Included are events that took place before the
year 1910 and that led up to the Mexican
Revolution of 1910.
February 1908
James Creelman, who
worked as a reporter for Pearson's Magazin,
interviews longtime Mexican dictator
Porfirio Díaz, who announces his retirement for 1910.
American Journalist James Creelman
1859 - 1915
Pearson's Magazine
December 15, 1908 Manuel Alarcón, governor of
Morelos, dies. With only a short interruption, Manuel had
been Morelos' governor since 1895.
Manuel Alarcón
Governor of Morelos 1895-1896 and 1896-1908
Archivo Cassola
Luis Flores y Caso takes over as interim governor.
December 28, 1908
General Francisco Leyva, who himself was once Governor of
Morelos from 1869 - 1876, and President
Porfirio Díaz meet for a chat.
In the elections for Governor of the State of Morelos, Leyva's son
Patricio Leyva, an engineer, will be running against Diaz'
protégé
Pablo
Escandón y Barrón, a hacienda owner. General Leyva
warns President Diaz that this is a potential powder keg they're
sitting on.
January 7, 1909
Díaz announces that
"anyone whom the citizens of Morelos freely elect would be welcome."
January 22, 1909
Leyvistas gather all over the country. Today, 1,500 people met at
Cuautla.
February 1, 1909
In Cuautla, an anti Diaz mob throws stones.
February 2, 1909
The government together with the plantation owners fight back. As an
answer to yesterday's riot in Cuautla, the rioter's families are
targeted and taken hostage. People go into hiding and the
persecution spreads rapidly. Even the opposition candidate for
governor of Morelos, Patricio Leyva, gets arrested.
Another man
involved in the melee and fighting for the peasants is
Torres
Burgos.
February 7, 1909
Rigged election day. And the new governor of the state Morelos is
Pablo
Escandón y Barrón.
Even on election day the arrests keep going on. By the way,
how many votes exactly did Escandónget? Nobody knows. All we hear
is that Escandón enjoyed an "absolute majority."
March 15, 1909
Pablo
Escandón y Barrónofficially sworn into office, thus
succeeding interim governor Luis Flores y Caso.
Pablo is not
a happy
camper and he complaints a lot. But if Diaz asks you
to do something, you do what Diaz asks you to do.
Was Escandón any good as governor?
Escandónchanged the tax laws. The
personal tax on the peasants was abolished, the middle class was hit
hard with a big tax increase, the tax on the plantation owners was
lightened. Totally ignored was the burning issue of the land
disputes between the peasants and the hacienda owners.
However, Escandónhated his new job and
kept asking for vacation days. He handed in his first application
only two weeks after getting started on the job. The poor man was a mess. And
whiny.
September 12, 1909
The village elders of Anenecuilco vote
Emiliano ZapataPresident of
the Defense Committee of the Lands.
April 25, 1910
Anenecuilco villagers write to their Governor
Escandón and ask for
his support against the Hospital Hacienda, which no longer allowed
peasants to plant corn crops around Anenecuilco. The people declare
they would be even ready to forfeit ownership rights and rent land
from whoever owns it. But whatever the decision, time is an issue.
The time to plant is NOW.
May 3, 1910
Escandón's office writes back to the village of Anenecuilco
regarding their letter from April 25, to please specify the areas
they intend to cultivate.
May 8, 1910
The people of Anenecuilco respond to Escandón's letter from May 3
and specify the lands as requested.
May 15, 1910
Escandón's office replies to the people of Anencuilco regarding
their letter from May 8 and declares that this is actually a matter between
the people of Anencuilco and the Hospital Hacienda.
Later, the Hospital Hacienda sent their
own reply. "Plant in a flower pot."
May 24, 1910
Representatives of Anencuilco meet with Escandón's office.
Later, the Hospital Hacienda rents out lands
to local farmers from Villa de Ayala, not Anencuilco mind you.
Zapata and his men then took the land by force. Other villages
followed his example.
June 13, 1910
On the eve of the presidential elections, presidential candidate
Francisco I. Madero
is arrested and
thrown in jail.
June 14, 1910
Presidential "election" day. Oops, only one candidate.
September 15, 1910
President Diaz' 80th birthday. When it is your dictator, you care.
September 16, 1910
The 100th anniversary of Mexican independence, aka Independence Day
for Mexico. On September 16, 1810,
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
shouted his famous battle cry, the Cry of Dolores (Grito
de Dolores.)
October 4, 1910
The Chamber of Deputies declares that
Diaz had been reelected.
October 6, 1910
Madero
escapes from prison disguised as a railway worker.
In his Plan, Madero sets the date for the beginning of the
revolution. He calls upon all Mexicans to get ready to rumble and to be
up in arms against the Diaz regime at 6 PM on Sunday, November 20,
1910.
November 16, 1910
Federal troops round up Maderistas throughout Mexico.
November 17, 1910
The first shots of the revolution were fired in the city of Puebla
because the Maderistas didn't appreciate the rounding up. Head of
the Maderistas in Puebla was Aquiles Serdán, who led approx.
400 men.
November 18, 1910
Police tracked down Aquiles Serdán, surrounded his house while he
was in there with 20 of his men. Siege situation. At the end of the
day Serdán and his men were dead, and so were 158 policemen.
November 20, 1910
Although
Francisco Madero
had appointed this day to be the official start of the
revolution, not much action is happening.
By late November, 1910
The city of Guerrero is controlled by the rebels, led by
Pascual Orozco.
San Andrés is occupied by
Pancho Villa and his men. Small
skirmishes everywhere in the north now.
Also called the
Persian Wars, the Greco-Persian Wars were
fought for almost half a century from 492 BC -
449 BC. Greece won against enormous odds. Here
is more:
