"The April Invasion of Veracruz" Topic
1 Post
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please do not post offers to buy and sell on the main forum.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Early 20th Century Media Message Board
Areas of InterestWorld War One
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Top-Rated Ruleset
Featured Showcase Article
Featured Profile Article
Featured Movie Review
|
Tango01 | 22 Apr 2014 11:02 p.m. PST |
"The invasion had various objectives. To help remove a dictator who had seized power in a coup d'état, to channel and direct the radical groups that opposed him, to safeguard the interests of the oil companies active in the area, to forestall interference from other national powers, and to teach the citizens of an unfortunate country about the virtues of democracy. Baghdad in 2003? No. The Mexican port of Veracruz, on April 21, 1914. For Europeans and Americans, 1914 marks the beginning of World War I. For Mexicans, it is synonymous with the "American intervention," a smaller encore of the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 that cost Mexico half its territory and that in 1879 former President Ulysses S. Grant dubbed as America's most "wicked" war. When the expeditionary force (some 6,500 Marines and soldiers under the command of Vice Admiral Frank F. Fletcher) disembarked on April 21, there were still elderly Veracruzans who could remember, with horror, the naval bombardments of February 1847 ordered by General Winfield Scott. Bombs had rained down on hospitals, churches, public and private buildings, and had been followed by scenes of rape, pillage, robbery and killings by the invaders. Six hundred Mexican civilians died. The future commanding general of the Confederacy, Captain Robert E. Lee, wrote to his wife: "My heart bled for the inhabitants." The 1914 intervention was less bloody, its violent period lasting only a couple of days. President Woodrow Wilson's stated intention was to block a shipment of arms from Germany to the Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta. But the citizens of Veracruz did not passively accept the invasion of their city, already caught up in the Mexican Revolution
" Full article here. link Amicalement Armand |
|