one of the many children soldiers used by all sides in the Revolution

Modero had unleashed a tiger. Now let's see if he can control it.

Porfiro Diaz, on his way to exile

The Modero Presidency

Map of the Mexican Revolution

The Revolution from 1910 -20 was very devastating to Mexico. An estimated 2 million were killed But it also destroyed the privileges of the creoles and gave rise to the mestizo nation , a sense of national pride and appreciation of Mexican culture called mexicanidad . Fuedalism and debt peonage was ended , land was redistributed and unions were permitted to protect the rights of the workers .

Pancho Villa (June 5, 1878 – July 20, 1923)

                                  A bandito who became the commander of the División del Norte (Army of the North )

                                 Villa tried to give each soldier a horse to make his army more mobile .Legendary as a cavalry

                             commander and nicknamed  El Centauro del Norte (The Centaur of the North) he was defeated by Obregon                     who used WWI tactics in the decisive Battle of Celaya in  1915. He fought the Revolution for Land reform and equal                      education. He caused Americans under Pershing to invade Mexico after killing Americans and raids into America, but                       was never caught.He was assassinated in 1923 after retiring .

After Diaz resigned, the secretary of foreign relations, Leon de la Barra, became the interim president . During this time, Zapata and his forces in Morelos were ordered to disband and President Barra sent General Victoriano Huerta to see that it was done .These two came in conflict and Zapata blamed Madero for the attack. This was not the first former ally to turn against Modero .

Emiliano  Zapata (August 8, 1879–April 10, 1919)

Was a small landholder and horse trainer who battled in court against Diaz's land reforms in the small

central Mexican state of Morelos .He became a general of the army that formed in that state, the Ejército Libertador del Sur (Liberation Army of the South), commonly known as Zapatistas. The Zapatistas were mainly poor peasants who wished to spend much of their time working their land to produce an income. As a result, Zapatista soldiers tended to serve for several months at a time, and then return home to spend most of the year farming. He fought the Constitutionalist Carranza after Huerta was defeated. Carranza put a bounty on Zapata's head, and a federalist offiicer pretended to defect to Zapata's side and killed him in an ambush .

On October 1, 1911 Modero won the national election . When he became president he was besieged with demands from all side and found the Revolution meant different things to different people and the more radical elements were displeased by his moderate steps at reform . Some, such as Zapata wanted land reform to break up the hacendados, but Medero only appointed a commission that did not come to much .Madero appointed family members, some of them conservative, to important posts, which undermined the reforms he advocated .He gave out government contracts to family businesses, to many this looked like old style corrupt government .

Discontent with Modero and Rebellion

Pascual  Orozco  (28 January 1882 – 30 August 1915)

When Francisco I. Madero called for an uprising against Díaz in 1910, Orozco was an enthusiastic supporter and, on 31 October of that year, was placed in command of the revolutionary forces in Guerrero municipality. Madero promoted him to colonel, and in early 1911 to brigadier general, remarkably, these promotions were earned without any kind of military knowledge or military training. On 10 May of that year Orozco and his subordinate general Pancho Villa seized Ciudad JuárezAfter Díaz's fall, Orozco became resentful at Madero's failure to name him to the cabinet or a state governorship. Orozco was particularly upset with Madero's failure to create a series of social reforms that he promised at the beginning of the revolution.On 3 March 1912 Orozco decreed a formal revolt against Madero's government. Madero ordered Victoriano Huerta to fight the rebellion. Huerta's troops defeated the orozquistas in Conejos, Rellano and Bachimba finally seizing Ciudad Juárez. After being wounded in Ojinaga, Orozco was forced to flee to the United States.In the USA he met with Huerta in New York to make plans to retake Mexico.He was killed on Aug 30, 1915 in Texas while trying to return to Mexico.

The labor reformers were also disappointed and strikes continued. Educational reformers were also disappointed , even though Modero opened more schools he did not have enough funds to make more sweeping changes .Modero soon found himself facing revolts on many fronts . In November Zapata declared his Plan de Ayula and recognized Orozco as head of the rebellion which grew in size .Former General Reyes also launched a rebellion, but he did not have mach support and he surrendered to federal forces . A third rebellion was launched by Emilio Gomez, who was angey that Modero replaced him as vice president for Jose Suarez and by Jan the forces of Gomes had taken Cuidad Juarez .Orozco, who  had reached an agreement with Madero, convinced the Gomez forces to give up their fight, but this showed how weak the new government was .

More rebellions

However, a few months later Orozco was in revolt again .In his Plan Orozquista, Modero was attacked for corruption and putting too many relatives into high positions .Greater land and labor reforms were promised than Modero was seeking .Orozco amassed a large army and the federal army was defeated at Rellano and its commander, Jose Salas, committed suicide . Modero place Huerta in charge of the army , who was able to push the rebels north and keep them from entering Mexico City . then , yet another rebellion broke out in Veracruz, led by Felix Diaz, the nephew of Porfirio, led mostly by supportes of Diaz .Diaz and his forces later were forced to surrender . Modero, feeling compassion for Diaz, did not order his execution, an action which would cost him his life .Diaz was sent to prison in Mexico City close to Reyes, and together they plotted a coup .

