"Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States!" -Unknown, but usually attributed to Porfirio Diaz, ruler of Mexico from 1884 til 1911.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna looked north. The Nueces River flowed past, a seemingly harmless body of water, but, in his mind, it was red, red with blood.
The morning was quiet. The army of some nine thousand soldiers sprawled around him, disorganized and chaotic. The vast majority of the soldiers sleeping either in makeshift tents or simply on the ground with some sort of blanket could not read, a not significant portion could not speak Spanish.
It was a flawed instrument that he wielded... but it was the one he had.
What had gone wrong? He remembered so clearly now, turning his back on the Spanish and joining his countrymen in their revolution. Despite first fighting against what he saw as a mere bit of trouble on the part of peasant rabble, he had eventually joined the ranks of those who resisted the mother country. It had seemed right. The Spanish had failed, they were but sad puppets of Napoleon. Mexico would be better of without them, no? The United States had seemed to do well after its Revolution, why not Mexico?
It had seemed so logical, but on days like this, he doubted himself. Had he been wrong all along? Should he had stayed with the Spanish, quashed the rebellion?
It was too late now, one way or another. Mexico was on her own. Stumbling. He had waited, with what seemed like infinite patience, for his country to put itself on the right path, to reach the potential he knew was there. But it had not happened. His country had stumbled, rather than taken flight, from one mishap to the next.
He had grown tired of waiting. He did not relish the thought, but his country needed a firm ruler. A Napoleon to save it from its Republican foolishness, for it was falling apart at the seams.
It was always the north and the south. Troublemakers seemed to be wise enough to stay far away from the Capital, gathering their strength in the jungles of Yucatan or the deserts of northern Mexico, gathering strength until they were stronger than the center. Texas was just the same thing, once again. It was why he had seized the mantle of ruler, why he was here, with these men who barely qualified as solders. He could wait until the reinforcements from the south came in, but time was precious. He must move now, and begin nipping this rebellion in the bud, before the giant in the north awoke.
The call to assembly sounded, and he put his thoughts away. It was time, time to set right what others had done wrong.
This is a story based/narrative AAR, playing Mexico, obviously, Grand Campaign, Normal Difficulty.
Updates currently occur roughly once a week, usually on weekends.
The navigation section below is organized into Chapters. The link to the first post in a chapter is in green, and a link to every update from that chapter is below it.
A description of the chapter and the time period it covers is also there to help you keep track of things. Each chapter looks at events in Mexico through that time period from a particular viewpoint. Sometimes, that viewpoint is one person, sometimes, it is several.
Finally, I'm proud to say that this AAR has received the following awards:
Character Writer of the Week Mar. 4th, 2012 and Sept 30th, 2012.
Weekly AAR Showcase, July 22nd,2012.
Second Favorite Victoria 1/2 AAR, Round 3, 2012
The story so far:
Part I: Perspectives
Mexico through various eyes...
Ch. 1: Messing with Texas (1836-1837)
Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana goes to war to keep Texas part of Mexico.
The Second Battle of San Antonio
One step forward
In at the death
The last enemy that shall be destroyed..
Ch. 2: Rags to Riches (1836-1852)
Carlos Sandoval, a young capitalist, experiences and helps develop the rise of Mexico as an industrial power.
As fast as dreams
The Difficulties of a Free Market
Conservation of Momentum
The Undiscovered Country...
Ch. 3: The Word and the World (1837-1849)
Mexico undergoes a cultural renaissance and a priest by the name of Pablo Fierro wrestles with what it means to be Mexican and what it means to be literate.
The importance of the act of reading
Making the strange seem familiar....
And the familiar strange...
No one can serve two masters...
Actions speak louder than words?
A picture is worth....
The Last Supper
Ch. 4: Blood and Gold (1836-1850)
A tale about the power of money, told from the eyes of the working class.
First, you get the money
Then, you get the power
Then, you get the women
All I want to do is take your money
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold
Arise, ye workers from your slumber
Ch. 5: The Shadow on the Wall (1836-1850)
A young bureaucrat learns about the nature of power in a young democracy
Power to (some of) the people
The worst form of government...
Except all those other forms
The more things change?
El pueblo unido...
Part I Epilogue: The silence from the top
Part II: Complications
A different set of eyes, a different set of assumptions..
Ch. 6 The Will to Power (1850-?)
The president of Mexico decides to take the fate of the country in his own hands and in new directions...
Out of the barrel of a gun
Out of the wallet of a rich man
Of all the passions none is more powerful than ambition
It is not truth that matters, but victory
Red in tooth and claw
A Few Good Men
A House Divided