Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio López de Santa Anna was born in Vera Cruz, Mexico 21st of February 1794. He joined the army and fought in Mexico’s 11 year War of Independence.

In 1833 he was elected President of Mexico. He was seen as a strong leader who could deal with the many problems a large and diverse country like Mexico had by centralising power in the hands of one man.

The principal dissenters from this point of view were the mixed Mexican and American settlers of Texas. They wanted autonomy and rebelled from the central government. Santa Anna led the Mexican army to crush this rebellion. In the most famous battle of this war, the Battle of the Alamo March 1836, the Mexican army overcame a garrison of Texans  at a mission building after a 13 day siege. While all the Texans died in the battle, it also cost the Mexicans in lost lives.

However the Texans got their revenge at the Battle of San Jacinto defeating the Mexicans in April 1836. Ultimately this led to them becoming part of the United States.

Following the losses of this war, Santa Anna was relieved of his duties in 1838. But when France invaded Veracruz he was reinstated over the army. His supporters encourages him to take over the government, which he did. This time he was an absolute dictator, banning any dissent. He attempted to retake Texas but was defeated by the US army who declared Texas a US state.

After another defeat he was overthrown again and exiled in Cuba.

In 1846 he returned and took on the US again with the same result.

These defeats followed exile occurred 7 times until 1855.

Eventually a group of liberal politicians led by Benito Juarez (namesake for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini) and Juan Alvarez, overthrew him. Between 1885 and 1874 he lived between Cuba, the US, Columbia and Saint Thomas.

In 1874 he was granted amnesty by President Lerdo de Tejarda.

By this time he was 82 and blind. He died in 1876 at 82. In the end, he had been Mexico’s president for approximately 11 times but it could’ve been more.