At many places in The U.S.-Mexican War series, verbal and visual references are made to "deserts" and "mountains." The references provide the teacher the opportunity to discuss these physical geographic features which played such an important role in the prosecution of the war.

Discussion could focus on the distribution of mountains, plateaus and plains in central and northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. and the causes of the desert climate in these regions. This war seems to have especially good examples of the influence of topography and climate on military activities and outcomes. Routes of march, locations of battle sites, etc., in the U.S.-Mexican War were strongly influenced by topography, soils, climate and vegetation.

In Episode Three on Veracruz and Cerro Gordo and in Episode Four on the Valley of Mexico, one can see how the terrain and climate of the region between Veracruz and Mexico City strongly influenced the military strategies and outcomes. The region is second to none in the world in its drama and diversity of landscape. These video segments provide an excellent opportunity for the teacher to discuss the nature and diversity of this landscape, and the role it played in the war.

The names "Palo Alto," "Resaca de la Palma," "Cerro Gordo," etc., suggest that a list of Spanish place names and their English translations might be of interest. Students seem to enjoy learning what place names mean ("Alamo," "cottonwood tree;" "Cerro Gordo," "fat hill," etc.).

Buena Vista, ("a good view"), offers an insight for students who think of all deserts as hot places. Can it be cold in a desert? Can it snow in a desert? Yes, of course, in moderately high altitude, mid-latitude deserts like the Chihuahuan Desert, of which Buena Vista is a part, it can get cold. Also, many people do not realize that much of Mexico is arid. In fact, a large part of Mexico between Mexico City and El Paso, Texas, is mainly desert. However, that does not mean Mexico is covered with miles and miles of sand dunes. Most deserts, like those in Mexico, are rocky and covered with sparse vegetation. A desert is just defined as a region where there is too little precipitation to support abundant vegetation.

Thoughts on Episode Two, "War in the Borderlands"

The U.S. wanted the territories of New Mexico and California -- Manifest Destiny demanded it -- but it is interesting to note that these arid, broken lands and the challenges they presented were outside the U.S. experience. Agricultural methods and settlement patterns perfected for the humid East and Midwest would not work here. And yet the limitations of this land were perfectly understood by the Native Americans who lived on Spain's North American frontier and by the Spanish settlers who arrived from similar landscapes and climates in central Mexico and Spain.

It is interesting to contemplate how unprepared the U.S. was to take this land in 1848. Think ahead: How was this arid region eventually brought into the U.S. "mainstream," and what environmental (and cultural) mistakes were made in the process? See Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian, and Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water.

[For Mexico, see Joel Simon, Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1997).]

In Episode Two, Lt. William Emory prepared a report after travelling with the Army of the West, and in it he provided an excellent "snapshot" of the condition of the Southwestern landscape in 1846. It has been used by several geologists and geographers to determine recent landscape change (changes in vegetation, changes in river activity, etc.). Such historical records can be very important for future environmental researchers.

In Episode Four, the script describes the social and economic legacy of the U.S.-Mexican War, but one could also speak of the environmental legacy of the war, especially in the lands of the Mexican Cession. One statement could be paraphrased to say: "For the land, the plants, and the animals, it was an invasion of their homeland and the beginning of a struggle for survival that would continue for generations."

I think this legacy is one of the most interesting and thought-provoking of the war. Except for highly localized settlement in parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and California, these lands were virtually pristine, for the most part, with complete, well-functioning ecosystems. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo placed them directly in the path of a rapidly expanding and technologically advanced nation which saw land mainly as raw material for commerce. The desire to expand, to settle, to exploit, to "civilize," radically changed these ecosystems probably to the degree that they can never be repaired. Mining, logging, ranching, poor farming practices, water impoundments and diversion, and sprawling cities all contributed.

Cautionary voices and calls for intelligent settlement, such as those of John Wesley Powell and John Muir, were ignored or overridden. Part of the problem was ignorance: we didn't know how to settle and use an arid land, and as a result, it has taken us only 150 years to forever change a significant part of a continent -- one that abounded in environmental diversity. It's a cautionary tale with no place left to apply.

Wayne Lambert is a geologist and geographer. In this professional capacity he has travelled extensively in Mexico, and has personally visited most of the regions where the U.S.-Mexican War took place.