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People forget that at the time of the Mexican War, Mexico was one of the largest countries in the world, with a population quite a bit larger than that of the United States, and that its armed forces outnumbered ours by a huge margin. Furthermore, it had a large cadre of professionally experienced, European-trained officers, was numerically far superior in artillery and cavalry, and had vast well-equipped infantry reserves available. Furthermore it was a standing force, while ours was composed of a tiny professional cadre and a very high proportion of more or less raw militiamen.

In fact, the Mexicans seriously underestimated us as opponents and squandered numerous opportunities to win the war because of it!

It came down to a grim, hard-fought military contest, not a pushover for an aggressive American military "picking on poor little Mexico." Winfield Scott, Jefferson Davis, and Zachary Taylor simply happened to be genuine military genii, backed up by brilliant gentlemen on their staffs! We out-thought the Mexicans, as much as we outfought them in key battles, which were often very close contests.