Coup against Modero

Decena Tragica

On Feb 9, 1913, General Manuel Mondragon, supported by some army units, released Reyes and Diaz and they marched on the National Palace . Reyes was killed by a machine gun burst and Diaz took control and retreated with his forces. Modero sent Huerta to command his troops .For the next 10 day or Decena Tragica as it is known in Mexico, Mexico City was engulfed in battle in which thousands of civilians were killed .On Feb 17, Modero summoned Huerta and asked how long this would continue and Huerta assured him it would over the next day . And indeed it was as Huerta threw his lot in with the rebels .Madero came to an agreement with the rebels in the American Embassy and the agreement is known as the Pact of the Embassy. The American ambassador, Henry Wilson wanted an end to the civil war since it was bad for American business interests and was against Modero since he taxed oil production .

Three Presidents in One Day

Huerta

Madero was arrested by General Blanquet and later vice president Suarez was arrested as well .In order to give his rule some legality Modero was forced to resign and Pedro Lascurain was sworn in as president with Huerta made secretary of the interior .Lascurain then resigned and Huerta became president as there was no vice president .And so Mexico had three presidents in one day .On Feb 21, 1913, Modero and Suarez were killed while being transferred to prison .It is still not known if Diaz, Huerta or someone else ordered the murders .

The Dictatorship of Huerta 1913 -14

Within a few days federal generals and state governors began to pledge support to Huerta .However, not all did . Coahuila Governer Venustiano Carranza did not recognize the new government and neither did the Governers of Chihuahua, where Poncho Villa took control of the anti-Huerta forces and Sonora, where Alvaro Obregon took control of  anti-Huerta forces there.They of course declared a plan, the Plan de Guadalupe, which had no social reform goals, just the ouster of Huerta. Zapata in  Morelos in the south also rebelled under the banner of Tierra y Libertad ( Land and Liberty ), seeing no hope for land reform with Huerta or the rebels to the north.  

Soldaderas - Women in the Army

Woman had traditionally follwed their husbands in armies of Mexico to fed and care for them . Those that followed the revolutionaries into battle were called soldaderas, often fought with their husbands as well .They were celebrated in folk songs, such as La Adelita .

The first order of business for Huerta was to restore peace . Initially, Huerta was successful against the revolutionaries in the north and south .In early 1914, huerta controlled two thirds of Mexico, the major ports and most large cities .This was reversed by an infusion of militery aid from the US .By March and April, 1913 the rebels in the north and south were scoring important victories against Huerta  In May, the rebels to the north announced that all federal soldiers who were captured would be executed on the spot, and the tempo of the Revolution became even more violent . Huerta decided he needed to greatly enlarge his army, then only numbering about 50,000, in order to pacify the country.Huerta ordered ultimately ordered the army enlarged to 250,000, much of which was done under forced conscription. Many of these soldiers surrendered or were of such poor quality as to be useless .As his military position began to crumble, Huerta muzzled the press and a network of secret informers was employed. Soon the prisons were full of political prisoners. Political assassination was also used .Increasing protests against Huerts's rule by the legislature and both houses were dissolved by Huerta .

The economy began to suffer as Huerta packed many working men into the army .Huerta issued worthless paper currency as did the rebels in the north and south and in other states . By 1913 there were over 20 different paper currencies in Mexico .The US also refused to recognize Huerta's government, despite the action the American ambassador Henry Wilson. It is easy to label Huerta's regime as a conservative reaction, but Huerta tried to make some improvements despite the situation. More funds were allocated to education and to improve the lot of the Indians. Huerta was half Huichol Indian himself .He increased the taxes on the lands of the hacendados, which would force the owners to sell some of their lands .

American Occupation of Vercruz

President Wilson, decided Huerta would have to go . First he tried supporting the rebels in the north and when this was not enough he decided on military intervention .In early 1914 ordered an American fleet to patrol Mexican waters .

The US learned that the German ship Ypiranga would arrive in Veracruz with arms for Huerta on April 21. Wilson gave orders for the occupation of Vercruz and hundred of lives were lost in securing the city . This heavy handed act led to outrage among the Mexicans and America stores in the country were looted and other anti-American acts occurred .

The Americans, under Wilson imposed an arms embargo after  taking Veracruz. The Constitutionalists in the morth still received military aid from the US .The economic and military situation of Huerta became untenable and Huerta decided to resign on July 8, 1914 .The years following this were even more chaotic and the country descended into anarchy as the battles between the revolutionaries for power began .

