Mexican Revolution



The Mexican Revolution was a pivotal 10-year period in Mexico when the people rose up against an authoritarian dictatorship that favored a small economic and social elite in order to create a stronger democracy that better served the people. The change was deep and painful and included re-defining cultural values and social ambitions for a new century (and beyond). The Revolution is often poorly understood outside Mexico, probably because it was complex with multiple factions with their own agendas and because it included not only military battles, but political treachery and machinations that often had long-reaching consequences extending almost two decades beyond the conclusion of armed conflict. The Mexican Revolution is generally defined as the period between 1910 and 1920, but storm clouds were brewing well before 1910 and the last vendettas would not be settled until World War II commanded the world's attention.

Entire (boring) books have been written about the Mexican Revolution, most by academics skilled in boring generations of undergraduates, so to spare you the gobbledygook, this article touches on only events and places that might seriously interest a traveler with an eye, ear, and taste for history. Just the good stuff, none of the fluff!

Roots of conflict
"Sir! The peasants are revolting!"

- Vice President Ramon Corral

"You ain't lying!"

- President Porfirio Diaz

After Mexico achieved independence from Spain, the nascent nation struggled to stabilize and grow as an independent nation. The lofty aspirations of their first constitution were not easy to achieve and some well-intentioned concepts backfired. There were a couple attempts to write a good constitution, France invaded Mexico and installed an Emperor who had to be shot, the treacherous Texans seceded, then former general Porfirio Diaz thought he should be the dictator of the country, serving the richest, most foreign, and most corrupt constituencies, all of which gave rich cause for the average Mexican to feel like he was getting the shaft. The Revolution wasn't focused on only one grievance, though, nor was it between two rival parties, but rather there were three major coalitions that wanted revolution against the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship. All agreed that Diaz, who had been in power for decades and refused to consider proposals to peacefully transition from power, really just had to go.

The coalitions (armies) that revolted in this period were:
 * Villistas - dedicated followers of Pancho Villa, members of his Division del Norte army. The Villistas were cowboys and laborers who didn't have a cohesive philosophy backing up their rebellion, though they were fanatically loyal to their general.
 * Zapatistas - dedicated followers of Emiliano Zapata, members of his Army of Liberation of the South. The Zapatistas opposed all presidencies from Porfirio Diaz through the end of the Revolution. They are regarded as anarchists and socialists and were revered by the poor and the indigenous who were most likely to have been victims of land steals during the Porfiriato.
 * Constitutionalists - what started as the Carrancista faction supporting Coahuila governor Venustiano Carranza grew by leaps and bounds when Huerta usurped power in 1914. The Constitutionalists wanted a strong central government with orderly transfers of power. They were initially allied with the Villistas and Zapatistas, but overtook and subsumed both. The Constitutionalists were the eventual victors in the Revolution, and Carranza was the first post-Revolution president.
 * Others - there were several other less significant factions, usually backing one minority politician or another, and variously aligning with one or more of the major coalitions.

Heroes and villains


Note: Though strongly correlated, the impressiveness of a revolutionary's mustache or hat does not necessarily reflect his power or position.

Porfirio Díaz
Definitely the villain of the Revolution. Diaz was a general during the French incursion, serving under Emperor Maximilian, then helping to topple him from power. Between 1876 and 1911, Diaz would either be in office as president, or manipulating the strings of his puppet while he waited to get re-elected. Diaz was known for corruption and violent means of suppressing commoners and opponents while giving away favors to his friends and foreigners (especially from the U.S.) bearing cash. His refusal to cede power ignited labor strikes and farmer rebellions. He was a basic power-hungry scumbag.

Francisco Madero
Much to Diaz's surprise, he lost the 1910 presidential election to Francisco Madero, but then threw a temper tantrum claiming the election was a fraud and that Madero wasn't a legitimate winner. When Diaz refused to relinquish office, Madero was forced to escape to San Antonio where he drafted the Plan de San Luis Potosí (finalized and signed in San Luis, naturally), which documented Diaz's abuses and laid out the reasons for revolt. Thus began the Mexican Revolution. Diaz was forced to resign in 1911 when Madero took his office. Madero was slow to institute promised reforms, causing him to lose the support of Emiliano Zapata who wrote his Plan de Ayala, declaring his opposition to Madero, thus the Revolution was back on... Madero would be assassinated in 1913 during a coup led by Victoriano Huerta.

