The Mexican States
 Latin
American economies devastated by
wars of independence.
 Creole
upper class continued to dominate
society and economy.
 Caudillos

(strong men) ruled most countries.
Military was the only way for men to advance in
social standing
 Military
dominated politics.
 Catholic Church kept its role as major
economic force

Largest banking system in the country
 General
Antonio López de Santa Anna
dominated era

President 9 different times; lost it after the
Mexican War
 Liberal
Government took over after Santa
Anna

Stripped the Church of power; forced to sell land
 In
the War of Reform (1857-1861) Liberals
under Benito Juárez gained control of
Mexico. (Mexican Civil War)
 1863-1867 Napoleon III of France controlled
Mexico with help of Mexican conservatives.

Left Ferdinand Maximilian in charge
 Liberals
ruled until 1876, but little was done
to modernize Mexico.
• Diaz ruled Mexico 1876-1911.
Ruled as a caudillo.
• Mexico’s inefficient economic
system revolved around the
hacienda. To achieve his goal of
economic development Diaz
allowed foreigners to control
much of Mexico’s wealth.
• Diaz’s rule was harsh with an
iron fist
•Pan o palo (bread or the
club)

Imprisoned opponents; used army to keep peace
at any cost

Rurales
 Diaz
helped modernize Mexico by encouraging
foreign investment
 Suppressed
political rights for economic development
 Exports
boomed; railroads expanded quickly; yet
most remained poor
 Wealth
concentrated in hands of foreign
investors, Mexican elite
 Offered
share of the spoils
 Catholic
Church became a pillar of Diaz’s
dictatorship



Reestablished all monasteries and nunneries
Reestablished church schools
Wealth began to accumulate in the hands of the
church in return for turning a deaf ear to the
complaints of the masses
 Land
policy of Diaz – a small minority
owned/controlled most of the land (elite
landholders).
 Indians
held 2% of the nations land
 Nonnative's
allowed to take property from
indigenous populations.
 Standards of living for most Mexicans
declined.
 Production shifted to export crops (sugar and
coffee) – Mexico was less able to feed itself!
 Harsh working conditions for people – long
hours, low wages, dangerous conditions.
 Diaz
developed an industrial economy
with large subsidies from the United
States and other foreign powers.

Transportation, mining, oil; foreigners owned
90% of the value
 “Mexico,
the mother of foreigners and the
stepmother of Mexicans.”
 Economic recession / U.S. depression
1906-1907.
 Food crisis 1907-1910 (crop failures) led
to inflation and declining wages
 Workers strikes
In
55 years between Mexican
Independence in 1821 and Diaz’s
rise to power (1877), the
presidency changed hands 75
times.
Diaz rigged elections, bribed
officials, bullied press
Friends and family were
promoted or given governmental
positions
●
Reasons for the overthrow of Diaz:
o Lack of upward mobility.
o Foreign domination of industry.
o Concentration of agricultural land in few
hands.
o Economic recession teamed with Inflation
oDisparity between rich and poor
o Governmental Corruption
o Diaz’s ineptitude in the presidential
election of 1910.
Francisco Madero
Peasant uprisings, workers strikes, Mexican
Liberal Party- equality among the sexes, low
wages, abusive working conditions
 Dictator Porfirio Diaz welcomes change and said
Mexico was ready for a democracy
 Anti-Reelectionist Party: Francisco Madero
(from Coahuila- cattle, wheat, vineyards, mines)
took the challenge and looked to create an
oligarchy
 Early June Diaz had him arrested, he was later
freed from jail and fled to Texas
 Diaz and his VP Ramon Corral win the election

 October
4th 1910 he escapes from prison
 Called the election null and void
 Provisional President- eventually hold free
elections
 Return of Peasants lands and political
reforms
 Called for an armed rebellion against Diaz
on November 20th
•Madero returned to Mexico, found rebellion
spreading.
•Pascual Orozco led a mixed group of rebels in
Chihuahua, who fought for their freedoms while the
federal troops were ill-trained and reluctant to fight
•Pancho Villa, a rebel general from Chihuahua,
became the military hero of the Revolution using
guerrilla warfare.
•Madero saw him as the perfect military hero
 Emiliano
Zapata led the Revolution in
Morelos.
 Small farmer villagers vs. owners of
sugarcane plantations

17 owners of Haciendas controlled 25% of the
land
 Captured
Morelos in May of 1911;
essential to defeating Diaz
 Zapata became the hero of the Mexican
peasant with his demands for land reform
in his Plan of Ayala.