In 1914, Venustiano Carranza decided that a convention should be held of all revolutionary factions at Aguascalientes to decide on a provisional president of Mexico. The convention chose, against the wishes of Carranza, Eulalio Gutierrez as provisional president . Villas troops marched to Mexico City to install Gutierrez .The convention exposed the differences between the fighters. The Zapatistas Villistas wanted land reform and Indian rights, while the Carrancistas and Obregonistas were more concerned with adhering to the Constitution and it was obvious that this was a calm before the country was engulfed in another civil war .

Villa in throne chair, seated next to Zapata at theit meeting at Xochimilco

In December 1914, Villa and Zapata meet for the first time in Xochimilco and agreed upon their disdain for Carranza ' middle class' revolutionaries and agreed to support each other . By early 1915 civil war was raging in many states and Eulalio Gutierrez abandoned Mexico City which Obregon took unopposed .By now there were many who claimed to be president: Eulalio Gutierrez, who had fled to Nuevo Leon, Carranza, roque Garza by the Zapatistas and Pancho Villa in Chihuahua. None of these governments recognized the currency or laws of the other .

Battle of  Celaya

This chaotic situation was cleared somewhat by the most famous  battle of the revolution, the battle of Celaya . Here Obregon engaged Pancho Villa, who had never been defeated in a major battle . Pancho Villas major strength was his cavalry. by this time World War I was ragging and Obregon noted in battle reports how barbed wire stopped cavalry charges . In early April, Villa attacked with an estimated 25,000 and his forces were cut down by Obregon machine guns while they tried to surmount the barbed wire. Villa lost an estimated 4,000 killed, while Obregon only lost over a little over a hundred killed .this battle weakened Villa and led to his eventual defeat . The Constitutionalists were gaining the upper hand and the US decided to back the Constitutionalists by giving Carranza  diplomatic recognition in October 1915 .

Pancho Villa, who had sought diplomatic recognition from the US for years was incensed and began to attack US civilians .On Jan 9, 1916, Villistas murdered 15 American mining engineers at in Chihuahua .On March 16, 1916, 485 Villistas invaded America and attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans .The clamor for intervention was immediate .President Wilson sent a small expedition of 6,000 troops under General John ' Black Jack' Pershing into northern Mexico. Pershing could not locate Villa and recieved no help for the local people, who were pro-Villa. Carranza began to get nervous about having American troops in Mexico and ordered Pershing to withdraw. Pershing was not ready to retreat and continued south where he clashed with Carrancista troops. After this he was ordered to withdraw slowly north and did not leave Mexico until Jan 1917.

The Constitution of 1917

Carranza

Carranza's position grew stronger and it was decided to have another convention to draw up a new constitution. Not wanting to lose control of this convention as he had at Aguascalientes, no Villistas or Zapatistas were allowed .The delegates met a Queretaro and Carranza drafted a constitution similar to that of 1857, with stronger executive control. This was unacceptable to the radical reformers led by Francisco Mugica, who held a majority and voted in major reform articles .The power of the church was limited, the delegates seeing it as a historic block to many reforms .Education was to be secular.Lands illegally seized during the Porfiriato were to be restored . Only nationals or foreigners who declared themselves Mexican could own property .There was to be an eight hour workay and a six day workweek and a minimum wage .Workers were allowed to unionize and go on strike . Carranza agreed to the constitution with great reluctance, but signed it in order to have enough support to become president in the next election, which he won in March, 1917 .

The Carranza Presidency

When Carranza took office in May, 1917, there was still civil war raging and the economy was in shatters .The paper currency was worthless. Gold and copper production, the main engine of the economy, were down over 50% since the Revolution .The transportation system was wrecked and food shortages drove up the price of food .Carranza had no plan to fully enforce the new Constitution, only a little land was redistributed, and that was mostly from his political enemies . Strikes were put down by the army. while World War I was still going on , and Carranza received a proposal by Arthur Zimmermann, the German foreign secretary, for German help in retaining the land lost in the Mexican American War if Mexico entered into a formal alliance with Germany .Carranza, realizing this was a pipe dream, turned the offer down, but did maintain neutrality in the Great War .

The Zapatistas were of course angry over the slow pace of land reform and stayed in revolt. Carranza sent federal troops under General Pablo Gonzales into Morelos who took many Zapatista towns but was unable to Zapata. The campaign there was some of the most violent of the Revolution . Zapata was assassinated in April 10, 1919 by Colonel Guajardo of the federal army, who pretended to defect to the Zapatista cause .While rid of one adversary, Alvaro Obregon, Plutarco Callas and Adolfo de la Huerta rose in revolt in Sonora and began marching with an army on Mexico City .In May, Carranza was forced to flee Mexico City as this army approached and he was assassinated by one of his own guards in Tlaxcalantongo.Villa's power in the north was greatly weakened and he went into retirement in 1920. He was assassinated in 1923 .There is debate as to when the revolution ended, as far as major military action, it ended with the death of Carranza. An estimated 1.5 to 2 million people are estimated to have been killed during the Revolution. Obregon became president in 1920 and set about reconstructing the country .