Prosthetic leg of Antonio López de Santa Anna, lost to a cannonball during the Pastry War[3200X1801].

Born in 1794 in Xalapa, Antonio López de Santa Anna came from a prosperous criollo family. As a teenager, he chose a military career and joined royalist forces during Mexico’s War of Independence. He fought against insurgents at battles like Medina and learned early the brutal logic of counterinsurgency. Ambitious, charismatic, and shamelessly pragmatic, Santa [...]