ABSTRACT
Upon achieving independence, Mexico was plunged into five decades of political instability under the stewardship of its new caudillo leadership. After being pardoned by the Mexican government, Santa Anna completed his memoir in 1874 just before he returned to Mexico. The most notorious of Mexico’s caudillos was General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who served as president on eight separate occasions. Santa Anna was born in 1794 into a Creole family and entered the Viceroyalty’s royal army at age fourteen. He commenced his service in the independence wars on the royalist side, fighting against Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos, but he accepted Mexico’s break from Spain under the leadership of Agustin de Iturbide. In 1838, Santa Anna lost a leg in a campaign against France. He later had the limb dug up and treated to full military honors. When the Liberals returned to power in 1855, they drove Santa Anna into exile in Cuba.
