151-659: This is a list of factions in the Mexican Revolution . Revolutionary followers of Venustiano Carranza from 1913 to 1914, and thereafter the Government army from 1914 until his death in 1920. In 1915, an insurgent group known as the Sediciosos was formed and supported by the Carrancistas. Title first used for all anti- Huerta forces in the north before the 1914 breakaway of Pancho Villa following
302-407: A "military mission" to Europe, distancing him from Mexico and potential political supporters. "The potential challenge from Reyes would remain one of Díaz's political obsessions through the rest of the decade, which ultimately blinded him to the danger of the challenge of Francisco Madero's anti-re-electionist campaign." In 1910, Francisco I. Madero , a young man from a wealthy landowning family in
453-458: A Mexican general , politician, and dictator who served on three separate occasions as President of Mexico , a total of over 30 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 December 1876, 17 February 1877 to 1 December 1880, and 1 December 1884 to 25 May 1911. The entire period from 1876 to 1911 is often referred to as the Porfiriato , and has been characterized as a de facto dictatorship . Díaz
604-576: A barracks revolt in Oaxaca City, but the Ayutla movement ultimately triumphed by August 1855, when Santa Anna resigned, subsequently fleeing the nation. Juan Álvarez was elected president in October 1855 and his administration inaugurated what would come to be known as La Reforma an unprecedented attempt to pass through progressive constitutional reforms for Mexico culminating in the promulgation of
755-414: A coup to oppose the re-election of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada , he could not run for re-election in 1880. His close ally, General Manuel González , was elected president (1880–1884). Díaz saw himself as indispensable, and after that interruption, he ran for the presidency again and served in office continuously until 1911. The constitution had been amended to allow unlimited presidential re-election. During
906-543: A group of technocrats known as científicos ("scientists"), whose economic policies benefited a circle of allies and foreign investors, helping hacendados consolidate large estates, often through violent means and legal abuse. These policies grew increasingly unpopular, resulting in civil repression and regional conflicts, as well as strikes and uprisings from labor and the peasantry, groups that did not share in Mexico's growth. Despite public statements in 1908 favoring
1057-423: A lack of popular support and began to pressure him to abdicate. French authorities considered forming an alternative Liberal government, more accommodating, and less humiliating to French interests than Juárez, and Díaz was proposed but ultimately rejected as a candidate to lead such a government due to his loyalty to Juárez. The alternative government scheme never materialized, Maximilian refused to abdicate, and
1208-402: A legal framework and began murdering political opponents while battling revolutionary forces that had united in opposition to his regime. Porfirio D%C3%ADaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori GCB ( English: / ˈ d iː ə s / DEE -əss or / ˈ d iː æ z / DEE -az , Spanish: [poɾˈfiɾjo ˈði.as] ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), was
1359-411: A major socioeconomic revolution but offered hopes of change for many disadvantaged Mexicans. The plan strongly opposed militarism in Mexico as it was constituted under Díaz, calling on Federal Army generals to resign before true democracy could prevail in Mexico. Madero realized he needed a revolutionary armed force, enticing men to join with the promise of formal rank, and encouraged Federales to join
1510-572: A million acres). Many Mexicans became landless peasants laboring on these vast estates or industrial workers toiling long hours for low wages. Foreign companies (mostly from the United Kingdom, France, and the U.S.) also exercised influence in Mexico. Díaz had legitimacy as a leader through his battlefield accomplishments. He knew that the long tradition of military intervention in politics and its resistance to civilian control would prove challenging to his remaining in power. He set about curbing
1661-431: A political machine, first working with regional strongmen and bringing them into his regime, then replacing them with jefes políticos (political bosses) who were loyal to him. He skillfully managed political conflict and reined in tendencies toward autonomy. He appointed several military officers to state governorships, including General Bernardo Reyes , who became governor of the northern state of Nuevo León , but over
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#17327726715321812-578: A powerful figure for conservative forces opposing the Madero regime. During the Orozco revolt, the governor of Chihuahua mobilized the state militia to support the Federal Army. Pancho Villa , now a colonel in the militia, was called up at this time. In mid-April, at the head of 400 irregular troops, he joined the forces commanded by Huerta. Huerta, however, viewed Villa as an ambitious competitor. During
1963-484: A powerful military union in the north and, although they were not especially committed to Madero, took Mexicali and Chihuahua City . These victories encouraged alliances with other revolutionary leaders, including Villa. Against Madero's wishes, Orozco and Villa fought for and won Ciudad Juárez, bordering El Paso , Texas, on the south side of the Rio Grande . Madero's call to action had unanticipated results, such as
2114-556: A raid upon the capital and Díaz left his congressional seat to join Ignacio Mejía and Jesús González Ortega in once more defending the city. At Xalatlaco , Díaz without waiting for orders fell upon the forces of Marquez and won a notable victory. The Conservative forces were scattered and fled into the hills. At the opening of the Second French Intervention, in which France would attempt to overthrow
2265-466: A respectable revolutionary, with the explanation that Orozco had not reached the legal age to serve as governor, a tactic that was "a useful constitutional alibi for thwarting the ambitions of young, popular, revolutionary leaders". Madero had put Orozco in charge of the large force of rurales in Chihuahua, but to a gifted revolutionary fighter who had helped bring about Díaz's fall, Madero's reward
2416-483: A return to democracy and not running again for office, Díaz reversed himself and ran in the 1910 election . Díaz, then 80 years old, failed to institutionalize presidential succession, triggering a political crisis between the científicos and the followers of General Bernardo Reyes , allied with the military and peripheral regions of Mexico. After Díaz declared himself the winner for an eighth term, his electoral opponent, wealthy estate owner Francisco I. Madero , issued
2567-547: A short period to San Antonio, Texas . Díaz was announced the winner of the election by a "landslide". On 5 October 1910, Madero issued a "letter from jail", known as the Plan de San Luis Potosí , with its main slogan Sufragio Efectivo, No Re-elección ("effective voting, no re-election"). It declared the Díaz presidency illegal and called for a revolt against him, starting on 20 November 1910. Madero's political plan did not outline
2718-680: A story told by Pancho Villa , a leader who had defeated Díaz's army and forced his resignation and exile, he told Madero at a banquet in Ciudad Juárez in 1911, "You [Madero], sir, have destroyed the revolution ... It's simple: this bunch of dandies have made a fool of you, and this will eventually cost us our necks, yours included." Ignoring the warning, Madero increasingly relied on the Federal Army as armed rebellions broke out in Mexico in 1911–12, with particularly threatening insurrections led by Emiliano Zapata in Morelos and Pascual Orozco in
2869-412: A term ending in 1920. He attempted to impose a civilian successor, prompting northern revolutionary generals to rebel. Carranza fled Mexico City and was killed. From 1920 to 1940, revolutionary generals held the office of president, each completing their terms (except from 1928-1934). This was a period when state power became more centralized, and revolutionary reform implemented, bringing the military under
3020-747: A visit to Huerta's headquarters in June 1912, after an incident in which he refused to return a number of stolen horses, Villa was imprisoned on charges of insubordination and robbery and sentenced to death. Raúl Madero, the President's brother, intervened to save Villa's life. Jailed in Mexico City, Villa escaped and fled to the United States, later to return and play a major role in the civil wars of 1913–1915. There were other rebellions, one led by Bernardo Reyes and another by Félix Díaz , nephew of
