using spies to gather information on the Texas army’s logistics. Logistics includes the quantity, location and weapons of the Texas army. Spying contributes to turning the tide towards the favor of General Santa Ana’s army (Massey 236). The spies can secretly divulge where the Texans hide their weapons, ammunitions and other military equipments. The spies will indicate where the enemy forces are stationed. General Santa Ana committed the mistake of not using the spies’ information to increase the chances of winning his Texas battles. Force is not the only way to win the battle Likewise, General Santa Ana committed the mistake of only using force to win the Texas Revolution. General Santa Ana should have studied the residents’ culture. By assimilating the Texas people’s culture into the Mexican culture, General Sana Ana can win the Texan people’s hearts and minds. The war can be won on several fronts. Winning the hearts and minds of the Texas residents contributes to winning the war. Instead, General Santa Ana wanted to retain Texas under the Mexican territory in order to forcefully require Texas residents replaced their Texas culture with the uninvited Mexican culture (Noble 710). Further, the Texas immigrants felt their culture differed from the Mexican culture. Consequently, the difference between the Mexican culture and the Texas residents persuaded the Texas residents to separate from Mexico’s forceful territorial hold. General Santa Ana’s Leadership Style led to his defeat General Santa Ana’s leadership style contributed to the Texas residents’ desire to immediately shed their loyalty to the Mexican leadership. General Santa Ana ruled Mexico like a dictator (Stacey 307). The political scene of having the dictator run their Texas lives was unacceptable. Texans preferred the democratic leadership of the United States government. Dictators force the residents to implement the orders or policies of the dictators. In a dictatorship, the citizens’ refusal to implement the orders often resulted to the citizens being penalized or incarcerated. The majority of the people of Texas preferred democratic leadership. Uninspiring Economic Leadership Further, General Santa Ana’s uninspiring economic leadership style dissuaded the Texas residents from pledging loyalty to the Mexican flag (Shearouse 132). Under the President Santa Ana regime, the people lived in poverty. During the Texas Revolution, the residents of Texas were enjoying the better United States economic benefits during the time of the Texas War of Independence. General Santa Ana should have used his leadership to improve the economic environment in Mexico. The Texas economic lifestyle and the Mexican economic lifestyle indicated that the Texas residents did not want the slow Mexican business and economic life to replace the currently favorable United States economic and business lifestyle. General Santa Ana should have improved the current Mexican economic and business environment in order to entice the Texas residents to return to the Mexican government’s fold (Sherouse 46). Lack of Innovative Leadership Style Additionally, General Santa Ana’s leadership style was not innovative (Shearouse 46). Being innovative includes using deception strategies. General Santa Ana lost the Texas Revolution because he war plan was very clear. The Texas army of volunteers knew how many soldiers would attack Alamo. Similarly, the Texas army knew the estimated arrival of the Mexican army. Consequently, the Alamo defenders prepared for the stronger and better defense of the fort. General Santa Ana should have implemented Sun Tzu’s 476 B.C. to 221 B.C deception tactics to make the Alamo defenders think there are only 100 Mexican soldiers approaching the Alamo defenders (Tzu 34). By studying the historical account of how Sun Tzu won his war against a stronger enemy Chinese force during the 476 to 221 B.C. Chinese Period, General Santa Ana could have implemented some of Sun Tzu’s war theories. For example, General Santa Ana could have presented a fake image that his Mexican Army is weak by sending only a handful of Mexican soldier to attack the Alamo Fort. When the Texas army of volunteers accepts the deception, the Texas army will suffer from the battle loss. Seeing that there are only a few Mexican attackers, the Mexican army could be easily be deceived into thinking of opening their stronghold and running after the escaping ragtag Mexican soldiers. As the Texas volunteers moved towards the few Mexican soldiers, the awaiting huge Mexican force ambushes the Texas army. Ignorance of Sun Tzu war strategy principles This way, the Mexican soldiers could easily overpower the surprised Texas volunteers. Sun Tzu, the Chinese war hero, espoused leaders must use the deception war strategy to easily overpower the surprised and deceived enemy. China’s General Sun Tzu’s leadership style included successfully routing the bigger enemy Chinese force by using the deception strategy (Tzu 33). Another deception strategy is to make the enemy believe that the Mexican army of volunteers was far away from the Alamo fort. In reality, the Mexican army was hiding nearby. The nearby army was eagerly waiting to ambush the unsuspecting Texas army. This way, the Alamo soldiers would relax their guard. When the soldiers were relaxed, the massive nearby Mexican can easily capture the Alamo fort. General Santa Ana should have implemented a leadership style that included the prior successful war strategies of the China’s General Sun Tzu Proactive or Reactive leadership