AMERICAN-MEXICAN BORDER CONFLICTS IN THE 1870–1910S

Abstract

The article analyzes the border conflicts between Mexico and the United States at the turn of the XIXth and XXth centuries. American-Mexican relations were an important factor in the development of the regional subsystem of international relations in the Western Hemisphere. Historically, Mexico and the United States have had a complicated relationship. Mexico in the late XIXth – early XXth centuries was a secondary peripheral state, which was mainly agrarian in nature. There were both phases of acute confrontation (almost the entire XIXth century and the beginning of the XXth century), as well as periods of good neighborliness, relatively good, friendly, stable relationships and constructive cooperation. In relations with the United States at that time, it remained rather not a subject, but an object of influence. The extreme American expansionists proposed in the middle of the XIXth century to capture all of Mexico. In response to the aggressive aspirations of America, the Mexican radicals put forward their territorial claims to the neighboring country. They hoped to regain the vast northern region, that was lost during the wars of 1835-1848, which included Upper California, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Texas (which was called the "New Philippines" during the era of Spanish colonization). There are two stages of confrontation between the two countries: the 1870s – 1890s and the 1910s – 1920s. The most serious exacerbations on the border occurred in 1876, 1877, 1891-1893, 1896, 1906 and 1910-1919. Both government troops and irregular (militias, partisans, rebels) formations took part in the regional armed conflict. As a result, the situation stabilized for almost a century.