Traditional characterizations of the 1846–1848 war between the United 
States and México emphasize the conventional battles waged between 
two sovereign nations. However, two little-known guerrilla wars took 
place at the same time. Using information from twenty-four archives, 
including the normally closed files of México's National Defense 
Archives, Wars within War argues that these other conflicts proved 
crucial to the course of events.

    In the first struggle, a force organized by the Mexican army 
launched a prolonged campaign against supply lines connecting the 
port of Veracruz to U.S. forces advancing upon Mexico City. In spite 
of U.S. efforts to destroy the partisans' base of support, these armed 
Mexicans remained a significant threat as late as January 1848.
 
    Concurrently, rebellions of class and race erupted among Mexicans, 
an offshoot of the older struggle between a predominantly criollo elite
of European parentage and the indigenous population excluded from 
participation in political and economic life. Many of the criollo were 
more afraid of their fellow Mexicans than of the invaders from the north. 
By challenging their rulers, guerrillas forced México's government to 
abandon further resistance to the United States, changing the course 
of the war and Mexican history.

_________________________________________________________

IRVING W. LEVINSON is an assistant professor at the University of 
Tennessee in Knoxville, where he teaches Latin American history. 
Previously, he taught that subject at the University of Texas in Austin. 
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 2003.

 

What people are saying about this book

"Wars within War provides more value per page than any other book 
on the Mexican-American War. Irving Levinson brings the precision of 
a military historian to ground only recently examined in English, and 
then only touched on. . . "—The Journal of Military History