3171-569: Is unknown. 15 September is an important date in Mexican history, the eve of Miguel Hidalgo 's Grito de Dolores , which triggered the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. After Díaz became president, it would become customary to commemorate the Grito de Dolores on the eve of its anniversary. Díaz's father, José Díaz, was a Criollo (a Mexican of predominantly Spanish ancestry). José Díaz
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#17327726715323322-525: The 1910 presidential election and Díaz jailed him, Madero called for an armed uprising against Díaz in the Plan of San Luis Potosí . Rebellions broke out first in Morelos and then to a much greater extent in northern Mexico. The Federal Army could not suppress the widespread uprisings, showing the military's weakness and encouraging the rebels. Díaz resigned in May 1911 and went into exile, an interim government
3473-584: The Battle of Miahuatlán on 3 October, and then advanced upon Oaxaca City which surrendered by 1 November 1866. Most of southern Mexico except for certain areas of Yucatan were now back in the hands of the Mexican Republic. Díaz now concentrated his forces in northern Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Puebla for future operations. On 9 March 1867, Díaz began the Third Battle of Puebla , subjecting
3624-774: The Constitution of 1857 . Conservative Party resistance ended up triggering the outbreak of the Reform War in late 1857, at the same time when Díaz's old mentor, Benito Juarez became president. The Conservatives set up their rival government in opposition to Juarez and the Liberals. Díaz at this time was still in Oaxaca. He had previously accepted a commission as captain in the National Guard in December 1856. As
3775-543: The Liberal government of Mariano Arista and raised Santa Anna for what would turn out to be his final dictatorship. Many prominent Liberals were expelled from the country, including Benito Juarez who found refuge in New Orleans. Don Marcos Perez was arrested, but Díaz was able to communicate with him in prison with the help of Díaz's brother Félix. In March 1854 the Plan of Ayutla broke out against Santa Anna led by
3926-680: The Magonista rebellion of 1911 in Baja California. With the Federal Army defeated in several battles with irregular, voluntary forces, Díaz's government began negotiations with the revolutionaries in the north. In historian Edwin Lieuwen's assessment, "Victors always attribute their success to their own heroic deeds and superior fighting abilities ... In the spring of 1911, armed bands under self-appointed chiefs arose all over
4077-638: The Mexican Constitution of 1917 , drafted by this winning faction in a constitutional convention at Querétaro, was promulgated. Joint name for Villistas and Zapatistas as supporters of the Convention of Aguascalientes . Held in October–November 1914, the northern coalition that defeated Huerta in July 1914 attempted to settle the path forward following the victory. Pancho Villa dominated
4228-717: The Mexican Liberal Party ( Partido Liberal de México ) drew up a radical program of reform, specifically addressing what they considered to be the worst aspects of the Díaz regime. Most prominent in the PLM were Ricardo Flores Magón and his two brothers, Enrique and Jesús . They, along with Luis Cabrera and Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama , were connected to the anti-Díaz publication El Hijo del Ahuizote . Political cartoons by José Guadalupe Posada lampooned politicians and cultural elites with mordant humor, portraying them as skeletons. The Liberal Party of Mexico founded
4379-520: The Mexican Republic and replace it with a client monarchy, Díaz had advanced to the rank of general and was in command of an infantry brigade. He was present at the first engagement of the war when he lost three-fourths of his men after the French attacked his brigade in the state of Veracruz . He retreated and joined up with the forces of Ignacio Zaragoza to continue harassing the enemy in
4530-542: The Mexican-American War broke out, and Díaz joined an Oaxacan military battalion. He practiced drills and attended lectures on tactics and strategy at the Institute of Arts and Sciences , but he never saw combat by the time the war ended in 1848. By 1849, Díaz decided that he did not have a vocation to the priesthood and over the objections of his family decided to switch his studies to law. He gained
4681-619: The Plan of San Luis Potosí calling for armed rebellion against Díaz, leading to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution . In May 1911, after the Federal Army suffered several defeats against the forces supporting Madero, Díaz resigned in the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez and went into exile in Paris, where he died four years later. Porfirio Díaz was the sixth of seven children, baptized on 15 September 1830, in Oaxaca, Mexico , but his exact date of birth
List of factions in the Mexican Revolution - Misplaced Pages Continue
4832-517: The Porfirio era, but was merely an outgrowth of the bourgeois state-oriented revolution of Madero. Followers of Emiliano Zapata , based in Morelos state from 1911 until his death in 1919. They fought for Madero until Zapata became disillusioned with his policies, and thereafter in opposition to all Mexican governments until their leader's death in 1919. The Zapatistas fought for radical land redistribution and political autonomy, and rallied behind
4983-509: The Reform War . During the Second French Intervention in Mexico , Díaz fought in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, which temporarily repulsed the invaders, but was captured when the French besieged the city with reinforcements a year later. He escaped captivity and made his way to Oaxaca City , becoming political and military commander over all of Southern Mexico, and successfully resisting French efforts to advance upon
5134-517: The anarchist demand, ¡Tierra y Libertad! . Mexican Revolution Revolutionary victory [REDACTED] Pro-government: [REDACTED] Anti-government: Supported by: Supported by: The Mexican Revolution ( Spanish : Revolución mexicana ) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw
5285-517: The company store , binding them to the company. These strikes were ruthlessly suppressed, with factory owners receiving support from government forces. In the Cananea strike, mine owner William Cornell Greene received support from Díaz's rurales in Sonora as well as Arizona Rangers called in from across the U.S. border. This Arizona Rangers were ordered to use violence to combat labor unrest. In
5436-882: The "Gringo Revolutionary" . Followers of Pascual Orozco , also known as the Colorados ("Red Flaggers"). They fought first for Madero, 1910–11, and revolted against his government in 1912 under the Plan Orozquista, before joining the Huerta army in February 1913. Contemporary newspaper reports on the Mexican Revolution referred to Colorados as the "irregulars" of the Federal Army. Supporters of long-time Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz . The Porfiristas were generally conservative, experienced bureaucrats (popularly known as cientificos or scientists) and soldiers of
5587-428: The "true authors" of the Mexican Revolution for agitating the masses. As the 1910 election approached, Francisco I. Madero , an emerging political figure and member of one of Mexico's richest families, funded the newspaper Anti-Reelectionista , in opposition to the continual re-election of Díaz. Organized labor conducted strikes for better wages and just treatment. Demands for better labor conditions were central to
5738-447: The 1910 election. At age 80, this set the scene for a possible peaceful transition in the presidency. It set off a flurry of political activity. To the dismay of potential candidates to replace him, he reversed himself and ran again. His later reversal on retiring from the presidency set off tremendous activity among opposition groups. Díaz seems to have initially considered Finance Minister José Yves Limantour as his successor. Limantour
5889-466: The 20,000 troops commanded by Ortega. The Mexican defenders would hold out for two months from 16 March to 17 May in 1863, until they ran out of provisions. Against the advice of Díaz who suggested an offense, Ortega simply maintained a policy of defense, until the city was stormed. As street fighting broke out at the beginning of April, Díaz was in command of the most exposed quarter of the city made up of seventeen blocks, and he made his headquarters at