Villa and Orozco capture Cuidad Juárez


Gained access to U.S. arms dealers
In May 21st 1911, under the Treaty of Ciudad
Juárez, Diaz went into exile but the same
institutions exist- Francisco Leon de la Barra,
Mexican ambassador to US, interim president
 How
did your topic help to contribute to the
Mexican Revolution?




Social Causes
Economic Causes
Political Causes
Role of the Porfiriato regime
 Create
a PowerPoint to share with class
tomorrow


Protection of indigenous rights, agrarian
reform, eight hour workday, equal pay for
equal work, equal education
Unsuccessful but linked to Diaz departure
 Madero
makes two mistakes before the
elections
Demobilized the revolutionary armies of the
North
 Leon de la Barra- still “Porfirismo without
Porfirio”

A breach opened-up between the Zapatistas
in the South and Madero and his followers
from the North.
 With the existing government, tensions were
still present. Leon de la Barra continued to
fight with Zapata. Zapata began taking large
estates and distributing wealth to the
villages
 Although people began to question Madero’s
ability to rule and control the tensions he
was elected president in 1911

•Madero was too idealistic to be a good
president.
•Conservative nature alienated many
revolutionaries, especially Zapata and his
followers.
•Democracy to Madero- Masses had the
illusion of power but the elite made all the
major decisions
•Economic and Social Democracy: He
believed in unions and the ability to strike.
Wanted to purchase land and provide it to
the landless workers. However, he
believed that haciendas were vital to
modernization.
•Violence and oppression still existed
 Lost



Wages, hours, working conditions
Unions and the right to strike
Women and children protection
 Lost

support of Industrial workers
Support of the Peasantry
Land reform
 Conservatives

Missed the rule of Diaz
Emiliano Zapata unhappy- Madero refuses to listen
and orders Zapata to get rid of his troops
 Madero sent the army into Morelos to destroy
Zapata. Zapata could avoid destruction, but he was
too weak to defeat the federal forces altogether
 Turned to haciendados to fund campaign or burnt
sugarcane
 The Plan of Ayala- Zapatista Movement: Nov. 28
1911
 Return the land from the haciendas to the people
 Mexico would be a land of small independent
landowning farmers

 Madero’s
failure to carry out land reform lost
him the support of the revolutionary
peasants
 United States foreign policy turned against
him after watching his inability to rule. US
Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson was against
the military operations in Mexico City
because it threatened US life and property
and if it wasn’t handled than US intervention
was necessary
In March 1912 Pascual Orozco with the assistance of the
conservatives led a revolution against Madero. Orozco
was looking for wealth and political power
 Villa and Victoriano Huerta defeated Orozco.



Huerta became head of the army and Madero became
totally dependent upon the army for his survival.


Huerta was a cruel, authoritarian drunk at the age of 60
Madero did not like Huerta
At this time Huerta and Villa began to clash and Huerta
arrested Villa

Was sentenced to death but saved on Christmas day of 1912
by a friendly army officer

In February with coordination with the US
ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, a right wing
coup led a revolt on the palace

La decena tragica (ten tragic days)
Huerta arrested the president along with other
top officials
 US named him the head of the provisional
government with Felix Diaz (Nephew to the old
dictator) to succeed him once an election could
be held
 Madero was murdered Feb. 22 as he was being
transported to the penitentiary (done by two
armed men)


Huerta seizure of power fell in favor
of the landed aristocrats, the big
capitalists, and the church, he was
eager to restore the dictatorship
similar to Diaz

Assassination of Madero not a positive for
his image
Felix Diaz was sent to Japan on a
“diplomatic mission” – out of the way
 Revolutionary wave rose even higher
after the Madero murder and the
imposition of Huerta’s terrorist
regime
Victoriano Huerta 
 Emiliano
Zapata
intensified his struggle
against local
landowners, Huerta’s
allies, and federal
troops.

This large focus of
federal troops in the
south allowed the
Northern resistance to
take shape

Venustiano Carranza, Governor of Coahuila, led
the revolt against Huerta.

