theBajabum
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The Mexican Revolution of 1910
Throughout its history Mexico has had many revolutions. The most famous perhaps is the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1920. The people of Mexico were
getting tired of the dictator rule of President Porfino Diaz. People of all classes were fighting in the revolution. The middle and upper classes were
dissatisfied with the President?s ways. The lower and working class people had many factors such as poor working conditions, inflation, inferior
housing, low wages, and deficient social services. Within the classes everyone was fighting; men, women, and children all contributed to the fight for
freedom from.
This revolution proved to be the rise and fall of many leaders. In the beginning of his reign, Diaz was almost ideal and had great intentions for
Mexico. He created a more stable government and got rid of crime. The quality of life was improved. The government was made stronger by dispatching
governors to the various areas of Mexico. The army was also made stronger by professionializing it. The police force readily enforced Diaz?s laws.
Diaz also relied on a group of aristocrats as advisors. As Mexico grew, structurally and economically, foreign films invested in the area. The money
from the films helped Diaz to build highways, railroads, telegraph lines, oil fields, and rejuvenate the mining industry. New industries were also
created and in fifty years Mexico had transformed itself from a third world country to the ideal model of a developing country.
Although these things helped to build up Mexico, they also were the factors in the destruction of Diaz. The people in power became wealthy but the
rest of the population remained impoverished. Both the rich and the poor no longer wanted the dependence on foreign investments. More importantly
though was the new generation of Mexicans were full of ambition to be in politics. The Diaz regime had such control over the government though that no
one was able to break into the system. This made the ambitious generation want to break in even more.
An interview given by Diaz in 1908 was read by Francisco I. Madero and he was inspired to gather supporters to defeat Diaz in the 1910 election. In
the interview Diaz said that he thought Mexico could handle free elections by 1910. Madero was a strong believer in democracy and realized that Diaz
had a monopoly with the government. Madero thought that Diaz should step down from office. By the time 1910 came around Madero had inspired many
citizens and had quite a group of followers. His chances for election were very good and Diaz got scared. Right before the elections in 1910, Diaz
falsely accused Madero and had him thrown in jail. Diaz is once again elected as president. Madero was soon released and, learning of Diaz?s
reelection, he fled to Texas.
While there he stated that the elections were illegitimate and that he was the President Pro-Temp until new elections could be held (Consul General
2). He also wrote a document, which called for a revolt on November 20, 1910 which marks the start of the Mexican Revolution (Summary 5). There were
three very strong revolutionary groups throughout the revolution that contributed to the rise and fall of the leaders. These were lead by Emiliano
Zapata, Francisco "Pancho" Villa, and Pascual Orozco. Zapata was from the south and his troops covered that area while Villa and Orozco were from the
north covering those areas . In 1911 Orozco and Villa began taking control of cities in the northern areas while Zapata took control of Cuautla and
cut off the road to Mexico City. Orozco and Villa captured Ciudad Juarez and these events combined convinced Diaz to resign and forced him to flee to
Europe. Even though he fled, Diaz left a large army under the command of General Victoriano Huerta and a provisional president. Soon after he left
Zapata rode into Mexico City where he met up with Madero. Madero was then declared president (Summary 5). Madero?s presidency was short lived though.
Madero?s agenda was to please everyone which meant that no action was taking place. He turned Zapata against him by trying to please him and the
inaction convinced Villa and Orozco to also abandon him. Huerta at this time met with an U.S. Ambassador to come up with a plan. The U.S. felt that
Madero was too closely related to the revolutionaries and did not support him. Huerta and the ambassador along with the help of Diaz?s nephew, Felix
Diaz, came up with a plan to overthrow Madero and install Huerta as president. Huerta revolted against Madero and Madero, vice-president Suarez, and
General Angeles were arrested. On February 22, 1913 Madero and Suarez were killed for allegedly trying to escape.
Huerta was now the president and revolutionary violence exploded. Huerta was hated by almost everyone and three revolutionary forces rise in the
north. These are led by Villa, Alvaro Obregon, and Venustantio Carranza. In the south Zapata was still fighting. Throughout 1913 and 1914 Huerta
suffered one defeat after another and in the summer of 1914 all four revolutionary forces came together in Mexico City to defeat Huerta. Huerta,
realizing that he was beat, fled from the city. In August of 1914 Carranza declared himself president.
Soon after Carranza declared himself president Villa began fighting against him. Villa built up his forces and started moving south to push Carranza
out of Mexico. Carranza fought back but Zapata shocked them all by taking Mexico City. The fighting went on until Villa, Zapata, and Obregon and met
to come up with a solution. They decided to put Eulalio Guitierrez as president and Zapata agreed to move out of Mexico City. This worked for a while
but the different revolutionary forces soon made alliances. Villa and Zapata stayed loyal to each other and to Guitierrez as president. Obregon and
Carranza came together and worked to get Carranza back into the presidency. In 1915 Villa?s and Obregon?s forces came together in a battle where
Obregon was victorious. Because of Villa?s forces being badly wounded, Carranza was able to reclaim the presidency (Summary 6-7). Right after Carranza
took the presidency, Villa?s forces fought Carranza for a period of time. Villa, Zapata, and Obregon once again met to come up with a solution. Again
they named Guitierrez as president and he was backed by Villa and Zapata. Once again though Obregon united with Carranza and in late 1915 Zapata and
Villa suffered incredible losses at the hands of Obregon and Carranza.
Carranza?s power began to rise and Zapata badly needed extra troops to fight back. In April of 1919 one of Carranza?s generals said he was defecting
from Carranza and wished to speak to Zapata to join him in the fight. Zapata went to meet with the general and only after he got there did he realize
that it was a trap. Zapata was shot and killed shortly after he arrived at the meeting.
The news of Zapata?s death traveled quickly and Carranza became a hated man. He lost all his supporters including Obregon. Realizing that he was
doomed Carranza tried to flee the country but was killed just outside of Mexico City. Adolfo de la Huerta was put in as president until elections
could be held. At elections Obregon won and most of the revolutionary violence ceased.
During this time there were some people who did not want to fight and they did not want any part of the revolution so they fled to the United States.
Some of the factors that made people leave were economic disaster, chaos, danger, and social disorganization. Almost 900,000 Mexican immigrants came
to the United States between 1910 and 1920. Besides escaping the violence of the revolution, Mexican people came to the U.S because they saw it as an
opportunity for work. At first the U.S. was not sure if they wanted all these people migrating into the states. They soon decided to take a closer
look. They went down into Mexico and saw what all the violence had done. They felt that they could not refuse Mexican immigrants wanting to have a
better lifestyle.
Everyone in Mexico was affected by The Mexican Revolution. Whether they were fighting for their freedom or wanted to escape the chaos, they were
affected by the rise and fall of power. It also affected some people in the United States as Mexican immigrants came into the U.S. People fought for
their freedom and after many years of fighting were able to achieve that.
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Thanks for the refresher course! Quite a power struggle in those years....
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
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Mood: Just dancing through life
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Bajabum
Very good recap--To see what happened to a lot of those people who were swept up in this terrible revolution that killed without regard to class see
RAIN OF GOLD by Victor Villasenor ISBN 0-440-50512-7. This guy follows members of his family from the beginning of the revolution up and into the
1930's. His family settled in Carlsbad California after they escaped the destruction caused by the revolution. A really great book. You can find it
at:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=ISBN+04...
He has written several books most of them are very good.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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