6040-595: The 30,000 in the army and another 30,000 in the federal auxiliaries, irregulars and National Guard. Despite their small numbers, the rurales were highly effective in controlling the countryside, especially along the 12,000 miles of railway lines. They were a mobile force, often sent on trains with their horses to put down rebellions in relatively remote areas of Mexico. The construction of railways had been transformative in Mexico (as well as elsewhere in Latin America), accelerating economic activity and increasing
6191-505: The Diaz regime. After the fall of Diaz, many Porfiristas made intrigues with Reyistas, Huertistas, and Felicistas. Supporters of long time military man and politician General Bernardo Reyes . Reyes and Reyistas participated in the plotting of the coup to overthrow Madero in La decena trágica of February 1913, in which both Madero and Reyes were killed. The Reyistas had major support from America in
List of factions in the Mexican Revolution - Misplaced Pages Continue
6342-430: The Díaz regime was authoritarian and centralizing, it was not a military dictatorship. His first presidential cabinet was staffed with military men, but over successive terms as president, important posts were held by able and loyal civilians. He did not create a personal dynasty, excluding family from the realms of power, although his nephew Félix attempted to seize power after the fall of the regime in 1911. Díaz created
6493-682: The Díaz regime, such as Ricardo Flores Magón and Práxedis Guerrero, went into exile in the relative safety of the United States, but cooperation between the U.S. government and Díaz's agents resulted in the arrest of some radicals. Díaz had ruled continuously since 1884. The question of presidential succession was an issue as early as 1900 when he turned 70. Díaz re-established the office of vice president in 1906, choosing Ramón Corral . Rather than managing political succession, Díaz marginalized Corral, keeping him away from decision-making. Díaz publicly announced in an interview with journalist James Creelman for Pearson's Magazine that he would not run in
6644-486: The Federal Army and the Huerta regime fell. Like Porfirio Díaz, Huerta went into exile. The Federal Army was disbanded, leaving only revolutionary military forces. Upon taking power, Huerta had moved swiftly to consolidate his hold in the North, having learned the lesson from Díaz's fall that the north was a crucial region to hold. Within a month of the coup, rebellions began to spread throughout Mexico, most prominently led by
6795-642: The Federal Army eagerly responded to the call, most prominently Pancho Villa. Alvaro Obregón of Sonora, a successful rancher and businessman who had not participated in the Madero revolution, now joined the revolutionary forces in the north, the Constitutionalist Army under the Primer Jefe ("First Chief") Venustiano Carranza. Huerta had Governor González arrested and murdered, for fear he would foment rebellion. When northern General Pancho Villa became governor of Chihuahua in 1914, following
6946-587: The Federal Army's weakness and inability to suppress them. Madero's vague promises of land reform attracted many peasants throughout the country. Spontaneous rebellions arose in which ordinary farm laborers, miners and other working-class Mexicans, along with much of the country's population of indigenous peoples, fought Díaz's forces with some success. Madero attracted the forces of rebel leaders such as Pascual Orozco , Pancho Villa , Emiliano Zapata , and Venustiano Carranza . A young and able revolutionary, Orozco—along with Chihuahua Governor Abraham González —formed
7097-717: The French Intervention, Forey who had once fought against Díaz at Puebla, criticized Bazaine for not having had Díaz shot immediately upon capturing him. Throughout late 1865, as the French were still unable to secure the entire country, Napoleon III was led to the conclusion that France had gotten involved in a military quagmire. At the opening of the French Chambers in January 1866, he announced his intention of withdrawing French troops from Mexico. The French considered Emperor Maximilian to be doomed due to
7248-506: The French administration and the military of the conquered Mexican territories fell upon Marshal Bazaine , already present with the expedition, who officially assumed his post on 1 October 1862. By October 1863 Díaz was placed in charge of the Eastern division of the Mexican military with command over 3000 men. General Díaz proceeded to sweep through the states of Queretaro , Michoacan , and Mexico , into Guerrero , proceeding to capture
7399-467: The French as a means of receiving the military aid that would return them to power. Díaz would once again have to fight many of the men he once faced in the Reform War such as Leonardo Márquez and the ex-Conservative president Miguel Miramon . Eventually, Porfirio Díaz as well would be personally asked to join the French, an offer which he would refuse. The French loss at the Battle of Puebla delayed
7550-404: The French in the 1860s. Some 9,000 officers commanded the 25,000 rank-and-file on the books, with some 7,000 padding the rosters and nonexistent so that officers could receive the subsidies for the numbers they commanded. Officers used their positions for personal enrichment through salary and opportunities for graft. Although Mexicans had enthusiastically volunteered in the war against the French ,
7701-527: The French left him in Mexico to his fate, the last French troops departing by March 1867. When Díaz returned to Oaxaca in late 1865, he found his army of the South dispersed, and enemy forces controlling the Oaxacan coast along with Tehuantepec . By Spring, 1866, Díaz had gained some victories, aided by local uprisings. He began to focus on cutting off communications between Oaxaca City and Veracruz Díaz won
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#17327726715327852-466: The French march into the interior of Mexico by a year while Lorencez awaited reinforcements from France. Meanwhile, Díaz had been made military governor of the Veracruz district. Soon after the Battle of Puebla, General Zaragoza died of typhus and was replaced in his command by Jesús González Ortega . A second French siege of Puebla was this time led by Élie Frédéric Forey with 26,000 men, against
8003-556: The French were repulsed by attacks of Mexican cavalry and infantry. During the battle, Díaz was not present at the hill but rather on the plains to the right of the Mexican front, where he repulsed another French attack. General Díaz pursued the French on their retreat to the Hacienda San Jose Renteria until recalled by Zaragoza. The French attributed their defeat at Puebla to a lack of Conservative Party support. The Mexican monarchist expatriates who had given
8154-510: The Interim President, said of him that "De la Barra wants to accommodate himself with dignity to the inevitable advance of the ex-revolutionary influence, while accelerating the widespread collapse of the Madero party." The Federal Army, despite its numerous defeats by the revolutionaries, remained intact as the government's force. Madero called on revolutionary fighters to lay down their arms and demobilize, which Emiliano Zapata and
8305-533: The Liberal caudillo Juan Álvarez . After openly expressing support for Álvarez, Díaz was forced to flee Oaxaca City and joined up with the Liberal partisan, Francisco Herrera. Authorities managed to attack and disperse Herrera's troops, and Díaz once more had to flee, but the Ayutla movement was increasingly growing in strength. When the Liberals captured Oaxaca City, Díaz was made subprefect of Ixtlan . As sub-prefect Díaz helped in an ill-fated effort to put down
8456-576: The Liberal Party program, drawn up in 1905. Mexican copper miners in the northern state of Sonora took action in the 1906 Cananea strike . Starting June 1, 1906, 5,400 miners began organizing labor strikes. Among other grievances, they were paid less than U.S. nationals working in the mines. In the state of Veracruz, textile workers rioted in January 1907 at the huge Río Blanco factory, the world's largest, protesting against unfair labor practices. They were paid in credit that could be used only at
8607-549: The Madero era, including El País and La Nación , only to be later suppressed under the Victoriano Huerta regime (1913–1914). Under Díaz relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Mexican government were stable, with the anticlerical laws of the Mexican Constitution of 1857 remaining in place, but not enforced, so conflict was muted. During Madero's presidency, Church-state conflict
