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. host James Early. Hello and welcome back to key battles of the Mexican-American War. This is your host, James Early, as always. This is our final episode of our Mexican-American

War series. This is episode 8, the legacy of our Mexican-American War series. This is episode eight,

the legacy of the Mexican-American War.

Sean, are you ready to bring this plane in for a landing?

I'm ready. He's ready. All right. So we're going to talk about some of the long-term

consequences and results of the war, and then we'll talk about the after careers of most of the major players on both sides.

But I want to start with a quote from the author of my favorite book on the Mexican-American War, Peter Gordino. This is what he writes.

Quote, the war that took place between the United States and Mexico between 1846 and 1848 was

more than anything else, tragic.

End of quote.

So we're going to talk about some of those tragic outcomes.

We'll start with the material and the human costs.

So, Sean, how do both sides stack up in terms of casualties and other losses?

Yeah, well, so over 13,000 Americans died in the war, although only about 1,700 were killed in

combat. The rest died of disease. And I think that's one of the higher percentages of

disease to combat deaths in America's wars.

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