The Porfiriato

Porfirio Díaz led Mexico as president from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911. His time in power is referred to as the "Porfiriato." During those decades, Mexico modernized, building mines, plantations, telegraph lines, and railroads, which brought great wealth to the nation. It came, however, at the cost of repression and grinding debt peonage for the lower classes. Díaz's close circle of friends benefited greatly, and most of Mexico's vast wealth remained in the hands of a few families.

Díaz ruthlessly clung to power for decades, but after the turn of the century, his grip on the nation started to slip. The people were unhappy: An economic recession caused many to lose their jobs and people began calling for change. Díaz promised free elections in 1910.

Díaz and Madero

Díaz expected to win easily and legally and was therefore shocked when it became evident that his opponent, Francisco I. Madero, was likely to win. Madero, a reformist writer who came from a wealthy family, was an unlikely revolutionary. Madero didn't have any real plan for Mexico after Díaz; he simply felt that someone else should rule after decades of Don Porfirio.

Díaz fixed the elections, arresting Madero on false charges of plotting armed insurrection. Madero was bailed out of jail by his father and went to San Antonio, Texas, where he watched Díaz easily "win" re-election. Convinced that there was no other way to get Díaz to step down, Madero called for an armed rebellion. According to Madero's Plan of San Luis Potosi, the insurrection would begin on November 20.

Orozco, Villa, and Zapata

In the southern state of Morelos, Madero's call was answered by peasant leader Emiliano Zapata, who hoped a revolution would lead to land reform. In the north, muleteer Pascual Orozco and bandit chieftain Pancho Villa also took up arms. All three rallied thousands of men to their rebel armies.

In the south, Zapata attacked large ranches called haciendas, giving back land that had been illegally and systematically stolen from peasant villages by Díaz's cronies. In the north, Villa's and Orozco's massive armies attacked federal garrisons wherever they found them, building up impressive arsenals and attracting thousands of new recruits. Villa truly believed in reform; he wanted to see a new, less crooked Mexico. Orozco was more of an opportunist who saw a chance to get in on the ground floor of a movement he was certain would succeed and secure a position of power for himself with the new regime.

Orozco and Villa had great success against the federal forces and in February 1911, Madero returned and joined them in the north. As the three generals closed in on the capital, Díaz could see the writing on the wall. By May of 1911, it was clear that he could not win, and he went into exile. In June, Madero entered the city in triumph.

The Rule of Madero

Madero barely had time to get comfortable in Mexico City before things got hot. He faced rebellion on all sides, as he broke all of his promises to those who had supported him and the remnants of Díaz's regime hated him. Orozco, sensing that Madero was not going to reward him for his role in the overthrow of Díaz, once again took up arms. Zapata, who had been instrumental in defeating Díaz, took to the field again when it became clear that Madero had no real interest in land reform. In November of 1911, Zapata wrote up his famous Plan of Ayala, which called for Madero's removal, demanded land reform, and named Orozco Chief of the Revolution. Félix Díaz, Porfirio Diaz Nephew, declared himself in open rebellion in Veracruz.

The greatest challenge to Madero was none of these men, however, but one much closer: General Victoriano Huerta, a ruthless, alcoholic soldier left over from the Díaz regime. Madero had sent Huerta to join forces with Villa and defeat Orozco. Huerta and Villa despised one another but managed to drive off Orozco, who fled to the United States. After returning to Mexico City, Huerta betrayed Madero during a standoff with forces loyal to Féliz Díaz. He ordered Madero arrested and executed and set himself up as president.

The Huerta Years

In Coahuila, the former governor Venustiano Carranza took to the field and in Sonora, chickpea farmer and inventor Alvaro Obregón raised an army and entered the action. Orozco returned to Mexico and allied himself with Huerta, but the “Big Four” of Carranza, Obregón, Villa, and Zapata were united in their hatred of Huerta and determined to oust him from power.

Orozco's support was not nearly enough. With his forces fighting on several fronts, Huerta was steadily pushed back. When Pancho Villa won a crushing victory at the Battle of Zacatecas on June 23, 1914, it was over. Huerta fled to exile, and although Orozco fought on for a while in the north, he too went into exile in the United States before too long.

The Warlords at War

With the despised Huerta out of the way, Zapata, Carranza, Obregón, and Villa were the four most powerful men in Mexico. They soon fell to fighting one another. In October of 1914, representatives of the “Big Four” as well as several smaller independents met at the Convention of Aguascalientes, hoping to agree on a course of action that would bring peace to the nation. Unfortunately, the peace efforts failed, and the Big Four went to war: Villa against Carranza and Zapata against anyone who entered The State of Morelos. The wild card was Obregón; fatefully, he decided to stick with Carranza.

The Rule of Carranza

Venustiano Carranza felt that as a former governor, he was the only one who qualified to rule Mexico, so he set himself up in Mexico City and began organizing elections. His trump card was the support of Obregón, a genius military commander who was popular with his troops. Even so, he did not fully trust Obregón, so he shrewdly sent him after Villa, hoping, no doubt, that the two would finish each other off so that he could deal with Zapata and Félix Díaz at his leisure.

Obregón had been doing his homework, however, reading up on trench warfare being fought abroad. Villa, on the other hand, still relied on the one trick that had carried him so often in the past: an all-out charge by his devastating cavalry. The two met several times, and Villa always got the worst of it. In April of 1915, at the Battle of Celaya, Obregón fought off countless cavalry charges with barbed wire and machine guns, thoroughly routing Villa. The next month, the two met again at the Battle of Trinidad and 38 days of carnage ensued. Obregón lost an arm at Trinidad, but Villa lost the war. His army in tatters, Villa retreated to the north, destined to spend the rest of the revolution on the sidelines.

In 1915, Carranza set himself up as president pending elections and won the recognition of the United States, which was hugely important to his credibility. In 1917, he won the elections he had set up and began the process of stamping out remaining warlords, such as Zapata and Díaz. Zapata was betrayed, set up, ambushed, and assassinated on April 10, 1919, on Carranza's orders.

The Rule of Obregón

Carranza reneged on his promise to support Obregón in 1920, which proved to be a fatal mistake. Obregón still enjoyed the support of much of the military, and when it became apparent that Carranza was going to install little-known Ignacio Bonillas as his successor, Obregón quickly raised a massive army and marched on the capital. Carranza was forced to flee and was assassinated by supporters of Obregón on May 21, 1920.

Obregón was easily elected in 1920 and served his four-year term as president. For this reason, many historians believe the Mexican Revolution ended in 1920, although the nation suffered from horrible violence for another decade or so during a Period known as the Maximato until the level-headed Lázaro Cárdenas took office. Obregón ordered the assassination of Villa in 1923 and was himself shot to death by a Roman Catholic fanatic in 1928, ending the time of the “Big Four.”

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