8758-414: The Madero regime, "Madero clearly welcomed the emergence of a kind of two-party system (Catholic and liberal); he encouraged Catholic political involvement, echoing the exhortations of the episcopate." What was emerging during the Madero regime was "Díaz's old policy of Church-state detente was being continued, perhaps more rapidly and on surer foundations." The Catholic Church in Mexico was working within
8909-420: The Mexico City revolt as interim commander. He did not know that Huerta had been invited to join the conspiracy, but had initially held back. During the fighting that took place in the capital, the civilian population was subjected to artillery exchanges, street fighting and economic disruption, perhaps deliberately caused by the coupists to demonstrate that Madero was unable to keep order. The Madero presidency
9060-682: The Porfiriato, there were regular elections, widely considered sham exercises, marked by contentious irregularities. In his early years in the presidency, Díaz consolidated power by playing opposing factions against each other and by expanding the Rurales , an armed police militia directly under his control that seized land from local peasants. Peasants were forced to make futile attempts to win back their land through courts and petitions. By 1900, over ninety percent of Mexico's communal lands were sold, with an estimated 9.5 million peasants forced into
9211-679: The Reform War broke out, he maintained his command in Ixtlan, until the Conservative General Marcelino Cobos defeated the Liberal forces in Oaxaca in January 1858 Díaz was shot in the leg and would not recover for four months. Díaz rejoined the war and was present when Cobos was defeated in Xalapa in February 1858. Diaz was subsequently named Governor and Military Commandant of the district of Tehuantepec . He
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#17327726715329362-622: The World Worker) was founded in September 1912 by Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama , Manuel Sarabia, and Lázaro Gutiérrez de Lara and served as a center of agitation and propaganda, but it was not a formal labor union. Political parties proliferated. One of the most important was the National Catholic Party, which in several regions of the country was particularly strong. Several Catholic newspapers were in circulation during
9513-432: The alternatives often rebelled and were crushed. It took him some 15 years to accomplish the transformation, reducing the army by 500 officers and 25 generals, creating an army subordinate to central power. He also created the military academy to train officers, but their training aimed to repel foreign invasions. Díaz expanded the rural police force, the rurales as an elite guard, including many former bandits , under
9664-482: The amount of productive land; labor reforms including workman's compensation and the eight-hour day; but also defended the right of the government to intervene in strikes. According to historian Peter V. N. Henderson, De la Barra's and congress's actions "suggests that few Porfirians wished to return to the status quo of the dictatorship. Rather, the thoughtful, progressive members of the Porfirian meritocracy recognized
9815-494: The anti-Díaz anarchist newspaper Regeneración , which appeared in both Spanish and English. In exile in the United States, Práxedis Guerrero began publishing an anti-Díaz newspaper, Alba Roja ("Red Dawn"), in San Francisco, California. Although leftist groups were small, they became influential through their publications, articulating their opposition to the Díaz regime. Francisco Bulnes described these men as
9966-437: The army intact as an institution, using it to put down domestic rebellions against his regime. Huerta was a professional soldier and continued to serve in the army under the new commander-in-chief. Huerta's loyalty lay with General Bernardo Reyes rather than with the civilian Madero. In 1912, under pressure from his cabinet, Madero called on Huerta to suppress Orozco's rebellion. With Huerta's success against Orozco, he emerged as
10117-423: The army of former ally Francisco "Pancho" Villa by the summer of 1915. Carranza consolidated power and a new constitution was promulgated in February 1917. The Mexican Constitution of 1917 established universal male suffrage , promoted secularism , workers' rights , economic nationalism , and land reform , and enhanced the power of the federal government. Carranza became President of Mexico in 1917, serving
10268-508: The capital he did not attack, and a seventy-day standoff ensued. Meanwhile, the Siege of Querétaro against Emperor Maximilian's headquarters was ongoing and ultimately ended by May 14 in a Liberal victory. Even after Maximilian had been captured, Leonardo Márquez was stalling for time at Mexico City, but hope for the imperialists was running out. Márquez' officer General O’Horan went to meet Díaz without authorization and offered to surrender
10419-482: The city Díaz ordered his military bakers to begin supplying the city's starving population with food. He placed the city under martial law to prevent looting but also began a house-by-house search for any remaining imperialist officers. Márquez would never be found and he successfully escaped the country to find refuge in Cuba. Díaz declared himself a candidate for presidential elections scheduled for August 1867 Meanwhile, President Juarez proposed certain amendments to
10570-495: The city and by April 25, Forey was contemplating suspending military operations until larger siege guns could arrive. Despite the ongoing stalemate, the French were reassured by the knowledge that the Mexicans were running out of food and supplies. Díaz, among other officers, managed to escape before even arriving in Veracruz. Díaz then headed for Mexico City to report to President Benito Juárez . The president prepared to depart Mexico City and commissioned Díaz to raise troops for
10721-403: The city to an attack much like the one he had once defended it from, taking the city by 2 April. Díaz spared the troops, but ordered the execution of the officers, taunting them by saying that “even though they had not lived like men, they could die like men”. All that remained of the Empire were Querétaro City , where Maximilian and his leading generals were present, Mexico City, and Veracruz,
10872-418: The city, warning Díaz that Márquez was about the escape, but Díaz rejected the offer. On 20 June, the day after Maximilian had been executed, Díaz ordered a barrage of artillery against the positions of the enemy, and his observers suddenly began to notice white flags of surrender. The remaining imperialist officers were arrested and it was discovered that Márquez had disappeared the day before. Upon occupying
11023-575: The civilian government's control. The Revolution was a decade-long civil war, with new political leadership that gained power and legitimacy through their participation in revolutionary conflicts. The political party those leaders founded in 1929, which would become the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), ruled Mexico until the presidential election of 2000 . When the Revolution ended, is not well defined, and even
11174-419: The command of Díaz managed in the Battle of San Juan Bautista to back the capital of Tabasco , in February 1864. Díaz's hold was consolidated enough that he began making excursions into Veracruz, and Minatitlán was taken by 28 March 1864. Meanwhile, French control over central Mexico was rapidly expanding, and by March 1864 President Juárez had fled to Monterrey . Even as the northern military situation
11325-413: The conservative winner of the 2000 election, Vicente Fox , contended his election was heir to the 1910 democratic election of Francisco Madero, thereby claiming the heritage and legitimacy of the Revolution. Liberal general and war veteran Porfirio Díaz came to the presidency of Mexico in 1876 and remained almost continuously in office until 1911 in an era now called Porfiriato . Coming to power after
11476-412: The constitution, and opponents of them began to coalesce around Diaz's campaign. Juárez subsequently won the presidential election and began a new term scheduled to end on 30 November 1871. Juárez controversially once more declared his candidacy for the 1871 elections which he won again against Díaz. Supporters of Díaz accused the government of engaging in election fraud, refused to recognize Juárez as
11627-402: The convention, but Alvaro Obregón also played a role. Villa had split from Carranza following Huerta's defeat, while Obregón remained loyal to First Chief Venustiano Carranza . Those supporting Villa marginalized Carranza's role. Emiliano Zapata and Villa pledged support for each other's armies, but it was in principle only, not in practice. Eulalio Gutiérrez was elected president of Mexico by