Further, General Santa Ana’s leadership style was unfavorably reactive, not proactive. General Santa Ana lost the Texas Revolution because he was not quick enough to stay ahead of the enemies (Tzu 33). To be proactive, one must continually stay ahead of the enemy, to act before the enemy acts. To be reactive is to act only after the enemy had acted. Further, Sun Tzu specifically required that the army must be quick enough to respond to the enemies’ every offensive move (Tzu 33). By knowing the enemies’ every move, the Mexican army of volunteers can implement strategies to counter the enemies’ current and future strategies. Sun Tzu reiterated that the army that is slow to respond and counter the enemies’ every war strategy will have higher chances of losing the battle. If the Mexican army learned that the Texas army of volunteers was sending a certain quantity of troops to the battleground, the Mexican army of volunteers could counter the Texas war strategy by sending a bigger army to the same battlefield. However, the Mexican army’s slowness showed that the Mexican army did not expect that the brave Texas soldiers, especially those defending Alamo, were prepared to die for Texas independence. As expected, the Texas army avenged their Alamo defeat by defeating the Mexican army and capturing General Santa Ana in the next majorTexas Revolution battleground, San Jacinto (Fowler 180). Further, the General Santa Ana’s leadership style was not creative. Creativity includes using guerrilla war tactics. The tactics is grounded on surprising the unsuspecting enemy. The guerrilla group hides in the bushes or other hiding places (Duyvesteyn 68). Often, the guerrilla group hides within a group of innocent civilians. The guerrilla group waits for the enemies to arrive. When the unsuspecting enemy is within the reach of the guerrilla group, the group springs its ambush attacks. The use of surprise completely overwhelms the opposing forces. When the surprise is used against a larger group, the guerrilla group often gets more battle wins. After the ambush attacks, the guerrilla groups retreat to their hiding places. When the enemies’ reinforcements arrive, the guerrilla group had already disappeared from the battle scenes. The guerilla group only attacks when the time and place is in its favor. General Santa Ana could successfully use the Guerilla war tactics to easily overpower the unsuspecting Alamo defenders. The general’s army could wait near the fort and ambush the Texas soldiers as they enter or leave the Alamo fort’s safety. Battle of San Jacinto – End of the Texas Revolution General Santa Ana committed the mistake of using spies to ascertain the Texas army’s war plans and the number and location of Texas volunteers fighting in the Texas Revolution. The general failed to use spies to report the enemy’s bigger strength and other relevant war information. The Mexican general was completed caught by surprise (Rogin 305). Moreover, most of the San Jacinto volunteers were inspired by the heroic sacrifice of the Alamo defenders. The San Jacinto volunteers eagerly joined the Texas revolution to avenge the summary execution and heroic deaths of their fellow Texans who defended the Alamo Complex less than two months prior to the San Jacinto battle. The Battle to San Jacinto took place on April 21, 1836. The Texas force was joined by a bigger force of volunteers arriving from states near the borders of Texas (Rogin 305). Further, the battle of San Jacinto was the turning point of the Texas Revolution. General Sam Houston took charge of the victorious battle. The battle only lasted less than 20 minutes. The Mexican army’s casualty reached an estimated 620 soldiers. The remaining estimated 728 soldiers were captured. During the battle, the unprepared Mexican army only killed less than ten Texas volunteers (Rogin 305). Furthermore, the Texas forces used surprise attack on the complete unsuspecting Mexican army. The killing of all the volunteers in the Battle of Alamo ignited the Texas people to angrily trample the guilty Mexican Army with impunity. Consequently, the Texas revolution ended with the Texas forces capturing General Santa Ana in the Battle of San Jacinto. Humiliatingly defeated, General Santa Ana signed the treaty granting Texas independence (Rogin 305). Conclusion Summarizing the above discussion, several factors led to the General Santa Ana’s war defeat. General Santa Ana’s war campaign was flawed by several avoidable mistakes. General’s refusal to use deception as part of his leadership strategies contributed to the general’s avoidable war loss. The Texas residents’ refusing General Santa Ana’s offer to stop their independence desire contributed to the cessation of Texas to the United States. Further, General Santa Ana’s leadership style and mistakes significantly contributed to the Texas Revolution loss. General Santa Ana’s leadership styles did not include other more viable means of winning the Texas Revolution. Manifestly, General Santa Ana’s poor leadership precipitated to his avoidable Texas Revolution loss. Works Cited Duyvesteyn, Isabelle. Rethinking The Nature of War. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006. Print. Eisenhower, J. So Far From God: The U.S. War With Mexico . New York: University Press, 2000. Fowler, Will. Santa Ana of Mexico. New York: University Press, 2009. Print. Heidler, D. The Mexican War. New York: Greenwood Press, 2006. Print. Isserman, Maurice. Vietnam War. New York: Infobase, 2009. 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