In 1846 it invaded Mexico and conquered California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. The peace treaty also confirmed the previous U.S. annexation of Texas. About thirteen thousand American soldiers died in the war, which added 888,000 square miles to the United States (more than the combined size of France, Britain, Germany, Spain, and Italy).4 It was the bargain of the millennium.