11778-589: The convention. Carranza and Obregón retreated to Veracruz. The Conventionists briefly held practically all Mexican territory, but the central authority was weak and could not hold the advantage against the smaller Constitutionalist faction. Obregón decisively defeated Villa in a series of battles the summer of 1915, ending the Conventionists as a force. Term used for all Government troops from Mexican independence in 1821 to 1914, but usually associated particularly with Victoriano Huerta 's Federal Army . (Huerta
11929-557: The counter-revolutionary regime of Huerta, the Constitutionalist Army led by the Governor of Coahuila Venustiano Carranza , entered the conflict. Zapata's forces continued their armed rebellion in Morelos. Huerta's regime lasted from February 1913 to July 1914, and the Federal Army was defeated by revolutionary armies. The revolutionary armies then fought each other, with the Constitutionalist faction under Carranza defeating
12080-406: The defeat of Victoriano Huerta . Venustiano Carranza, the "First Chief" of the Revolution, attracted talented generals to his faction, most especially Álvaro Obregón . Obregón defeated Villa's División del Norte in the Battle of Celaya , ending Villa as a national force. The Constitutionalists were eventually the victorious faction of the Revolution, with Carranza becoming president of Mexico and
12231-434: The defeat of Huerta, he located González's bones and had them reburied with full honors. In Morelos, Emiliano Zapata continued his rebellion under the Plan of Ayala (while expunging the name of counter-revolutionary Pascual Orozco from it), calling for the expropriation of land and redistribution to peasants. Huerta offered peace to Zapata, who rejected it. The Huerta government was thus challenged by revolutionary forces in
12382-699: The defense of the city. It was such an important republican stronghold, that Bazaine himself assumed command of the operation in person. By February 1865, the French had surrounded the city with siege materials and 7000 troops. An assault was scheduled for 9 February. Due to mass desertions which left him outnumbered ten to one, Díaz chose not to fight, instead surrendering unconditionally. Díaz and his officers were taken prisoner and sent to Puebla . After being kept seven months in Puebla, Díaz managed to escape from French confinement yet again and returned to Oaxaca. When news of this reached Paris, former commander of
12533-463: The demands of the Plan de Ayala and in rebellion against every central government up until his assassination by an agent of President Venustiano Carranza in 1919. The northern revolutionary General Pascual Orozco , a leader in taking Ciudad Juárez, had expected to become governor of Chihuahua. In 1911, although Orozco was "the man of the hour", Madero gave the governorship instead to Abraham González ,
12684-401: The destruction of the Federal Army , its replacement by a revolutionary army , and the transformation of Mexican culture and government . The northern Constitutionalist faction prevailed on the battlefield and drafted the present-day Constitution of Mexico , which aimed to create a strong central government. Revolutionary generals held power from 1920 to 1940. The revolutionary conflict
12835-430: The direct control of the president. With these forces, Díaz attempted to appease the Mexican countryside, led by a stable government that was nominally civilian, and the conditions to develop the country economically with the infusion of foreign investments. During Díaz's long tenure in office, the Federal Army became overstaffed and top-heavy with officers, many of them elderly who last saw active military service against
12986-457: The domestic production of wheat, corn and livestock that peasants had lived on. Wealth, political power and access to education were concentrated among a handful of elite landholding families mainly of European and mixed descent. These hacendados controlled vast swaths of the country through their huge estates (for example, the Terrazas had one estate in Sonora that alone comprised more than
13137-455: The effort. His command over the forces of Oaxaca was passed down to Cristóbal Salinas. Díaz's old mentor Marcos Perez fell into a quarrel with Salinas over his strategy, and Díaz failed to mediate. Juarez replaced Salinas with Vicente Rosas Landa, but the Liberals in Oaxaca were defeated at the hands of Cobos in November 1859. Díaz and Salinas found refuge in the mountains of Ixtlan. While
13288-447: The elderly Liberal caudillo, and former president of Mexico, Juan Álvarez . By the end of the year, the French were making scouting expeditions and building roads to make further attempts south. Finally, in early 1865, a French expedition against Díaz's base of operations in Oaxaca City set out under General Courtois d’Hurbal by way of Yanhuitlan . Díaz evacuated Oaxaca City and began to build barricades while commanding 6000 troops for
13439-410: The essential structure of the Díaz regime, including the Federal Army, was kept in place. Madero fervently held to his position that Mexico needed real democracy, which included regime change by free elections, a free press, and the right of labor to organize and strike. The rebels who brought him to power were demobilized and Madero called on these men of action to return to civilian life. According to
13590-445: The experience or the ideological inclination to reward men who had helped bring him to power. Some revolutionary leaders expected personal rewards, such as Pascual Orozco of Chihuahua. Others wanted major reforms, most especially Emiliano Zapata and Andrés Molina Enríquez , who had long worked for land reform . Madero met personally with Zapata, telling the guerrilla leader that the agrarian question needed careful study. His meaning
13741-539: The firm of Washington lawyer Sherburne Hopkins , the "world's best rigger of Latin-American revolutions", to encourage support in the U.S. A strategy to discredit Díaz with U.S. business and the U.S. government achieved some success, with Standard Oil representatives engaging in talks with Gustavo Madero. More importantly, the U.S. government "bent neutrality laws for the revolutionaries". In late 1910, revolutionary movements arose in response to Madero's Plan de San Luis Potosí . Still, their ultimate success resulted from
13892-557: The former president, that were quickly put down and the generals jailed. They were both in Mexico City prisons and, despite their geographical separation, they were able to foment yet another rebellion in February 1913. This period came to be known as the Ten Tragic Days ( La Decena Trágica ), which ended with Madero's resignation and assassination and Huerta assuming the presidency. Although Madero had reason to distrust Victoriano Huerta, Madero placed him in charge of suppressing
14043-1160: The forms of arms and ammunition supplied by the El Paso Reyista Junta, headed by a Rafael Limón Molina. Followers of Francisco "Pancho" Villa , mainly serving in the División del Norte (Northern Division). Formed part of the Maderista forces, and later fought in opposition to the Huerta and Carranza governments, the Villistas later formed a spatially isolated alliance with the Zapatistas, who remained in Morelos. Villa's men were mostly made up of vaquero and charro caudillos , rancheros , shopkeepers , miners , migrant farm workers , unemployed workers , railway workers , and Maderista bureaucrats , who seized haciendas and fought for an undefined socialism . Adolfo Gilly wrote that Villismo, though fighting for land redistribution and justice, did not challenge capitalist relations as previously set down during
14194-509: The fortune of the Liberals appeared to be at a low ebb at Oaxaca, the Conservatives as a whole at this point, were losing the war throughout the entire country, rapidly being drained of funds and resources. This helped Díaz and Salinas take back Oaxaca City by August 1860. Díaz was promoted to colonel and transferred from the National Guard to the regular army. He was present at the decisive Battle of Calpulalpan , which decisively ended
14345-412: The friendship of Don Marcos Pérez and Indigenous judge and professor of law at the Institute of Arts and Sciences through which Díaz also came to know his future colleague and president of Mexico, Benito Juárez who was at that time Governor of Oaxaca. Díaz passed his first examination in civil and canon law in 1853, at the age of 23. In that same year however, a Conservative Party coup overthrew
