War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's

founding right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased

its size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. your host, James Early. Hello and welcome back to Key Battles of American History.

This is your host, James, as always.

And I'm excited to kick off yet another new series this week, kind of a mini-series.

It's going to be a fairly short series.

And that is on the Texas Revolution, the second of the three major wars that we will be discussing in season four.

So what's the Texas Revolution all about?

Well, I'll give you a Cliff Notes overview.

In October 1835, a large group of

discontented residents of the Mexican province of Texas rose up in rebellion against the Mexican

government. That fall, rebel forces won several victories against the Mexican army,

even driving the army back across the Rio Grande into Mexico, or modern-day Mexico, what is now Mexico.

In February 1836, however, the Mexican army now under the personal command of Mexican

President Antonio Lopez de Santana, they returned. And on March 6th, Santa Ana's army besieged,

captured, and killed the Texian garrison at the Alamo.

Two weeks later, the Texian garrison at Goliad surrendered to another Mexican force, and a

week after that, the garrison was executed on the orders of Santa Ana.

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