Called for the Plan of Guadalupe (March 26, 1913)
 Called for the overthrow of the dictator and the
restoration of constitutional government
Declared war to the death
 Villa joined with Carranza and won many
victories.

 Pancho
Villa- assumed leadership in the
North (The Constitutionalists) made up of
middle classes, miners, industrial workers,
and peasants.
 He soon recruited an army of 3,000 men.
Took control of Chihuahua.

Started to attack hacienda; if they did not join
him he took their land
 Had


to settle two scores:
Madero’s Murder
His firing squad sentence
 Executed
all bandits that he could find
and protected US property

America sells arms and ammunition
 Regionalism
vs. central government
 Revolutionary new order of the state




Reduction of meat prices
distribution of money, clothing, and other
goods to the poor
fifty new schools
anticlericalism
Robin
Hood of Mexico?

Agrarian Program differed from that of
Zapata, he felt it should stay under the
control of the government until the
victory of the revolution
 The north was based around cattle
raising which required large economic
units that would work best under the
control of the state. Cattle were sold to
the US in return for ammunition.
 Fearful
of Villa’s success
and power in the north,
Carranza promotes
commander Alvaro
Obregon


Brought up by Indians;
successful in recruiting
Apaches
Promised land for the
Indians if they fought
with Carranza
 Wilson’s
government refused to recognize
Huerta’s regime because it came to power
illegally. However, he did allow an embargo
on revolutionary arms purchases while
permitting US arms sales to Huerta.
 Wilson’s biggest fear was that Huerta had cut
a deal with Britain and Germany to allow
their intervention into Mexican markets.
 With
the verge of World War I- foreign
interest shifted towards the United States
and led to a lack of cooperation with Huerta
 US set a uniform rate on all goods shipped
through the Panama Canal, which led to an
end of British support in Mexico
 Carranza’s agent in Washington said they
would respect foreign property rights which
led to the lifting of the embargo
 US
Sailors were arrested on the Dolphin,
(restricted area in Tampico) but were
immediately released with an apology.
 Commander asked for a severe punishment
for the arresting officers, a written apology
and a 21 gun salute to the US flag.
 Huerta had to refuse or would commit
political suicide.
 April
21, 1914- Wilson sent fleet into Gulf
of Mexico, learned of a German ship
heading for Veracruz, he ordered for
seizure of the city. Fighting took place
till the 27th when the US occupied
Veracruz.


19 Americans vs. 200 Mexican casualties
Action led to a wave of anti-Yankee sentiment
and Carranza denounced the US action
 Led
to a Conference at Niagara Falls in May
1914

Carranza was Wilsons choice to put into power but he
was too nationalist and didn’t attend the conference
but instead sent representatives with no real power
 Wilson
stops funding Villa and starts funding
Carranza (against one another)
 Wants a weak pro-American government
 July 15, 1914- Huerta, recognizing the
presence of Villa’s and Obregon’s army, flees
to Europe

August 15th Obregon’s troops enter Mexico City

Carranza took the title first chief of the
constitutional Army of 40,000 men


Villa joined under his command and his troops were
renamed the Northern Division
Alvaro Obregon, who led the anti-Huerta forces in
Sonora was named commander of the Army of the
Northwest
 Within
Mexico City Huerta also faced
opposition of the intellectuals and the
feminist Loyalty club which protested
the regimes brutality

Carranza and Villa began to have two different
views


Villa, “…implant a democratic regime… to secure the wellbeing of the workers; to emancipate the peasants
economically, making an equitable distribution of lands or
whatever else is needed to solve the agrarian problem”
 Carranza agreed out of fear of losing Villa and his
followers
Carranza and Zapata


Zapata kept to the plan of Ayala- wanted removal of old
regime
Constitutional Convention at Mexico City
 Only Obregon attends; gains support



The Constitutional Convention at
Aguascalientes declared Carranza “in
rebellion” because he refused to share
power.
In November 10th, 1914 Villa and Zapata
controlled Mexico City. A reign of terror
ensued that greatly discredited both
men. Obregón and Carranza formed an
alliance against them.
Established a provisional government
with the hope of the United States
backing


