| April 2 |  |
Editor says, what if Santa Anna had bypassed the Alamo? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the May 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1836, on this day first reports of the fall of Washington-on-the-Brazos were received by President Andrew Jackson.
Fall of Washington-on-the-BrazosEver the cunning and crafty man, Santa Anna had bypassed the Alamo in order to catch the Texians by surprise. It was understood that both David G. Burnet and Sam Houston had perished in the brief struggle.
Of course Houston at least had the satisfaction of having wrung an unofficial approval from Jackson which he interpreted as a firm assurance of US intervention if need be. However neither man had imagined the Texian Revolution being crushed in such a decisive fashion. And so instead of a supporting intervention, Jackson now seriously considered a radical alternative: a broad invasion which would drive Hispanic influence out of the region. And impose unquestionable Anglo control on the land up to the Rio Grand.
Unbeknown to Messrs Bowie, Crockett and Travis, the defending forces at the Alamo Mission were now fighting for the Union. Whether those Union Forces arrived in time or not, it was an irrestistible opportunity for the Federal Government to forever burn itself into the fabric of the South.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Texas, Texan, Santa Anna, Andrew Jackson, Mexico. Editor says, this article explores an original concept posted on the Armchair General web site. We have also re-purposed significant amounts of content from Wikipedia. We imagine that a TL with no Republic of Texas would have significant impact upon pre-Civil War thinking.
~ So the Texas Revolution turns into a Mexican-American War on steroids. Our southern border with our Mexican neighbors might potentially be a lot further south than it is now.
~ Jackson could probably have carried the war one tier further South [essentially what Taylor conquered in OTL]. dd in Baja, all of Sonora, hypothetically to a line Durango-Cijudad Victoria]. War would have been less politically a problem in 1836. Jackson was a southerner but a national figure.
~ We took most of Mexico as it was - might as well take it all, eh?
~ Santa Anna could've become another Rommel...
~ With a good many Southerners calling for expansion, US might make an attempt at conquest, but it would inevitably be an unpopular white elephant. The nations are exceedingly different, and Americans don't make very good imperialists (liberators, yes, but the Philippines, Dominican Republic, etc, proved problematic).
~ This would postulate Santa Ana either becoming a good general, or having one working for him. As I understand it, the Mexican Army was incredibly rickety; if Napoleon had heard Santa Ana daring to call himself "The Napoleon of the West," he'd have either sued or sent a challenge to a duel. That said, this might have ended up with the US-Mexico border a lot further south; the real Mexican homelands are separated from what became part of the US by a belt of deserts, and the border could have been farther south.
~ Americans don't make very good imperialists You're kidding. You makes us Brits and the Romans look like a bunch of Sunday School kids. Now ack to the story.
Enter Palmerston like the Demon King through the stage trap door.
Palmerston, foreign secretary and head of the British secret service had a policyof maintaining a Balance of Power in N.America.
In OTL he supported an indepoendent Texas and it's westward expansion and his representative in Texas was known as Palmerston's "Eternal Agent".
So pressure from him is likely to result in the same situation as occurred historically.
~ The key was not taking Central Mexico. Most of what is now modern Mexico was either near unpopulated [the northern parts I proposed annexing] or was barely Mexican - see
~ Somehow I doubt that the Warsaw Ghtto uprising was inspired by the Alamo. More likely Masada; I doubt most resdents of the Warsaw ghetto could have found Texas on a map (despite the stereotype of Jews as well-educated, most of the ghetto's residents were poor and had limited education), let alone the Alamo in its history, or would have cared about it, either.
~ If the relief arrived in time-President Crockett?
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