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Mexican Revolution: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Ten years of Madero, Villa, Zapata, Huerta, Carranza and Obregon that killed a million Mexicans and produced the world's most radical constitution of its day.

Fought
1910 to 1920
Duration
10 years
Dates
20 November 1910 to 1920
Deaths
About 1 to 2 million dead, missing or emigrated, including the 1918 flu
Leaders
Madero, Villa, Zapata, Carranza, Obregon; Diaz and Huerta
Foreign involvement
US occupation of Veracruz (1914), Pershing expedition (1916-1917); German intrigue
Result
1917 constitution; PRI-era state; land reform

The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) began when Francisco Madero called for revolt against Porfirio Diaz's 34-year dictatorship. Pancho Villa in the north and Emiliano Zapata in Morelos toppled Diaz in 1911; Madero was murdered in Victoriano Huerta's coup in 1913; the Constitutionalists under Carranza, Villa and Obregon overthrew Huerta in 1914 and then fought each other, Obregon crushing Villa at Celaya in 1915. The 1917 constitution promised land reform, labour rights and control of subsoil wealth. Zapata was killed in 1919, Carranza in 1920, Villa in 1923; Obregon's presidency from 1920 ended the war. About 1 to 2 million people died or emigrated.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Mexican Revolution. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

14001500160017001800190020002100Mexican Revolution (1910 to 1920)Open: Spanish EmpireSpanish Empire (1492 to 1976)Open: Danish colonial empireDanish colonial empire (1536 to 1953)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Dutch EmpireDutch Empire (1602 to 1975)Open: United StatesUnited States (1776 to present)Open: Mexican War of IndependenceMexican War of Independence (1810 to 1821)Open: First Mexican EmpireFirst Mexican Empire (1821 to 1823)Open: American Civil WarAmerican Civil War (1861 to 1865)Open: World War IWorld War I (1914 to 1918)Open: Cristero WarCristero War (1926 to 1929)Open: Guatemalan Civil WarGuatemalan Civil War (1960 to 1996)Open: Mexican drug warMexican drug war (2006 to present)

Mexico's population

The 1921 census showed a fall of nearly a million from 1910.

051015201910: 15.215.219101921: 14.314.319211930: 16.616.61930millions (census)

Timeline of the Mexican Revolution

  1. 1910
    Madero's call to arms20 November.
  2. 1911
    Ciudad Juarez; Diaz resigns
  3. 1913
    Ten Tragic Days; Madero murdered
  4. 1914
    Huerta falls; Villa and Zapata in Mexico City
  5. 1915
    Celaya
  6. 1916
    Villa raids Columbus; Pershing expedition
  7. 1917
    Constitution promulgated
  8. 1919
    Zapata assassinated
  9. 1920
    Carranza killed; Obregon president

Madero and the fall of Diaz

Diaz's Porfiriato brought railways, foreign investment and huge haciendas but no democracy. Madero, a rich reformer, ran against Diaz in 1910, was jailed, and from Texas issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi calling for revolt on 20 November. Villa and Pascual Orozco took Ciudad Juarez in May 1911; Zapata's peasants rose for land in Morelos; Diaz sailed for Paris. Madero was elected but disappointed Zapata (Plan of Ayala) and the old army.

Huerta and the Constitutionalists

In the Ten Tragic Days of February 1913 General Huerta, with the US ambassador's connivance, seized power and had Madero shot. Venustiano Carranza raised the Constitutionalist revolt in Coahuila; Villa's Division of the North won at Torreon and Zacatecas; Obregon took Guadalajara; Woodrow Wilson occupied Veracruz. Huerta fled in July 1914. The winners' Convention at Aguascalientes split: Villa and Zapata rode into Mexico City in December 1914 and were photographed in the presidential chair.

War of the winners and the constitution

Obregon's trenches and machine guns broke Villa's cavalry at Celaya in April 1915; Villa retreated to guerrilla war in Chihuahua and raided Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, drawing Pershing's fruitless punitive expedition. Carranza convened the Queretaro congress that produced the 1917 constitution, with Article 27 on land and oil and Article 123 on labour. Zapata was lured into an ambush in 1919; Carranza, resisting Obregon's candidacy, was killed fleeing in 1920. Obregon's election ended the fighting; Villa retired and was assassinated in 1923.

The Cristero War of 1926-1929 and the reforms of Cardenas in the 1930s were the revolution's aftershocks; the ruling party it produced governed until 2000.

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8 surprising things about the Mexican Revolution

  1. Zapata's slogan 'Tierra y Libertad' (Land and Liberty) and his cry 'It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees' became revolutionary anthems.
  2. Pancho Villa signed a Hollywood contract in 1914 to film his battles and reportedly staged attacks for the cameras.
  3. Villa's raid on Columbus was the last invasion of the continental United States by a foreign force.
  4. The Zimmermann Telegram of 1917 offered Mexico Texas, New Mexico and Arizona if it joined Germany, and helped bring the US into World War I.
  5. The 1917 constitution's Article 27 was the basis for Cardenas's nationalisation of oil in 1938.
  6. The photograph of Villa in the presidential chair with Zapata beside him is Mexico's most famous image of the revolution.
  7. The corrido 'La Cucaracha' became associated with Villa's troops.
  8. The revolution's ruling party, the PRI, held the presidency for 71 years, described by Vargas Llosa as 'the perfect dictatorship'.

Sources

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