Toward the Great War: U.S. Army Operations and Mexico, 1865-1917 - Post Civil War Army, Intervention in the Mexican Revolution, Occupation of Veracruz of 1914, Punitive Expedition of 1916, World War I

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. As geographic neighbors, the United States and Mexico have experienced varying tension ever since each country was colonized, gained independence, and solidified its boundaries. Between the American Civil War and World War I, the U.S. Army conducted a wide variety of operations on the Mexican border that contributed heavily to the Army's organization, doctrine, and training as it entered World War I. This study examines defining characteristics and operations of the United States Army at the end of the American Civil War, when the deactivation of the Union Army combined with multiple mandates and drastic cuts forced adaptation to high demands in ambiguous environments. This study then examines characteristics and operations of the Army during two interventions in the Mexican Revolution, to include the occupation of Veracruz in 1914 and the Punitive Expedition in 1916. This study examines these operations and their effects on the Army as it radically expanded to meet the demands of World War I, which the Army entered only months after the last incursion into Mexico, by linking the U.S. Army of World War I to its previous operations in Mexico.

Introduction * Methodology * Security And Stability on the Frontier * The Post Civil War Army * Security Operations on the Mexican Border * Social Problems, Solutions, and Effects on the Army * Major Operations: Intervention in the Mexican Revolution * The Occupation of Veracruz, 1914 * The Punitive Expedition, 1916 * The Army in 1917: World War I * Doctrine * Organization * Training * Planning * Conclusion * BIBLIOGRAPHY

In the centuries before modern transportation, states and nations generally had more to fear from their geographic neighbors than from more distant threats. As geographic neighbors, the United States and Mexico have experienced varying tension ever since each country was colonized, gained independence, and solidified its boundaries. Similar to other neighboring competitors, much of that tension has manifested itself close to the U.S. - Mexican Border, although events occurring near the border have had resounding effects deep into the geography of both countries. The first settlers of European ancestry to arrive near the modern border were the Spanish in the 16th Century, followed two hundred years later by American frontier settlers. Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, and clashed militarily with the United States for the first time in the Mexican War of 1846-1848. Since then, there have been several lesser armed conflicts between the militaries of the two countries. In addition to the repercussions from military conflict, the first settlers in the borderlands had to remain constantly wary of raids and attacks from any number of different bands of Indians and bandits. Violence intensified between the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and World War I in 1917, before the frontier gradually submitted to the settlers.