14496-481: The governor of the state of Coahuila, Venustiano Carranza , along with Pablo González . Huerta expected state governors to fall into line with the new government. But Carranza and Abraham González , Governor of Chihuahua did not. Carranza issued the Plan of Guadalupe , a strictly political plan to reject the legitimacy of the Huerta government, and called on revolutionaries to take up arms. Revolutionaries who had brought Madero to power only to be dismissed in favor of
14647-437: The idea of a Mexican monarchy to Napoleon III had also been working independently of any Mexican authority or political party. When the French invaders arrived in Mexico they found the Conservatives reluctant to help the French in establishing a monarchy and proclaiming their loyalty to the type of centralist republic they had once established in Mexico. However, the Conservatives were increasingly won over to collaborate with
14798-625: The latter two which had, through Díaz’ capture of Puebla, been cut off from communications with each other. Leonardo Márquez had been sent from Queretaro to relieve the siege of Puebla, but he was too late. Díaz pursued Márquez and a skirmish ensued on 8 April, but Márquez got away and made it back to Mexico City Díaz now focused on taking back Mexico City and succeeded in seizing Chapultepec Castle , Maximilian's former residence, from its remaining imperial defenders, subsequently making it his headquarters. Díaz now had Mexico City surrounded with 28,000 troops yet being concerned with preventing damage to
14949-479: The legitimate president, and prepared to take up arms. The subsequent insurrection would come to be known as the Plan de la Noria from the eponymous Oaxacan town in which the revolution was proclaimed on 8 November 1871. Supporting revolts flared up across the country, but Juárez sustained himself against them until dying in office on 18 July 1872, the presidency passing on to the legal successor Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada . President Lerdo offered an amnesty to
15100-623: The memory of Madero, who was martyred during the February 1913 Ten Tragic Days . The military wing of the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) under the leadership of the Flores-Magon brothers , who organised abortive local uprisings against Diaz in 1906 and 1908, and fomented further revolts after 1911, particularly in Baja California . A force of Magonistas was led by the Welsh soldier of fortune General Carol Ap Rhys Pryce ,
15251-514: The military district of Queretaro . After capturing Mexico City in June 1863, Dubois de Saligny, Napoleon's representative, appointed the members of a Mexican puppet government tasked with ratifying French intentions of establishing a monarchy. On 8 July 1863, this so-called Assembly of Notables resolved to change the nation into a monarchy, inviting Napoleon's candidate, Maximilian of Habsburg , to become Emperor of Mexico. In August, Forey and Saligny were recalled to France, and command over
15402-703: The months of the Interim Presidency and left in place the Federal Army. Madero had drawn some loyal and militarily adept supporters who brought down the Díaz regime by force of arms. Madero himself was not a natural soldier, and his decision to dismiss the revolutionary forces that brought him to power isolated him politically. He was an inexperienced politician, who had never held office before. He firmly held to democratic ideals, which many consider evidence of naivete. His election as president in October 1911 raised high expectations among many Mexicans for positive change. The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez guaranteed that
15553-511: The need for change." De la Barra's government sent General Victoriano Huerta to fight in Morelos against the Zapatistas, burning villages and wreaking havoc. His actions drove a wedge between Zapata and Madero, which widened when Madero was inaugurated as president. Zapata remained in arms continuously until his assassination in 1919. Madero won the 1911 election decisively and was inaugurated as president in November 1911, but his movement had lost crucial momentum and revolutionary supporters in
15704-480: The new democratic system promoted by Madero, but it had its interests to promote, some of which were the forces of the old conservative Church, while the new, progressive Church supporting social Catholicism of the 1891 papal encyclical Rerum Novarum was also a current. When Madero was overthrown in February 1913 by counter-revolutionaries, the conservative wing of the Church supported the coup. Madero did not have
15855-401: The north of Mexico and the strategic state of Morelos, just south of the capital. Huerta's presidency is usually characterized as a dictatorship. From the point of view of revolutionaries at the time and the construction of historical memory of the Revolution, it is without any positive aspects. "Despite recent attempts to portray Victoriano Huerta as a reformer, there is little question that he
16006-570: The north. Both Zapata and Orozco had led revolts that had put pressure on Díaz to resign, and both felt betrayed by Madero once he became president. The press embraced its newfound freedom and Madero became a target of its criticism. Organized labor, which had been suppressed under Díaz, could and did stage strikes, which foreign entrepreneurs saw as threatening their interests. Although there had been labor unrest under Díaz, labor's new freedom to organize also came with anti-American currents. The anarcho-syndicalist Casa del Obrero Mundial (House of
16157-478: The northern state of Coahuila , announced his intent to challenge Díaz for the presidency in the next election , under the banner of the Anti-Reelectionist Party. Madero chose as his running mate Francisco Vázquez Gómez , a physician who had opposed Díaz. Madero campaigned vigorously and effectively. To ensure Madero did not win, Díaz had him jailed before the election. He escaped and fled for
16308-476: The power of the Mexican state. The isolation from the central government that many remote areas had enjoyed or suffered was ending. Telegraph lines constructed next to the railroad tracks meant instant communication between distant states and the capital. The political acumen and flexibility Díaz exhibited in his early years in office began to decline after 1900. He brought the state governors under his control, replacing them at will. The Federal Army, while large,
16459-539: The power of the military, reining in provincial military chieftains, and making them subordinate to the central government. He contended with a whole new group of generals who had fought for the liberal cause and who expected rewards for their services. He systematically dealt with them, providing some rivals with opportunities to enrich themselves, ensuring the loyalty of others with high salaries, and others were bought off by rewards of landed estates and redirecting their political ambitions. Military rivals who did not accept
16610-499: The power structure of the old regime remained firmly in place. Francisco León de la Barra became interim president, pending an election to be held in October 1911. Madero considered De la Barra an acceptable figure for the interim presidency since he was not a Científico or politician, but rather a Catholic lawyer and diplomat. He appeared to be a moderate, but the German ambassador to Mexico, Paul von Hintze , who associated with
16761-454: The presidency along with his vice president, Ramón Corral, by the end of May 1911 to be replaced by an interim president, Francisco León de la Barra , until elections were held. Díaz and his family and a number of top supporters were allowed to go into exile. When Díaz left for exile in Paris, he was reported as saying, "Madero has unleashed a tiger; let us see if he can control it." With Díaz in exile and new elections to be called in October,
16912-552: The principle of no re-election. Díaz succeeded in seizing power, ousting Lerdo in a coup in 1876 , with the help of his political supporters, and was elected in 1877 . In 1880, he stepped down and his political ally Manuel González was elected president, serving from 1880 to 1884. In 1884, Díaz abandoned the idea of no re-election and held office continuously until 1911. A controversial figure in Mexican history, Díaz's regime ended political instability and achieved growth after decades of economic stagnation. He and his allies comprised
17063-402: The ranks were now filled by draftees . There was a vast gulf between officers and the lower ranks. "The officer corps epitomized everything the masses resented about the Díaz system." With multiple rebellions breaking out in the wake of the fraudulent 1910 election, the military was unable to suppress them, revealing the regime's weakness and leading to Díaz's resignation in May 1911. Although
