Introduction
Mexico has experienced war and violence since 1810. Though the wars have cost people’s lives they have nevertheless been influential to bringing about revolution. This essay will discuss the history of Mexico in the light of the wars that the nation as undergone as covered in an article by Enrique Krauze.
Biography of Enrique Krauze
Enrique Krause is 63 years old. He has a good record in writing: “He is the author of Mexico: Biography of power; he is editor in chief of the magazine Letras Libres and was, for twenty year deputy editor of Vuelta, whose editor was Octavio paz” (New York 1).
Mexico in 1810
Mexico has a trend of crisis in wars after every hundred years. This occurred in 1810 which was followed by the one in 1910. However, the recent Crises in 2010 are characterized by a different approach. While the previous were characterized by clashes, the recent crisis is caused by hunger for money and wealth. The crimes are committed by gangsters. This violence has cost the lives of many Mexicans (Krauze 1).
In 1810 to 1821, the violence was caused by exploitation of the people of Mexico by the colonial Spanish authorities. It was known as Mexican War of Independence. The Mexicans had many reasons for triggering violence. First was the ruling by the Iberian Peninsula and the immense wealth of New Spain.
Though the leaders were aware of the dangerous situation ahead of them, they did not take any action that would stop the intended war. Spain had a chance to give the Mexicans their freedom before bursting into war. It is always said that ignorance is expensive.
This war cost 300,000 lives out of the six million in the population (Krauze 1). In this situation, Indian army got a chance to attack Mexico City. Father Hidalgo was the provincial priest then when the war began. He made some achievement in trying to create peace but was later executed because of his hard work. Jose Morelos, who was a priest, succeeded him. Jose Morelos was in turn succeeded by Guadalupe Victoria and then afterwards Vincent Guerrero followed the succession (Minster 1).
This war created a good platform for the decline in the economy of Mexico. There was an economic crisis which was largely brought about by the shaking in agricultural, industrial and mining sectors. The country took about seventy years to recover from this loss (Krauze 1).
From this point, a need for the establishment of a stable government for the sake of peace of Mexico grew. This was set by separating the church and government to be independent sectors in the country. Both institutions were led by different leaders.
Under the leadership of President Benito Juarez, who had won over the conservatists, there was a great improvement in the economy of the country. Industrialization, infrastructure and foreign trade recovered and improved even in democracy. There was a revolution in the country as there was a great change in many sectors over this period of time (Krauze 1).
Mexico in 1910
After some time Benito Juarez’s general took power from him. Though it is recorded that he continued on the development path, he was a dictator and there reached point when the Mexicans felt that it was time he vacated the top seat. This lead to rebellion from the people which cost around 700000 lives out of the 15 million Mexicans. The United States of America is said to have received about 250000 Mexicans (Krauze 1).
As if that was not enough Cristero war broke out between Catholic Peasants and the anti clerical government; this war cost seventy thousand lives. This war took three years starting from 1926. Despite all the suffering that the Mexicans suffered in the course of this conflict, it has been noted that the conflict was influential in triggering vital reforms in the country.
The main sectors which were noted to have improved were the agricultural, health and social economic sectors. The workers also benefitted from better working conditions. After all, the war was seen to be beneficial to the country as whole (Krauze 1).
Mexico 2010
At the present time, Mexico experiences violence at different level. The violence experienced is brought about by different which have a common goal of satisfying themselves. These groups do not have any national interest at all and as such they target the government and citizens. The hunger for money has resulted in many crimes all over the country leading to many deaths (Krauze 1).
Democracy is seen to have been the window of opportunity to illegal activities such as drug trafficking. To combat these cases, President Felipe Calderon has taken troops to many areas in Mexico. Though this has worked well for the country, more needs to be done on this issue.
Conclusion
Mexico war was necessary for the Mexicans to get their freedom from Spain. It is quite sad that this came at the expense of some Mexicans’ lives. However, now that the nation has freedom, there is much more to be done with the issue of drug trafficking maybe being the most pressing one. This is the only way the country can have peace and stability.
Works Cited
Krauze, Enrique. “In Mexico, a War Every Century.” New York Times, 2010. Web.
Minster, Christopher. Mexico’s Independence Day. Latin America History, 2011. Web.
New York. Krauze Enrique. The New York Review of Books, 2011. Web.