As the expedition carried on, Mexican raiders crossed the Rio Grande and attacked Glenn Springs and Bolquillas in Texas. This raid left three soldiers and a young boy dead as an addition to the looting of two general stores and nine kidnappings. Following the raids in Texas, two troops of the Eighth Cavalry Regiment were sent to pursue the raiders, and had to cross the border in to Mexico
Part C:
The General and the Jaguar, written by Eileen Welsome was published in June 2006 by Little, Brown and Company in New York, USA. Welsome conducted extensive research for this publication but fell short of creating an informative source rather than an interesting recounting of events. Her research involved previously unopened claim files, and effectively provided historical context for the Columbus raid by including the political instability leading up to the revolution and the six years to follow.
The extent to which the historical context was detailed was impressive but nonetheless, it become overwhelming as the book seemed to be more intent on how the town and its residents dealt with the raid and its aftermath. Lacking historical accounts, Welsome emphasized the individual experience by writing from the perspective of a victim and thus missing the account from Villa and Pershing's perspective in general. This has given the book a more narrative flow than analytical and critical diversions. Mexican historians in particular have criticized the novel like style of writing with the rich use of adjectives and descriptive terms taking away from the historical element of the publishing. For instance, her description of Porfirio Diaz on page 14 was as follows, "his grizzled head as timeless as the volcanoes that ringed Mexico City ... he had a mountainous nose, a mustache that rushed from its base like two white rivers..." The lack of Welsome's ability to read Spanish has taken away from yet another aspect of this document because of the inconsideration of sources that were published in Spanish, particularly in reference to Villa.
Clarence C. Clendenen wrote, "[American policy] led directly to the [favour] shown toward Villa during the months of 'watchful waiting,' to the undeclared war of the Punitive Expedition, and to American intervention on Villa's last battle." His book The United States and Pancho Villa was published in Dallas by Taylor Publishing Company in 1961.
Clendenen attempted to evaluate the importance of the leading personalities of the Mexican revolution to the American policy in the hope of placing them in proper perspective in American history. This book covered only the recounting of the events of an obscure phase of the American diplomatic history in chronological order and did not interpret any of the events and therefore any historical context to the revolution was not included.
Part D:
The advances that the Germans had made left them with nowhere to expand, except toward the Western hemisphere, which was home to none other than the United States of America. As the unrestricted submarine warfare policy was restored, these threats were increased and left the United States of America defenceless to such technology and tactics. There were clear implications that the United States of America had other issues to attend to, rather than the internal conflicts of Mexico. Knowingly, American reacted to Villa's action immediately and this rashly resulting in the horrific outcome of living under the constant threat of invasion during the Punitive Expedition.
Despite the rising threat of war from Europe, American intelligence was side tracked with orders from the state department to evaluate Mexican forces following the raid on Columbus. The reasoning being to determine military details about enemies that were not on American territory and thus could not be an imminent threat to American security. These authorities would have been occupied with tasks focused upon the German threats had it not been for the State orders. Therefore, by employing US intelligence for Mexican affairs, European threats were left unattended. This allowed the Germans to potentially inflict harm upon the United States as a whole through espionage, and physical invasion to not only massacre the population but to inflict harm upon the economy and the prospering industrial revolution. With the intelligence preoccupied, there was no way to have as many reports on the details of the European war. This left the Axis powers with the opportunity to invade America or gain reconnaissance on American soil effectively, since there would be more frequent and accessible gaps to get information through. The United States of America expressed their hopes of collaboration with the Mexicans in order to disband Pancho Villa and his group of bandits, whereas no such attempts were made against the Axis Powers despite the imminent dangers from both threats, only one was looked after. The threat of the European war was ignored to an extent that left the Americans in a vulnerable position for an attack, but especially to stand as a victim to German hostility. Other than collaboration and intelligence, the United States of America also positioned troops to have an advantageous position in the event of a conflict with Mexico, but this plan incorporated the movement of soldiers that had been positioned at specific forts previously to ensure the security of the American public. Thus, by moving these troops the defensive standpoint on all the fronts other than the Southern border was left much weaker than it had been designed and intended to be, resulting in the increase of threats of security breaches and attacks against the United States and jeopardizing the well being of the nation.
