de Santa Anna, Antonio López
(February 21, 1794–June 21, 1876)
Mexican General
DESANTAANNA, ANTONIOLÓPEZ
F
or nearly fifty years,
vainglorious Santa
Anna stood alone
as the most important
political and military fig-
ure of nineteenth-century
Mexico. Dark-featured,
charismatic, and hope-
lessly opportunistic, he
was swept in and out of
power 11 times yet re-
mained a rallying point
for Mexicans in crisis.
Santa Anna’s checkered,
self-serving career came
to symbolize the national
turbulence and instability
of his age.
Antonio López de Santa
Anna was born in Jalapa,
Vera Cruz, on February
21, 1794, the son of Span-
ish parents. He com-
menced his military career in 1810 as a cadet
in the Fijo Vera Cruz Regiment and fought nu-
merous rebels and Indians on behalf of the
Spanish Crown. In 1813, Santa Anna was part
of Spanish forces that defeated the Gutierrez-
Magee Expedition, a combined Mexican-
American filibuster against Texas, at the Bat-
tle of Medina. He scrupulously observed that
the intruders were hunted down and given no
quarter—lessons that he applied later in his
own career. The young officer continued
serving Spanish interests competently until
1821, when he threw his lot behind Gen. Au-
gustin de Iturbide during the Mexican War for
Independence. The revolt proved successful,
and Iturbide installed himself as emperor.
But within two years, Santa Anna turned
against Iturbide and ousted him in favor of
Gen. Vincente Guerrero, establishing a pat-
tern of political opportunism that guided him
for 30 years. Whenever
possible—and without
hesitation—Santa Anna
invariably shifted politi-
cal allegiances as the sit-
uation demanded. Ruth-
less and corrupt, he was
never bound to political
principles or beliefs, only
his own ambition.
The new government
rewarded Santa Anna
with a promotion to gen-
eral and various posts, in-
cluding governor of his
native Vera Cruz, which
he carefully cultivated as
a power base. He was cat-
apulted onto the national
stage in 1829 after defeat-
ing an ill-fated Spanish in-
vasion, becoming hailed
as the hero of Tampico.
In 1832, Santa Anna engineered a coup
against Guerrero and placed Anastacio Busta-
mante in power. Two years later he removed
Bustamante from the presidency, and in 1833
he gained election to the high office on a plat-
form of liberal reforms. Sensing that Mexico
was not ready for democracy, Santa Anna
ruled despotically, and in 1835 he replaced
Mexico’s federal system with a centralized
regime. To accomplish this, the general exiled
his vice president, shut down Congress, and
declared himself dictator. It was hoped, hav-
ing brought various provincial governments
in line with a single authority, that political
harmony would be achieved.
Santa Anna’s political schemes completely
backfired in Texas, which had been dominated
by a steady influx of immigrants from the
United States. Numerous residents of His-
panic and Indian descent, weary of autocracy,Antonio López de Santa Anna
New York Historical Society