36.1.2: The Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle from 1910 through 1920 that radically transformed Mexican culture and government. Its outbreak is attributed to Porfirio Diaz’s failure to resolve the problem of presidential succession. In the short term, events were precipitated by the results of the 1910 presidential election in which Diaz committed massive electoral fraud and declared himself the winner against his then-jailed opponent, Francisco Madero. Armed conflict ousted Diaz from power and a new election was held in 1911, in which Madero won the presidency.

The Madero Presidency, 1911-1913

President Francisco I. Madero: Constitutional President of Mexico 1911-1913

Despite Madero’s lack of political experience, his election as president in October 1911 raised high expectations for positive change. However, these expectations were tempered by the Treaty of Ciudad Juarez, signed on May 21, 1911, between Diaz and Madero, which put an end to fighting between the two factions but also stipulated that certain essential elements of the Diaz regime, such as the federal army, stay in place. Madero called for the rebels who had brought him to power to return to civilian life. In their place, Madero increasingly relied upon the federal army to deal with armed rebellions that broke out in Mexico from 1911 to 1912.

The press, newly unencumbered by Madero’s less authoritarian regime, embraced their newfound freedoms by making the president himself the object of criticism. Organized labor exercised their newfound freedoms under the Madero regime by staging strikes, which foreign entrepreneurs found threatening to their business concerns. A rise in anti-American sentiment accompanied these developments. The anarcho-syndicalist Casa del Obrero Mundial was founded in September 1912 and served primarily as a center of agitation and propaganda rather than exclusively as a labor union. A number of political parties also proliferated across the country, including the National Catholic Party, which was particularly strong in a number of regions.

Madero, unlike Diaz, failed to reward those who had brought him to power, though many revolutionary leaders expected personal rewards or major reforms in return for their service. Emiliano Zapata, in particular, long worked for land reform in Mexico and expected Madero to make some major changes. However, during a personal meeting with the guerrilla leader, Madero told Zapata that the agrarian question needed careful study, giving rise to the belief that Madero, a member of a rich northern landholding family, was unlikely to implement comprehensive agrarian reform. In response, Zapata drafted the Plan de Ayala in November 1911, declaring himself in rebellion against Madero. Zapata renewed guerrilla warfare in the state of Morelos and Madero was forced to send the federal army to deal, unsuccessfully, with his forces.

Likewise, the northern revolutionary general Pascual Orozco felt slighted after being put in charge of large forces of rurales in Chihuahua instead of being chosen as governor of the same region. After being passed over and witnessing Madero’s refusal to agree to social reforms calling for better working hours, pay, and conditions, Orozco assembled his own army to rebel against the president, aggravating U.S. businessmen and other foreign investors in the northern region. For many, these upheavals signaled Madero’s inability to maintain the order that had underpinned Diaz’s 35-year long regime. Madero dispatched General Victoriano Huerta of the federal army to put down Orozco’s revolt in April 1912. Ultimately, Huerta was successful in ending the rebellion, leading many conservative forces to tout him as a powerful counter-force to Madero’s regime.

A number of other rebellions occurred during a period known as the Ten Tragic Days. During this time, U.S. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson brokered the Pact of the Embassy, formalizing an alliance between Huerta and Felix Diaz, a nephew of the former president and rebel leader. The treaty ensured that Huerta would become provisional president of Mexico following the resignations of Madero and his vice president. However, rather than being sent into exile, the two were murdered during transport to prison, which though shocking did not prevent recognition of Huerta’s regime by most world governments. Following the assumption of Huerta of the presidency, former revolutionaries had no formally organized opposition to the established government.

The Huerta Dictatorship, 1913-1914

Although Huerta’s regime attempted to legitimize his hold on power and demonstrate its legality by pursuing reformist policies in the first several months of his presidency, after October 1913 he dropped all attempts to rule within a legal framework and murdered political opponents while battling revolutionary forces that had united against his regime. For these reasons, Huerta’s presidency is usually characterized as a dictatorship. Huerta’s regime was supported initially by foreign and domestic business interests, landed elites, the Roman Catholic Church, and the German and British governments, and Mexico was militarized to a greater extent than ever before. Within a month of the coup that brought Huerta to power, several rebellions broke out across the country. The Northern revolutionaries fought under the name of the Constitutionalist Army and Zapata continued his rebellion in Morelos under the Plan de Ayala, despite Huerta’s interest in land reform as an issue. Huerta offered peace to Zapata, but he rejected it.

Incoming U.S. President Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize Huerta’s government despite the urging of Ambassador Wilson, who played a key role in the regime change. In the summer of 1913, President Wilson recalled Ambassador Wilson and sent his own personal representative John Lind to continue U.S.-Mexican diplomatic relations. Lind was a progressive who sympathized with the Mexican revolutionaries and urged other European powers to join America in non-recognition of the Huerta regime. He also urged Huerta to call elections and not step up as a candidate, using economic and military threats to back up his pleadings. Mexican conservatives were also seeking an elected civilian alternative to Huerta’s regime and brought together a number of candidates in a National Unifying Junta. The fragmentation of the conservative political landscape reinforced Huerta’s belief that he would not be removed from power, whereas the proliferation of political parties and presidential candidates proved to the country’s conservative elite that there was a growing disillusionment with Huerta and his regime.

