The Mexican Revolution 1910-1920

PORFIRIO
DIAZ

FRANCISCO I. MADERO

VICTORIANO
HUERTA

VENUSTIANO
CARRANZA

In 1911, Francisco I. Madero overthrew longtime Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. Madero was not able to create stability and was himself ousted by counterrevolutionary General Victoriano Huerta in 1913. Huerta's regime only lasted until 1914, when Huerta was exiled.
Venustiano Carranza emerged as the new leader, desperately trying to fight all other revolutionaries, i.e. Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, off his back. Carranza was the new Mexican president in 1917 and got himself shot in 1920.
Things finally calmed down a bit when Álvaro Obregón became president in 1920.

PANCHO
VILLA

EMILIANO
ZAPATA

ALVARO
OBREGON

Home - Wars, Battles & Revolutions - Mexican Revolution

MEXICAN REVOLUTION
1910 - 1920

Smart people didn't take the train in those days.

John Womack, Jr. sums up the chaotic situation of the Mexican Revolution in his book Zapata and the Mexican Revolution,

"The revolutionaries won. The question was: Which revolutionaries?"

sUMMARY OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION: the Mexican Revolution IN A NUTSHELL

Go here for the Timeline of the Mexican Revolution

WHAT IS THE NUMBER OF CASUALTIES OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION?
Hard to say. Historians estimate that between 350,000 and 1,000,000 people died during the Mexican Revolution.

On top of that we have another 300,000 who died during the flu epidemic in 1918.

what were the causes of the Mexican Revolution?
After having been president for 20 years, Porfirio Diaz told an American journalist that he was looking forward to retire and that he would welcome to see an opposition party emerge. This became known as the Creelman Interview and stirred the entire nation.

There were two options: Either Diaz spoke the truth or not.

Now, knowing Diaz, this could have been a trick to detect and filter out his opponents. But it was equally scary if he was indeed speaking the truth.

How come?

Because all government actions were so focused on Diaz and Diaz had everything under firm control that nobody else had been really trained up to rule the country.

PANCHO VILLA UPPER LEFT, CARRAZA LOWER LEFT,
F.I. MADERA THIRD FROM LEFT FRONT

THE PLANTATION OWNERS
The industrial revolution brought about newer and better milling machines. Hence, sugar, rum, and rice plantations grew in size and importance until the plantation owners owned pretty much everything that had been up for sale.

Entire villages disappeared and the haciendas became humongous.

Trouble was, they still wanted more but couldn't get the peasants to sell their land. So they started playing dirty and tricked, pressured, bribed, and blackmailed the peasants off their lands.

What options did José Doe have in those days?

There were three choices:

a) Find other sources of revenue (e.g. Emiliano Zapata's family members were livestock breeders)
b) Become fully dependent on the haciendas, which will suck you dry. First you will sign on as laborer, then you will have to move in with your boss as gente de casa, aka serf.
c) Become a criminal. (Beats slavery.)

Favorite pastime of Mexican revolutionaries, blowing up trains.

THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES - FRANCISCO MADERO
Madero was running for president in the 1910 Mexican presidential elections. Dictator Diaz said he, Diaz, won. Madero begged to differ and had many men around him who were ready to fight for their point of view.

Madero won when Diaz resigned by force in 1911. But Madero couldn't unify. The victorious revolutionaries were soon at war with each other.

THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES - pancho villa
Pancho Villa and his men were fighting / controlling Chihuahua, the northern part of Mexico. Pancho Villa's army was the División del Norte.

THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES - EMILIANO ZAPATA
Meanwhile in a cozy little Mexican town called Anenecuilco, Morelos - in the south of Mexico

The town elders declared they were tired of fighting and also too old to continue to fight for their town's lands. The small assembly decided for 30-year-old Emiliano Zapata to become their new leader.

Zapata eventually led the Ejército Libertador del Sur, which was the Liberating Army of the South.

THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES - VENUSTIANO CARRANZA
Venustiano Carranza was leader of the Constitutionalist Army.

THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES - THE FIGUEROA BROTHERS
Ambrosio Figueroa and his brother Francisco Figueroa were rebel leaders in the state of Guerrero. They fought for Madero but against Zapata, Diaz, and Huerta.

THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES - MANUEL ASÚNSULO
Manuel Asúnsulo was also a commanding rebel leader in the state of Guerrero. He is described as a courteous and young aristocrat, a trained mining engineer, who was educated in the States.

Women and the Mexican revolution
Many women aka soldaderas fought for the rebels in the Mexican Revolution and even more walked behind the army to help out with routine work in the camp.

Some of these women's husbands were part of the rebel army, some of them had lost their family, some of them were just in for the heck of it.

SOLDADERAS FIGHTING IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION

THE BATTLES OF THE Mexican REVOLUTION
February 4 and 5, 1911 - First Battle of Bauche
March 6, 1911 - Battle of Casas Grandes
April 13, 1911 - Battle of Agua Prieta
April 9, 1911 - Second Battle of Bauche, Chihuahua
February 9 - 18, 1913 - Ten Tragic Days
March 13, 1913 - Battle of Nogales, Sonora

MEXICAN REVOLUTION MAPS
And here are the maps

MEXICAN REVOLUTION
Click map to enlarge