Eulalio Gutierrez interim president
Could not unite the interests of the
middle class, industrialists, and the
peasants- No real plan set in place
 Lacked

resources to reach the deep south
Hacienda
 Bandits
committed the same actions as
Zapatistas

Hurt his image
 What

to do with the Hacienda?
Who does he side with?
 Conflict


of ideology with Villa
Zapata focused on land ownership
Villa focused on a political revolt with power to
regional centers
 Dec.
4th 1914- neither wanted
the presidency and were
certain of only wanting to
control their respective
provinces


Zapata believed in localism
Villa appeared lazy and lack of
will power
 President
must be loyal to the
revolution
 Mistake: no president
Villa and Zapata
 Reign



of Terror- December 1914
Targeted Zapatistas
200 murders, thousands of rapes
Ordered the execution of intern president Eulalio
Gutierrez


Issued a manifesto against Villa and Zapata
Sided with Carranza
 Failure
of Villa and Zapata to cooperate
while Carranza and Obregon lead to their
ultimate defeat
 Carranza
issued the “Adiciones” which
addressed the plan for land reforms and a
secret promise to the return of hacienda
lands taken by the revolutionaries. He gained
labor support by creating minimum wage and
rights of workers. Women’s equality.
 By July 1915 Obregón had defeated Villa, and
in October the US recognized the Carranza
government.
 Obregon offered amnesty to Villistas

40 generals, 5,046 officers, and 11,128 soldiers
agreed
 Villa
resorted to guerrilla warfare with 200
troops
 Obregon used trench warfare that he studied
from Europe to defeat Villa for the first time
and eventually lead to his demise
 United States extended a de facto
recognition of his government but they
wanted to have a say on important
governmental matters- Carranza declared
this unacceptable
 July

of 1915 Zapata’s support dropped
Amnesties from Carranza
 April
1919- Military General Pablo
Gonzalez had a conflict with a Calvary
commander (Jesus Guajardo)

Zapata tried to smuggle a note to
Guajardo that was intercepted by
Gonzalez


Guajardo had to kill 50 ex-Zapatista Soldiers
Earned his trust and was eventually shot
 In
March 1916 Villa attacked
Columbus, New Mexico
17 American casualties
 Worked with Vera Cruz

 President
Wilson sent the army
under General John Pershing
into Mexico to catch him.

Pershing, Villa, and Obregón
Sent 7,000 Men and 8 planes
 Wilson
sends John Pershing to pursue Villa in
Mexico with $50,000 on his head

US expected Carranza to support this but instead
he demands they withdraw and began to prepare
for war

Villa was viewed as the national hero
 Late


1916 Villa began raiding Chihuahua
Middle class objected forced loans
Peasantry objected forced military service
 Early
1917, Villa kills wife of Carrancista
paymaster


Troops kill 90 women in Torreon
Troops also rape women
 January
16th, 1917
 Participation for land lost in
Mexican-American War (Gadsden)
 Carranza issued a General in charge
of evaluating the risks




Certain war with the US
Germany would not be able to supply
a feasible amount of arms
The territory had a large English
speaking population
Fear of other Latin American
Countries

War almost broke out between Mexico and
the US. Because neither side wanted war
and the US wanted to focus on Europe,
war was avoided and US troops left Mexico
in February 1917.


Mexican Nationalist Victory
The Constitution of 1917 increased
Carranza’s power and gave the Mexican
government the power to take private
property. The Catholic Church was
restricted.
Obregón
 First
draft did not accommodate the radical
view points
 Increased power of the President; past Diaz
 Appointment of officials
 Article 3 and 130- not a legal entity, limited
church control of education, property of the
state
 Articles 34 and 35 were geared towards
women’s rights however they were denied
citizenship and political rights

Article 123- A true labor code- eight hour work
day, child birth benefits, right to organize,
bargain collectively, and strike
 Article
27-the nation could expropriate the
original owner of all lands with compensation
to the owner (nation owned land)
 Most advanced law codes of its time: massive
assault on the hacienda, the power of the
church, and foreign capital in Mexico
 Carranza became the first legally elected
president since Madero

Serve one six-year term
 Look
it up online!!!
 Only
returned a small portion to the villages,
most land returned to previous owners or
Carranza’s generals