On October 26, 1913, Huerta dispensed with the Mexican legislature, surrounding the building with his army and arresting congressmen he perceived hostile to his regime. Congressional elections went ahead, but the fervor of opposition candidates decreased. The October 1913 elections ended any pretension of constitutional rule within Mexico and civilian political activities were banned. Additionally, many prominent Catholics were arrested and Catholic periodicals were suppressed. Huerta’s position continued to deteriorate and his army suffered several defeats during this time. Finally, in mid-July 1914, he stepped down and fled the country. He died six months after going into exile after having been arrested by US authorities and held at Fort Bliss, Texas. Huerta’s resignation also marked the dissolution of the federal army and the beginning of an era of civil war among the revolutionary factions that united to oppose Huerta’s regime.

War of the Winners, 1914-1915

Venustiano Carranza: Photograph of Governor of Coahuila Venustiano Carranza (center), the tall and distinguished-looking “First Chief” of the Constitutionalist forces in northern Mexico opposing Huerta’s regime.

The revolutionary factions that remained in Mexico gathered at the Convention of Aguascalientes in October 1914. During this time, there was a brief break in revolutionary violence. Rather than facilitate a reconciliation among the different factions, however, Venustiano Carranza and Pancho Villa engaged in a power struggle, leading to a definitive break between the two revolutionaries. Carranza expected to be named First Chief of the revolutionary forces, but his supporters were overpowered during the convention by Zapata and Villa’s supporters, who called on Carranza to resign executive power. Carranza agreed to do so only if Villa and Zapata also resigned and went into exile. He also stipulated that there be a pre-constitutionalist government to carry out the necessary political and social reforms the country needed before a fully constitutional government was reestablished. As a result of these conditions, the convention declared Carranza in rebellion and civil war resumed.

Northern general Villa formed an alliance with the southern leader Zapata. The resultant combined forces were called the Army of the Convention. In December 1914, their forces moved on Mexico City and captured it, Carranza’s forces having fled shortly beforehand. In practice, however, the Army of the Convention did not survive as an alliance beyond this initial victory against the Constitutionalists. Shortly thereafter, Zapata returned to his southern stronghold and Villa resumed fighting against Carranza’s forces in the north. In the meantime, the United States sided with Carranza, who was based in American-occupied Veracruz. The United States timed its exit from Veracruz to benefit Carranza, sending his forces munitions and formally recognizing his government in 1915.

Villa’s forces met with those of Carranza’s allies at the Battle of Celaya in April 6-15, 1915, which ended in a decisive Constitutionalist victory due to their superior military tactics. As a result, Carranza emerged as Mexico’s political leader with support from the army.

Constitutionalism Under Carranza, 1915-1920

As revolutionary violence subsided in 1916, the leaders of Mexico met to draw up a new constitution. The Mexican Constitution of 1917 that resulted was strongly national. Article 27 provided the government with the right to expropriate natural resources from foreign interests, enabling land reform. There were also provisions to protect organized labor and articles extending state power over the Roman Catholic Church within Mexico. Carranza also pushed for women’s rights and equality during his presidency, which helped to transform women’s legal status within the country

Carranza, though able to enact many reforms, was still vulnerable to revolutionary unrest. Zapata remained active in Morelos, which due to its proximity to Mexico City remained a vulnerability for the Carranza government. The Constitutionalist Army, renamed the Mexican National Army, was dispatched to fight Zapata’s Liberating Army of the South, and government agents assassinated Zapata in 1919. Carranza also sent generals to track down Villa in the north, but they were only able to capture some of his men. Due to the legacy of Diaz’s “no re-election” policy, it was politically untenable for Carranza to seek re-election after his first term, so instead he endorsed political unknown Ignacio Bonillas when his term in office was nearly finished. However, some existing northern revolutionary leaders found the prospect of a civilian Carranza puppet candidate untenable and hatched a revolt against Carranza called the Plan of Agua Prieta. As a result, Carranza attempted to flee Mexico, but died on his way to the Gulf Coast.

Attributions

• The Mexican Revolution
  • “Plan of Ayala.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_of_Ayala. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Mexican Revolution.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Revolution. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Treaty of Ciudad Juarez.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Venustiano_Carranza_en_La_CaC3B1ada2C_Queretaro.JPG.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venustiano_Carranza_en_La_Ca%C3%B1ada,_Queretaro.JPG. Wikimedia Commons GNU FDL 1.2.
  • “Madero_I.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madero_I.jpg. Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0.