ABSTRACT
The 1848–1853 years played a key role in informing and influencing Mexico’s subsequent historical development, yet scholarship has all but ignored them. This chapter, as it discusses the existing historiography of this period, suggests several reasons why contemporary observers and historians have paid little attention to it, ranging from scholarly neglect of Mexico’s moderado (moderate) political bloc as well as the fact that these years fall between two singularly violent and traumatic events, the war with the United States and the Reforma. The chapter also outlines and contextualizes the main problems that beleaguered the administrations of Generals José Joaquín de Herrera and Mariano Arista. Finally, the chapter places these developments within a broader, more global, historical framework by exploring the commonalities and differences between the major issues that defined 1848–1853 Mexico and the revolutions that shook Europe in 1848.
