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THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
1910 - 1920
From Dictatorship
to Constitutional Republic
The original idea of the Mexican Revolution was
to overthrow the Diaz Regime.
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However, things
spun totally out of control.
Historian
John Womack, Jr.
sums up the chaos of the Mexican Revolution in
his book Zapata and the
Mexican Revolution,
"The
revolutionaries won. The question was:
Which
revolutionaries?"
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It follows a brief
summary of the Mexican Revolution:
The Mexican Revolution in a nutshell
In 1911,
Francisco I. Madero overthrew
longtime Mexican dictator
Porfirio
Díaz.
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.
Francisco 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.
Go here for the
Timeline of the Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution
- When did it start? When did it end?
The Mexican Revolution officially
started on November 20, 1910, although fighting broke out earlier
than that. However, November 20 it is because this date was chosen
by Francisco Madero in his
Plan of San Luis Potosí.
Today, the beginning of the Mexican
Revolution is commemorated as a public Mexican holiday. See
The Mexican Revolution and Public Holidays.
Historians disagree when it comes to
its ending point. Commonly used is the year 1920 but some say it was
in 1917, a few others even favor the year 1940.
What is the number of
casualties of the Mexican Revolution?
Hard to say. Historians estimate that
approx. 1,000,000 people died during the Mexican
Revolution. Some even say it was more than 2,000,000 people.
On top of that we have another approx. 300,000
people who died during the flu epidemic in 1918.
All agree on one fact, the human cost
of the Mexican Revolution was massive.
What were the causes of
the Mexican Revolution?
Much simplified, there were two main reasons for
discontent in Mexico. One was dictator Porfirio Díaz. The other was
the plantations owners.
Of course, a revolution is never that simple.
But
let's have a closer look at these two causes of the Mexican Revolution.
Causes of the Revolution -
Dictator Porfirio Díaz
After having been president for 20
years, Porfirio Díaz told an American journalist that he was looking
forward to retire and that he would welcome to see an opposition
party emerge. This was the
Creelman Interview and
stirred the entire nation.
There were two options: Either Díaz
spoke the truth or not.
Knowing Díaz, 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 Díaz had such
a tight grip on all governmental affairs and nobody else had been trained up to rule the
country.
Causes of the
Revolution - 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 every bit of land that had been up for sale.
The hacienderos still wanted more
but couldn't get the peasants to sell their land because it was
their livelihood. So the hacienda owners started
to trick, pressure, bribe, and blackmail the
peasants off their lands.
Entire villages disappeared and the
haciendas became huge.
What options did
José Doe have in those days?
a) He could
try to find other legal sources of revenue (very
limited option).
b) He could become fully dependent on the haciendas,
which would eventually suck him dry. Typically, people first signed on as laborer, then
they moved in with their bosses on the
hacienda as a gente de casa,
aka serf.
c) He could become a criminal, which might or might
not beat becoming the slave of a plantation
owner.
People had their backs against the wall, the
foundation for a revolution was laid.
Mexico - Rebels flagging train
Library of Congress
Who fought the Mexican Revolution?
Here are some of the revolutionary forces, main combatants of the
Mexican Revolution and their armies.
The Revolutionary
Forces - División del Norte
Pancho Villa and his men were fighting
in the Mexican state Chihuahua, and generally the
northern part of Mexico. Pancho Villa's army was called the
División del
Norte, the Division of the North.
Chihuahua has the lime green border on the
map below.
The Revolutionary
Forces - Ejército Libertador del Sur
Emiliano Zapata, based in the Mexican state
Morelos, led the
Ejército Libertador del Sur, which was the
Liberation Army of the South.
Morelos has the yellow border on the
map below.
The Revolutionary
Forces - Ejército Constitucionalista
Venustiano Carranza, hailing from the Mexican state Coahuila, was leader of the
powerful Ejército Constitucionalista, the Constitutionalist Army.
Coahuila has the blue border on the
map below.