Since the some of the changes in the positioning of troops lasted until the expedition came to halt in 1921, American security was jeopardized by not employing troops to the conflict in Europe, which increased the threat of an Allied loss and increased casualties with reduction of forces. Also, the troops deployed in Mexico could have served as defensive measures on the home front to ensure the well being of Americans at home. The sheer amount of soldiers that were displaced during the Punitive Expedition exemplified the lack of preparation on the home front in the case of a German invasion. With entire regiments being sent to the Mexican-American border, there were defensive forts left unequipped and not prepared to defend. As these troops were out to defend the nation, they came across atrocities that showed no intent of mercy as a reaction to the American chase of Villa. Enemies were terrorized and murdered by Villa and his bandits left no American safe.
Not only were the lives of American citizens threatened by Villa's pursuit, the livelihoods of entire towns were put at danger by pursuing Villa. His men were seeking revenge and destroyed entire towns. With this extent of destruction, a drastic amount of harm was done to the economic state of Americans, as well as, leaving them in a devastated social state so that it would be very difficult for the nation to prosper as a whole. This vicious cycle left the United States in an even more vulnerable state as they would deploy more troops for the pursuit of Villa after being attacked in the hopes of putting an end to his terror. In reality, the contrary happened and with the lack of troops to defend their nation, the United States of America were left at risk of invasion or espionage throughout the pursuit of Villa.
Part E:
American security was threatened by the Punitive Expedition through the lack of effective military forces on the home front. There was also the plain reaction of Villa's bandits to terrorize Americans as they wanted to end the chase and in Villa's words, "whip the United States." American security was heavily jeopardized to the extent where other threats to the nation, both physical and through espionage were forgotten. The expedition overall was considered a failure and was brought to an end in 1917, though the question of American security was raised until 1921 as there were still American troops stationed in Mexico. In Pershing's words, "Having dashed into Mexico with the intention of eating the Mexicans raw, we turned back at the first repulse and are now sneaking home under cover, like a whipped curr with its tail between its legs."
Part F:
Bunker, Steven B. "Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa A True Story of Revolution and Revenge. The General and the Jaguar" The Historian Volume 71 (2007).
Clendenen, Clarence C. The United States and Pancho Villa: A Study in Unconventional Diplomacy. Dallas: Taylor Publishing. 1961.
Hurst, James W. Pancho Villa and Black Jack Pershing: The Punitive Expedition in Mexico. Westport: Praeger. 2008.
Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution and Revenge. New York: Little, Brown. 2006.
Born as Doroteo Arango, General Francisco 'Pancho' Villa became a fugitive at the age of which led him to join a group of outlaws and change his name. After the death of Ignacio Parra, who led this band of outlaws Villa took off with several others and began terrorizing wealthy Mexicans along the border and became a well known bandit. His ideologies gave him political influence which eventually came to a downfall and Villa was forced to continue his life as a fugitive but the Americans began to pursue him in 1916 because of hostilities he had committed toward Americans
The Punitive Expedition officially began on March 14th, 1916 and was launched as a response to Villa's attack on the American town of Columbus. The objective of this military operation was to disband the groups of bandits that terrorized the United States of America.
Hurst, James W. Pancho Villa and Black Jack Pershing. (Westport: Praeger, 2008), 37-38.
Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006), 157.
Clendenen, Clarence C. The United States and Pancho Villa: A Study in Unconventional Diplomacy. (Dallas: Taylor Publishing company, 1961), 264-265.
Hurst, James W. Pancho Villa and Black Jack Pershing. (Westport: Praeger, 2008), 41.
Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006), 88-89.
Clendenen, Clarence C. The United States and Pancho Villa: A Study in Unconventional Diplomacy. (Dallas: Taylor Publishing company, 1961), 255.
Clendenen, Clarence C. The United States and Pancho Villa: A Study in Unconventional Diplomacy. (Dallas: Taylor Publishing company, 1961), 264.
Clendenen, Clarence C. The United States and Pancho Villa: A Study in Unconventional Diplomacy. (Dallas: Taylor Publishing company, 1961), 256.
Hurst, James W. Pancho Villa and Black Jack Pershing. (Westport: Praeger, 2008), 104-105.
Bunker, Steven B. "The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution and Revenge" The Historian Vol. 71 (2009)
Bunker, Steven B. "The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution and Revenge" The Historian Vol. 71 (2009)
Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006).