The Mexican Revolution refers to a series of armed struggles that occurred from 1910 to 1917 and resulted in the creation of a new constitution under the government of Venustiano Carranza. The United States played an important role in both the cause of the revolutions and the outcome. The hardships created by the revolution also led many Mexicans to immigrate to the United States.
There were many political, economic and social causes of the revolution. Politically, widespread opposition to the 33-year dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz existed. Mexico’s rapidly industrializing economy had created severe dislocations for many Mexicans. Diaz’s government had pursued industrialization through agreement with foreign corporations, mainly from the United States and Great Britain. By 1911, for example, foreign companies owned the 80 largest commercial and industrial companies in Mexico. Companies from the United States controlled essential industries such as mining, the railroads, oil, electric power, and the telegraph. Many Mexicans believed that the foreign corporations controlled too much of their country’s economy.
The expansion of the railroad also played a key role in disenchantment with the Mexican government. As railroads infiltrated new areas, they brought industrial goods and opened up new markets for agricultural goods. This simultaneously put local producers out of business and led to an increase in agricultural production for export, both of which refocused the economic lives of millions of Mexicans from local concerns to international. These developments caused severe dislocations in rural Mexican society. Simultaneously, the new industrial workers laboring in foreign-owned factories were unhappy with their working conditions and wages. Many members of the middle class also resisted Diaz’s economic policies. Business owners disagreed with his policies favoring foreign companies. They wanted both the economic benefits that industrialization brought and the independence from foreign control of their economy. The Mexican Revolution became, therefore, a many-sided affair.
The immediate cause of the revolution was an economic depression that began in 1907. The depression destroyed many businesses, leading to unrest among the middle classes who formed one of the most powerful groups in Mexico. In response to the unrest, Diaz called for presidential elections in 1910. Reversing his earlier promise not to run for president again, he announced his candidacy and arrested his chief rival, Francisco Madero. Madero escaped police custody and fled to the United States, where he called for an armed insurrection against Diaz’s government. Mexicans in several regions immediately took up arms.
The forces seeking the overthrow of Diaz coalesced around three leaders: Madero, Francisco (Pancho) Villa, and Emiliano Zapata. All three were fighting for the overthrow of Diaz but with different goals in mind. Villa, whose support came from the industrial north, sought radical economic change to benefit industrial workers. Zapata, who was based in the agricultural south, wanted agrarian reform. Madero and his supporters came from the middle class and hoped to gain control of the economy.
Faced with insurmountable opposition to his regime, Diaz signed a treaty with Madero that called for a new election in October 1911. Madero won the election and became president. He and his military commander, General Victo-riano Huerta, quickly cracked down on their former allies in the revolution, killing and imprisoning many of Zapata and Villa’s supporters. The military crackdown led to a rebellion against the government by workers and peasants. In 1913, feeling that Madero was not doing enough to quell the violence, Huerta led a coup that ended in the president’s assassination. Huerta then assumed the presidency.
Huerta’s violent takeover led to another round of violence as different factions fought to overthrow his illegitimate presidency. Villa and Zapata now directed their forces against Huerta. A third force emerged led by Venustiano Carranza, a former governor under Diaz, who sought to protect constitutional government and democratic rights. His followers became known as the Constitutionalists.
At this point, the United States got involved. President WoODROW WiLSON enacted a financial blockade and arms
Federalists watching the advance of rebels at Ojinaga, Mexico (Library of Congress)
Embargo against Huerta’s illegitimate government. The United States also aided the anti-Huerta forces, particularly the Constitutionalists. In 1914, the United States intervened even further by invading the half of Mexico port of Veracruz to stop a shipment of arms from reaching Huerta’s forces. For a variety of reasons, U. S. intervention helped the Constitutionalists more than Zapata and Villa. Facing hostile forces from four sides, Huerta resigned on July 8, 1914. Reaching Mexico City first, Carranza and the Constitutionalists reached an agreement with Mexico’s largest labor union that gave them overwhelming numerical strength. Carranza was thus able to proclaim himself president.
The revolution then entered a third and final phase that saw conflict between the Carranza government and the forces of Zapata and Villa. With aid from the United States, the government defeated the two rebel forces. The Mexican Revolution left Mexico with a government that came to power with the aid of the United States. Thus, a revolution that began partly as an attempt to reduce the influence of U. S. corporations ended with a government that owed the United States its victory. The revolution also played a significant role in enlarging the Mexican-Ameri-can population of the United States as many Mexicans fled the inflation, violence, and social chaos of the revolution by immigrating to the United States.
See also Mexican Invasion.
Further reading: Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman, The Course of Mexican History, 3d ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
—Michael Hartman
World History