Victoriano Huerta
Known as el Chacal (the jackal) in Mexico, he was as popular with Mexicans as Benedict Arnold was with Americans. A once respected military officer, he was a Diaz loyalist with ambitions beyond his station. Reviled as a traitor, Huerta fled Mexico after 17 months of illegitimacy as president. He went to Spain for a while, then to the United States where he was arrested for conspiring with German spies. In 1916, he died in a U.S. jail cell. (Of natural causes? Doubtful...)

Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa commanded a large army of more than 70,000 soldiers, drawn from the working classes of ranches and haciendas throughout northern Mexico. His army, known as the Division del Norte, had an extremely competent cavalry that Villa used to advantage in a number of battles against federal troops (and sometimes rival factions). Most of Villa's battles were close to the U.S. border, including battles in Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and the cities of Torreon and Ciudad Juarez. Initially fighting for Madero, Villa retreated until Huerta staged a coup, at which time Villa returned to the battlefield in full force supporting the Constitutionalist faction. Although the Revolution had officially ended, Villa was assassinated in 1923 in the town of Parral, Chihuahua.

Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata was the idealist of the revolutionary figures. He believed strongly in social justice and sought land and water rights for the indigenous, whose traditional rights were being run over by hacendados, wealthy foreign landowners being supported by Diaz. Zapata was one of the first to mobilize when Madero called for revolution and his Zapatista army dominated the state of Morelos, where the federal army was quickly humiliated in the Battle of Cuautla. Zapata rarely strayed outside his home state, but in Morelos, he was a formidable figure. He was assassinated in 1919 in Chinameca, Morelos.

Venustiano Carranza
Carranza was a charismatic leader who led the Constitutionalist coalition after Huerta staged a coup against Madero. Carranza and his Constitutionalists won the Revolution and a constitutional convention created the Constitucion de 1917. Key provisions of the new constitution included land reforms, labor rights, rejection of foreign interests in key industries, and curtailing the power of the Catholic church in governmental affairs. Carranza was elected president in 1917 and served until 1920. He was assassinated in Tlaxcalantongo, Puebla (state) in 1920.

Alvaro Obregon
Obregon was a military commander in Carranza's Constitutionalist army. After Carranza was forced out of office, Obregon was elected president in 1920 and had the first stable presidency under the new constitution. He initiated several reforms, vastly increased programs for public education, instituted the famous muralist program, and negotiated reparations with the U.S. for nationalizing certain foreign assets. Obregon was assassinated in 1928 in the San Angel neighborhood of Mexico City.

United States presidents
The U.S. government just never seems to be able to mind its own business, and Presidents Taft and Wilson certainly stuck their noses where they didn't belong (sometimes backing opposite horses in the race). Of course, Pancho Villa's constant skirmishes along the U.S. border justified repulsion of any border incursions, but nothing justified Wilson's illegal incursion into Veracruz, other than the fact that he figured he could get away with it since Mexican troops were so darn busy fighting their own Revolution.

Hollywood
Pancho Villa was having a tough time for a while. Randolph Hearst was smearing his reputation in newspapers across the U.S. even as Villa was running out of ammunition and supplies to wage war against the federal troops. But then came the Eureka! moment. What if he went to Hollywood and asked for big bucks and good press? Well, it worked. Pancho Villa cut a deal with Mutual Film Corporation. Mutual could send film crews into battle with Villa's Division del Norte army to get live action shots as well as the rights to ask Villa's soldiers to re-enact scenes as requested, and in return Villa would be the star of his own film and get a $25,000 advance to buy supplies. The movie, The Life of General Villa was directed by D.W. Griffith and released to U.S. theatres in 1914. The story re-surfaces in the 2003 Antonio Banderas film, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.

Timeline

 * 1910 - Porfirio Diaz loses election to Madero. Diaz has Madero arrested. Madero escapes to San Antonio, writes Plan de San Luis Potosi
 * 1911 - Diaz resigns in Treaty of Juarez, Madero becomes president. Zapatistas take Cuautla.
 * 1913 - Ten Tragic Days (February 9-19, 1913) President Francisco Madero is assassinated and Victoriano Huerta usurps power, triggering a second phase of the Revolution: Venustiano Carranza is incensed and forms the Constitutionalist Army to oppose Huerta's federal troops. Other factions back Carranza.
 * 1914 - Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata come to Mexico City and meet in Xochimilco. Huerta resigns in disgrace and flees country.
 * 1915 - Plutarcho Calles declares himself governor of Sonora
 * 1916 - Congress starts writing new Constitution
 * 1917 - Venustiano Carranza is recognized as president. Constitution of 1917 adopted
 * 1920 - Revolt against Carranza under Plan de Aguala. Obregon is elected president, fulfills many promises of the revolution.

Chihuahua




Mexico City




Battles