17214-428: The reactionary conservative National Reorganizer Army in ineffective revolts late in the Revolution. Supporters of Victoriano Huerta , dictator of Mexico from February 1913 to July 1914. Name given to various revolutionary armies fighting under the umbrella leadership of Francisco I. Madero in 1910–11, during the first part of the war. Maderistas in the postrevolutionary phase of Mexican history sought to keep alive
17365-530: The rebels in July 1872, an offer which many commanders subsequently took. Díaz himself refused it, and on 1 August, sent a letter to the president urging a modification of the amnesty terms and urging an extension for upcoming presidential elections in October ostensibly to allow rebellious regions to fully participate. The president was unyielding but so was Díaz, who urged Lerdo, in a later communication to also initiate constitutional reforms to prohibit presidential reelection. As more rebel commanders yielded and
17516-519: The rebels under Félix Díaz (Bernardo Reyes having been killed on the first day of the open armed conflict). U.S. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson , who had done all he could to undermine U.S. confidence in Madero's presidency, brokered the Pact of the Embassy , which formalized the alliance between Félix Díaz and Huerta, with the backing of the United States. Huerta was to become provisional president following
17667-713: The region, until Oaxaca City fell before a French siege in 1865. Díaz once more escaped captivity seven months later and rejoined the army of the Mexican Republic as the Second Mexican Empire disintegrated in the wake of the French departure. As Emperor Maximilian made a last stand in Querétaro , Díaz was in command of the forces that took back Mexico City in June 1867. During the era of the Restored Republic , he subsequently revolted against presidents Benito Juárez and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada on
17818-454: The regions under the greatest stress were not the ones that rebelled. Díaz effectively suppressed strikes, rebellions, and political opposition until the early 1900s. Mexicans began to organize in opposition to Díaz, who had welcomed foreign capital and capitalists, suppressed nascent labor unions, and consistently moved against peasants as agriculture flourished. In 1905 the group of Mexican intellectuals and political agitators who had created
17969-470: The republic, drove Díaz officials from the vicinity, seized money and stamps, and staked out spheres of local authority. Towns, cities, and the countryside passed into the hands of the Maderistas." Díaz sued for peace with Madero, who himself did not want a prolonged and bloody conflict. The result was the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez , signed on 21 May 1911. The signed treaty stated that Díaz would abdicate
18120-415: The resignations of Madero and his vice president, José María Pino Suárez. Rather than being sent into exile with their families, the two were murdered while being transported to prison—a shocking event, but one that did not prevent the Huerta regime's recognition by most world governments, with the notable exception of the U.S. Historian Friedrich Katz considers Madero's retention of the Federal Army, which
18271-529: The revolutionaries in Morelos refused to do. The cabinet of De la Barra and the Mexican congress was filled with supporters of the Díaz regime. Madero campaigned vigorously for the presidency during this interim period, but revolutionaries who had supported him and brought about Díaz's resignation were dismayed that the sweeping reforms they sought were not immediately instituted. He did introduce some progressive reforms, including improved funding for rural schools; promoting some aspects of agrarian reform to increase
18422-416: The revolutionary fighters who had helped bring him to power. In the aftermath of his assassination and Huerta's seizure of power via a military coup, former revolutionaries had no formal organization through which to raise opposition to Huerta. Madero's "martyrdom accomplished what he was unable to do while alive: unite all the revolutionists under one banner." Within 16 months, revolutionary armies defeated
18573-424: The revolutionary forces with the promise of promotion. Madero's plan was aimed at fomenting a popular uprising against Díaz, but he also understood that the support of the United States and U.S. financiers would be of crucial importance in undermining the regime. The rich and powerful Madero family drew on its resources to make regime change possible, with Madero's brother Gustavo A. Madero hiring, in October 1910,
18724-435: The rich silver-bearing town of Taxco on 29 October. Díaz then proceeded south toward Oaxaca recruiting more men on the way until his forces had swelled to 8000 troops. The state of Oaxaca would be his main base of operations for the rest of the war. Porfirio Díaz was now not only the military but also the political commander over all unoccupied territories south of Veracruz. As the French made encroachments, forces under
18875-552: The service of wealthy landowners or hacendados . Diaz rigged elections, arguing that only he knew what was best for his country, and he enforced his belief with a strong hand. "Order and Progress" were the watchwords of his rule. Díaz's presidency was characterized by the promotion of industry and the development of infrastructure by opening the country to foreign investment. Díaz suppressed opposition and promoted stability to reassure foreign investors. Farmers and peasants both complained of oppression and exploitation. The situation
19026-550: The state of Veracruz, the Mexican army gunned down Rio Blanco textile workers and put the bodies on train cars that transported them to Veracruz, "where the bodies were dumped in the harbor as food for sharks". Since the press was censored in Mexico under Díaz, little was published that was critical of the regime. Newspapers barely reported on the Rio Blanco textile strike, the Cananea strike or harsh labor practices on plantations in Oaxaca and Yucatán. Leftist Mexican opponents of
19177-413: The strongest point of the district which was a large building known as the meson de San Marcos . As Díaz planned his defenses, the French advanced with artillery and cannonballs began to crash through the building. As French zouaves poured through the breaches, they were repulsed every time, and by the evening Díaz had regained complete control over his headquarters. Similar scenes occurred throughout
19328-497: The supporters of the old [Díaz] regime are the main causes of the unsettling situation in which the government that emerged from the revolution finds itself ... The regime appears relentlessly bent on suicide." Huerta, formally in charge of the defense of Madero's regime, allowed the rebels to hold the armory in Mexico City—the Ciudadela—while he consolidated his political power. He changed allegiance from Madero to
19479-438: The vicinity of Orizaba . Díaz and Zaragoza were forced to retreat before ending up in the city of Puebla by 3 May. On the morning of 5 May, Díaz was in command of the Oaxaca battalion , guarding one of the roads leading into Puebla. Commander of the French forces, Charles de Lorencez ordered his troops to ascend a hill overlooking the town for a direct attack upon the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. The ascent failed, and
19630-531: The villagers' land and water rights. With the expansion of Mexican agriculture, landless peasants were forced to work for low wages or move to the cities. Peasant agriculture was under pressure as haciendas expanded, such as in the state of Morelos , just south of Mexico City, with its burgeoning sugar plantations. There was what one scholar has called "agrarian compression", in which "population growth intersected with land loss , declining wages and insecure tenancies to produce widespread economic deterioration", but
19781-505: The war in favor of the Liberals. The victorious President Juarez reentered the capital in January 1861. Díaz also joined the national congress as a deputy from Ocotlan . The Conservative government had ceased to operate and its president, Miguel Miramon had fled the nation, but Conservative guerillas were still active in the countryside. In June 1861, the Conservative General Leonardo Márquez made
19932-416: The years military men were largely replaced by civilians loyal to Díaz. As a military man himself, and one who had intervened directly in politics to seize the presidency in 1876, Díaz was acutely aware that the Federal Army could oppose him. He augmented the rurales , a police force created by Benito Juárez , making them his private armed force. The rurales were only 2,500 in number, as opposed to
