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Antonio López de Santa Anna Facts & Worksheets

Antonio López de Santa Anna was a Mexican general and politician.

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Antonio López de Santa Anna was a Mexican general and politician. He had a lot of influence on Mexican politics in the mid-nineteenth century. Santa Anna is known as “the Man of Destiny”. He started out as a federalist, but later became more conservative.

See the fact file below for more information on Antonio López de Santa, or you can download our 22-page Antonio López de Santa worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

YOUTH AND POLITICS

  • Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón was born in 1794 to a family who had a lot of money.
  • Santa Anna joined the royal army in 1810 when he was a teenager. He didn’t have a lot of education. 
  • He started his career in the Royalist Army and fought against the people who wanted to overthrow the Spanish government.
  • Later, he switched his allegiance and supported the Trigarante army under the command of Agustín de Iturbide.
  • Santa Anna switched sides in 1821 since Spain re-established an absolute (as opposed to constitutional) monarchy that threatened his rights.
  • Iturbide took advantage of Mexico’s unstable political base at the beginning of its independence and proclaimed himself emperor.
  • Emperor Iturbide and Santa Anna did not get along. Santa Anna did not want Iturbide to have a military position in Veracruz.
  • Santa Anna eventually betrayed Iturbide. 
  • After Iturbide dissolved Congress, Santa Anna took advantage of the anti-Iturbide movement to lead a revolt.
  • Santa Anna’s revolt was successful. His Plan de Casa Mata in 1823 finally established the Republic of Mexico.

 CAUDILLO FROM VERACRUZ

  • Spanish settlers originally used the word “caudillo” to refer to a leader.
  • After the War of Independence, the term “caudillo” was used to describe a specific type of military leader. These leaders had valuable victories for their nation.
  • In societies that had not yet established a clear order of succession, a “caudillo” policy was often developed. This means that one person took control and made all the decisions.
  • When there was political turmoil and gaps in leadership, warlords like Santa Anna used their fame, following, and military strength to take control of the government.
  • For example, Santa Anna played an important role in getting the Treaty of Cordoba agreed to. This treaty ended the Mexican War of Independence.
  • In the Battle of Tampico, Santa Anna stopped Spain from trying to retake Mexico. This was a very important victory for Mexico in the early nineteenth century.
  • Santa Anna had many victories in his home province of Veracruz. 
  • Santa Anna’s base was particularly advantageous, as the port of Veracruz allowed it to control customs and roads.
  • Santa Anna had immunity to yellow fever. This meant that he was not at risk of getting the disease, while foreigners were vulnerable to it.
  • In 1838, Santa Anna lost his left leg while he was fighting to protect Mexico from the French. After his leg was amputated, he had an extravagant funeral for it.
  • After the funeral of his leg, he had followers who called themselves “santanistas”.

THE INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS

  • Today, Santa Anna is mostly remembered for losing Texas and other Mexican territories to the United States. 
  • His attack on the Alamo during the Texas Revolution is famous. 
  • Santa Anna did not take any prisoners when he fought the rebels at the Battle of the Alamo. He killed all of them. 
  • Two weeks later, Santa Anna captured and executed more than 400 people in Goliad.
  • When the Texans finally defeated Santa Anna’s forces, they did so with cries of “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!”
  • But his defeat at San Jacinto eventually resulted in the independence of the state.
  • When the Texans rebelled, Santa Anna organized an expedition to go against them and defend centralism.
  • Texan settlers wanted to defend a system that allowed for states to be independent and keep slavery. Mexico generally enforced laws that freed slaves.
  • The Texan Federalists became victors shortly after capturing Santa Anna. People in Mexico believed that he had traded Texas for his freedom.
  • The United States annexed Texas and argued that the state’s territory extended as far as the Rio Grande. Mexico claimed that the state’s territory ended in the Nueces River.

THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR

  • Twelve years later, Santa Anna’s failed campaign in the Mexican-American War caused Mexico to give up half of its territory.
  • Some people in Mexico asked Santa Anna to lead the military defense over the border dispute.
  • Mexico lost the war against the US.
  • The Mexican government blamed Santa Anna’s series of lost battles when they signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
  • President James Polk hoped that Santa Anna could help him negotiate the cession of Mexican territory.
  • People in Mexico eventually learned about Santa Anna’s meetings with US politicians. They suspected that he had accepted bribes to make him lose the war.

THE SELLING OF THE MESILLA

  • Five years later, Santa Anna was responsible for selling more Mexican territory to the United States in 1853.
  • He and his corrupt comrades took the $10 million payment that came with the Treaty of La Mesilla.

HIS MOST SERENE HIGHNESS

  • Santa Anna was asked to head the presidency of Mexico again and again because of the “caudillo” policy.
  • He was elected for the first time in 1833 and remained popular for two more decades.
  • He was president a total of eleven times, but only stayed in office for about six years because he kept getting kicked out.
  • His last term was a repressive dictatorship. It was different from his other presidencies because he had a reputation for being absent from office.
  • In his memoirs, Santa Anna justified being absent: “I preferred the dangers of war to the seductive and sought-after life of the palace.”
  • Santa Anna retired from the government and moved to rural life so that other people could take over. This way, he was able to see what different groups wanted.
  • Santa Anna was excited every time Mexicans called him to come back and rule. He wanted to be known as a national savior.

HIS LAST DICTATORSHIP

  • Santa Anna was exiled twice.
  • Even though Santa Anna had a record of being a despot and not being honest, many Mexicans believed that he was their only hope for protection. When they invited him to come back and rule for the last time, they thought he would help them.
  • Santa Anna then called himself “His Serene Highness” and wanted to be a dictator who stayed in power forever.
  • He censored the newspapers that opposed him and burned the villages of indigenous people who rebelled against him.
  • A growing liberal rebellion led him into final exile. 
  • Santa Anna made several pleas to return to his homeland, but he was not allowed to come back for 19 years.
  • Santa Anna allied himself with American inventor Thomas Adams during his exile in the United States. Together they had the strange idea of making bicycle tires from sap from a tree.
  • This was not successful. Santa Anna loved chewing the tree’s sap so Adams perfected chewing gum under the brand Adams New York Chewing Gum.
  • President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada finally allowed him to return home in 1874, when he was old, almost blind, and in poor health.
  • Santa Anna wrote memoirs to make himself look good.

Antonio López de Santa Anna Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Antonio López de Santa Anna across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Antonio López de Santa Anna, who was a Mexican general and politician.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Antonio López de Santa Anna Facts
  2. Timeline of Santa Anna
  3. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
  4. President Santa Anna
  5. Heroic Cadets
  6. El Álamo vs San Jacinto
  7. General’s Uniform
  8. Pastry War
  9. Santa Anna’s Excentricities
  10. Texan Flag
  11. Letter to the President

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna known for?

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna ruled Mexico on eleven separate occasions. In 1836, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna invaded Texas in order to quell a rebellion largely led by American settlers. During this campaign, Texas declared its independence from Mexico.

Why was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna exiled?

López de Santa Anna resided in Cuba, the United States, Colombia, and Saint Thomas from 1855 until his death in 1874. He fled Mexico after losing popularity with the Mexican people following his defeat in 1848 and traveled to and from Cuba, the United States, and Europe.

What did Antonio Lopez Santa Anna invent?

Santa Anna was addicted to chewing chicle, a flavorless sap from the sapodilla tree that he hoped to transform into latex for profit. He partnered with Thomas Adams to develop modern chewing gum.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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