After Texas Independence, the war with Mexico was almost a foegone conclusion if Mexico in any way physically objected to Texas statehood, trying to claim the disputed border, or in any other way.
Sorry, it may not seem fair to some today, but to those along that border at the time, who were contending with Mexican incursions, Apache and Commanche, it was very serious.
That two year war, though the relative strengths of the two nations was one sided, was not so one sided in and of irself. The US forces invading Mexico were much smaller than the Mexican Armies they faced, and they were about equally armed. In most cases you had smaller US forces attacking well defended, fortifications manned by larger numbers. What that smaller force accomplished is fairly amazing on its face.
The bottom line? The Mexicans lost. US troops occupied their capitol in Mexico City and the Mexican government ultimately signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. That's the bottom line. it was signed in 1848 and allowed the US to take possession of the current US southwest, which the US paid the Mexican government millions of dollars for, and which also guarunteed Mexican citizens who were cauight up in the exchane their property rights in the new territories if they elected to stay. Most did.
The land was very loosley controlled by the Mexican government at the time (with the exception of Santa Fe perhaps and the lower California coast) and mostly empty.
A comparison of the relative prosperity, freedom, and rights, and peace of the two seperate areas today (those lands ceded and the rest of Mexico) tells us which region benefited most.
What the re-Conquista movement is proposing would not only be terrible for the citizens in the areas...it would quite simply lead to a bloody, ut fairly short war...with the same outcome as 1848. property ownership.
I agree with most of what you say.
I would like to add that during the period of Texas Independence the raiding went both ways. It wasn’t just Mexicans raiding innocent peaceful Texans. Rangers and other Texans raided innocent peaceful Mexicans.
My critique is not based on revisionist history but rather on criticisms of the justice of the war that were put forward at the time.
But, as you say, it is ludicrous to propose the “return” of these areas to Mexican control.