20083-603: Was a key member of the Científicos , the circle of technocratic advisers steeped in positivist political science. Another potential successor was General Bernardo Reyes , Díaz's Minister of War, who also served as governor of Nuevo León. Reyes, an opponent of the Científicos, was a moderate reformer with a considerable base of support. Díaz became concerned about him as a rival and forced him to resign from his cabinet. He attempted to marginalize Reyes by sending him on
20234-456: Was a self-serving dictator." There are few biographies of Huerta, but one strongly asserts that Huerta should not be labeled simply as a counter-revolutionary, arguing that his regime consisted of two distinct periods: from the coup in February 1913 up to October 1913. During that time he attempted to legitimize his regime and demonstrate its legality by pursuing reformist policies; and after October 1913, when he dropped all attempts to rule within
20385-470: Was an illiterate dependiente , or workman employed by a firm of merchants. In 1808, he had married Patrona Mori, whose mother was Mixtec , and whose father could trace his ancestry from Asturias . Eventually, Jose de la Cruz had saved enough to start planting agave , and he opened a wayside inn in Oaxaca City to sell the products of his business. Jose de la Cruz died in 1833 of cholera when Díaz
20536-543: Was born to a Oaxacan family of modest means. He initially studied to become a priest but eventually switched his studies to law, and among his mentors was the future President of Mexico, Benito Juárez . Díaz increasingly became active in Liberal Party politics fighting with the Liberals to overthrow Santa Anna in the Plan of Ayutla , and also fighting on their side against the Conservative Party in
20687-545: Was channeled peacefully. The National Catholic Party became an important political opposition force during the Madero presidency. In the June 1912 congressional elections, "militarily quiescent states ... the Catholic Party (PCN) did conspicuously well." During that period, the Catholic Association of Mexican Youth (ACJM) was founded. Although the National Catholic Party was an opposition party to
20838-438: Was clear: Madero, a member of a rich northern hacendado family, was not about to implement comprehensive agrarian reform for aggrieved peasants. In response to this lack of action, Zapata promulgated the Plan de Ayala in November 1911, declaring himself in rebellion against Madero. He renewed guerrilla warfare in the state of Morelos . Madero sent the Federal Army to deal with Zapata, unsuccessfully. Zapata remained true to
20989-431: Was defeated by the revolutionary forces and resulted in Díaz's resignation, "was the basic cause of his fall". His failure is also attributable to "the failure of the social class to which he belonged and whose interests he considered to be identical to those of Mexico: the liberal hacendados" (owners of large estates). Madero had created no political organization that could survive his death and had alienated and demobilized
21140-411: Was dire, Díaz still maintained a solid hold over Guerrero , Oaxaca , Tabasco , and Chiapas . Meanwhile, Emperor Maximilian and his wife Charlotte, now Empress of Mexico finally arrived in Mexico City on 12 June 1864. By December 1864, forces under Díaz had taken back the port of Acapulco . The French still struggled to make any inroads south against the forces commanded by Díaz and his lieutenant,
21291-406: Was fragile, and further regional rebellions broke out. In February 1913, prominent army generals from the Díaz regime staged a coup d'etat in Mexico City , forcing Madero and Vice President Pino Suárez to resign. Days later, both men were assassinated by orders of the new President, Victoriano Huerta . This initiated a new and bloody phase of the Revolution, as a coalition of northerners opposed to
21442-452: Was further exacerbated by the drought that lasted from 1907 to 1909. The economy took a great leap during the Porfiriato, through the construction of factories, industries and infrastructure such as railroads and dams, as well as improving agriculture. Foreign investors bought large tracts of land to cultivate crops and range cattle for export. The cultivation of exportable goods such as coffee, tobacco, henequen for cordage, and sugar replaced
21593-632: Was given command over 150 men and tasked with raising funds and receiving arms imported from the United States. Díaz chose the coast town of Juchitán de Zaragoza as his headquarters and exercised his command for two years. For winning repeated victories against the Conservatives he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the beginning of 1860, Díaz went to the aid of the Liberal general José María Díaz Ordaz in defending Oaxaca City against Cobos. The latter fell upon Díaz at Mitla on 20 January and defeated him, but Cobos retreated as Ordaz arrived with reinforcements, only for Ordaz to lose his life in
21744-616: Was increasingly an ineffective force with aging leadership and troops conscripted into service. Díaz attempted the same kind of manipulation he executed with the Mexican political system with business interests, showing favoritism to European interests against those of the U.S. Rival interests, particularly those of the foreign powers with a presence in Mexico, further complicated an already complex system of favoritism. As economic activity increased and industries thrived, industrial workers began organizing for better conditions. Díaz enacted policies that encouraged large landowners to intrude upon
21895-433: Was installed until elections could be held, the Federal Army was retained, and revolutionary forces demobilized. The first phase of the Revolution was relatively bloodless and short-lived. Madero was elected President, taking office in November 1911. He immediately faced the armed rebellion of Emiliano Zapata in Morelos, where peasants demanded rapid action on agrarian reform . Politically inexperienced, Madero's government
22046-574: Was insulting. After Madero refused to agree to social reforms calling for better working hours, pay, and conditions, Orozco organized his army, the Orozquistas , also called the Colorados ("Red Flaggers") and issued his Plan Orozquista on 25 March 1912, enumerating why he was rising in revolt against Madero. In April 1912, Madero dispatched General Victoriano Huerta of the Federal Army to put down Orozco's dangerous revolt. Madero had kept
22197-466: Was no foreboding in 1910 that a revolution was about to break out. The aging Díaz failed to find a controlled solution to presidential succession, resulting in a power struggle among competing elites and the middle classes, which occurred during a period of intense labor unrest, exemplified by the Cananea and Río Blanco strikes. When wealthy northern landowner Francisco I. Madero challenged Díaz in
22348-517: Was only three years old. Patrona Mori began to manage the inn while raising her multiple children. The young Díaz was sent to primary school at the age of 6 and at one point was apprenticed to a carpenter. In 1845, at the age of fifteen, Díaz entered the Colegio Seminario Conciliar de Oaxaca , to study for the priesthood, sponsored by his godfather, José Agustín Domínguez, canon of and eventually Bishop of Oaxaca. In 1846,
22499-540: Was president from February 1913 to July 1914). The Federal Army was disbanded in August 1914 following Huerta's resignation and exile. See also Rurales for national mounted police force forming part of the Federal forces under Diaz and Huerta. Adherents of Brig. General Felix Diaz , nephew of former president Porfirio Díaz, who opposed both the Madero and Carranza governments in rebellions between 1913 and 1920. He led
22650-403: Was primarily a civil war , but foreign powers, having important economic and strategic interests in Mexico, figured in the outcome of Mexico's power struggles; the U.S. involvement was particularly high. The conflict led to the deaths of around one million people, mostly non-combatants. Although the decades-long regime of President Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911) was increasingly unpopular, there
22801-466: Was unravelling, to no one's surprise except perhaps Madero's, whose support continued to deteriorate, even among his political allies. Madero's supporters in congress before the coup, the so-called Renovadores ("the renewers"), criticized him, saying, "The revolution is heading toward collapse and is pulling the government to which it gave rise down with it, for the simple reason that it is not governing with revolutionaries. Compromises and concessions to
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