MAP OF MEXICO - STATES AND CAPITALS
Click to enlarge
Other Revolutionary
Fractions - The Figueroa Brothers
Ambrosio Figueroa and his
brother Francisco Figueroa were rebel leaders in the
Mexican state Guerrero. They fought for Madero but against Diaz,
Huerta, and Zapata.
Manuel Asúnsulo was also a 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.
Guerrero has the pink border on the
map above.
Women in the Mexican
Revolution
Many women traveled with the revolutionary armies and helped out
with the routine work in the camp.
But quite a few women also
participated in the fighting. Just as their male comrades, some of
these soldaderas had lost their families and homes, others
were in it out of conviction, and again others were in it just for the heck
of it.
 
Soldaderas fighting in the Mexican Revolution
Left:
Soldadera around 1915 photo taken by Agustin Victor Casasola
Right: Archivo
Histórico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
WOMEN IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
Source
unknown
WOMEN OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION - THE NO-NONSENSE UNIT
Source
unknown
The Battles of the
Mexican Revolution
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February 4 and 5, 1911 |
First Battle
of Bauche |
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February
7, 1911 |
Battle
of Smelter View |
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March 6, 1911 |
Battle of Casas Grandes |
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April 9, 1911 |
Second Battle of Bauche |
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April 13, 1911 |
Battle of Agua Prieta |
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May 8 - 10, 1911 |
First Battle of Juárez |
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March
23, 1912 |
First Battle
of Rellano |
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May
23, 1912 |
Second Battle of Rellano |
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February 9 - 18, 1913 |
Ten Tragic Days |
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March 13, 1913 |
Battle of Nogales |
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April 17 - 18, 1913 |
Battle
of Jonacatepec |
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April 23, 1913 |
Siege of
Cuautla |
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September 25, 1913 |
Battle
of Aviles |
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September 29 - October 1, 1913 |
First Battle
of Torreón |
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November 12, 1913 |
Second Battle
of Juarez |
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November 22 - 25, 1913 |
Battle
of Tierra Blanca |
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January 1 - 4, 1914 |
Battle of Ojinaga |
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March
22 - 26, 1914 |
Battle of Gómez Palacio |
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March
26 - April 2, 1914 |
Second Battle
of Torreón |
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April
21 - November 14, 1914 |
Veracruz Incident |
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June
23, 1914 |
Battle
of Zacatecas |
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April
4 - 10, 1915 |
First Battle
of Celaya |
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April
13 - 15, 1915 |
Second Battle
of Celaya |
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End of
April - June
3, 1915 |
Battle
of León |
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January
10, 1916 |
Massacre at
Santa Isabel |
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March
8 - 9, 1916 |
Raid on
Columbus, NM |
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July 16, 1916 |
Battle of Tlayacapa |
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October 4, 1916 |
Battle
of Xochimilco |
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June
15 - 16, 1919 |
Third
Battle
of Juárez |
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Map: Major Battles of the Mexican Revolution
Click to enlarge
The Mexican
Revolution and Public Holidays
Two of the 7 annual public holidays in Mexico today stem from the
Mexican Revolution:
Constitution
Day - February 5
Día de la Constitución. Observed on the first Monday of
February. Commemorates the Constitution of 1917, announced by
Venustiano Carranza on February 5, 1917.
Check this event in the
Timeline of the Mexican Revolution.
Revolution
Day - November 20
Día de la Revolución. Observed on the third Monday of
November. Commemorates the official beginning of the Mexican
Revolution in 1910.
Furthermore, a huge centennial
celebration is in order when Mexico commemorates the 100th
anniversary of the Mexican Revolution in 2010. This festivity will
take place shortly after the bicentennial celebrations of the
Mexican Independence.
Check this event in the
Timeline of the Mexican Revolution.
Mexican Revolution -
Trivia
Franklin Lee Cleavenger moved
from Kansas to Chihuahua to work for the Chihuahuan phone company.
During the Mexican Revolution, he had his hands full repairing the
lines between El Paso and Chihuahua City. Franklin Lee also took
many photos, using coated glass plates (dry plates), some of which
you can examine on the
Franklin Lee Cleavenger Collection
site.
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