Peasants cry- “Tierra y libertad” (land and liberty)
 Severe
repression for the working class, free
education was ignored
 Poor relationship with trade unions
 Mexico remained neutral during WWI; limited
diplomacy with Western Hemisphere
(Independent)
 Law of Family Relations (April, 1917)- Women
exercise guardianship and child custody, file
lawsuits, and sign contracts
 When
Carranza’s term came to an end he
tried to extend his power by implementing a
puppet president. Unsuccessful- Obregón
turned against him

Issued the Plan of Agua Prieta
 In
May of 1920 he stole 5 million pesos in
gold and silver (national treasury) and set off
for Veracruz with 60 railway cars. He was
slain on the 21st of May
 Devastated
land- crops and cattle; mines and
factories were closed
 Hundreds of thousands missing or deadpopulation declined by 1 million since 1910

Famine and Disease
 September
1920- Obregon agreed to Villa’s
request for amnesty of 759 men


Villa granted a hacienda with 50 armed men
Assassinated in 1923
 Carranza’s
death and Villa’s surrender
effectively ended the revolution
 Wide
range of causes- Nationalism, land
reform, workers’ rights and anarchism
 Greatest challenge was to secure enough
popular support
 Ultimately, the constitutionalists were able
to satisfy enough sections of Mexican Society

Middle class nationalists, wealthy industrialists,
labourers
 Villistas
and Zapatistas failure to unite and
create a central government is their downfall
 Create
a bio page for one influential leader
during the Mexican Revolution to showcase
on the “General Mexico” website



Date of birth/death… how?
Significant events (chronological)
Be sure to include social and political ideologies




Stances on the government, land, labor and the church
Alliance systems
Support Groups
Anything else you find interesting...
 Alvaro
Obregon became president
in November 1920.




Originally had been a mechanic and
farmer; grew up in an area with US
intervention
Set out to lay the economic, political,
and ideological foundations of a
Mexican national capitalism
Agrarian Reform and Industrial Reforms
Power in government was held by
wealthy generals, capitalists, and
landlords
 Obregon
provided some land to the
peasants- however, he did not provide the
means necessary for upkeep

3 million acres were distributed; 320 still in
private hands
 United

States and Obregon
Tensions still high over article 27- he would not
recognize the United States rights to land owned
before 1917


However, he renewed foreign debt payments and
returned National Railways to private ownership
US formally recognized the Mexican Government in
1923

Indigenismo- reassessment of indigenous cultural
heritage




Wanted to study the indigenous people to understand
their past and present conditions so that they can be
incorporated into reconstruction.
Believed that school was the most important institution
to reunite the nation
Women took charge of this movement, some 4,000 rural
teachers taught the past and implemented capitalist
ideas
Public School led to a divide with the church- some
teachers were attacked and killed by supporters of the
church
When Villa refused to recognize Plutarco
Elias Calles as Obregón’s successor,
Obregón had Villa murdered in 1923.
Obregón froze the status-quo.
● Between 350,000 and one million deaths
during eight years of warfare.
●
The economy of Mexico was modernized.
The hacienda no longer dominated the
Mexican economy.
● The Catholic Church lost power.
● New elites from the urban and industrialized
middle-class arose. Upward mobility became
available to men without family connections.
The mass of people gained little.
●
 Four

Progressive Capitalists= rising middle class


Diaz and Huerta
Agrarian Movement- redistribution of land


Madero, Carranza and Obregon
Landed Elite- Hacienda


main forces of the revolution:
Zapata
Overthrow of the oligarchy

Villa
 Goals:
promote Mexican national
capitalism
 strengthen the fiscal and
monetary system


established the Bank of Mexico
national road commission
 national electricity code

 Doubled
the distribution of land that
Obregon had started


Usually wasn’t arable land, did not make a
serious effort to provide fertilizer, and the
governmental bank designed to promote
production for the peasants usually provided
loans to the Hacendado’s instead
In 1930 grain production turned below the
levels of 1910.


Abandoned land distribution
Calles introduced machinery and other modern
agricultural techniques
Calles did little to advance the rights of Womenopposition arose against him.
 In 1925 Mexican Congress passed laws to
implement Article 27- 50 year concessions for oil
leases in Mexico




United States not happy- refuses to follow and moves
them to the thought of war
Dwight Morrow (ambassador)- negotiated with Calles in
September of 1927 and was able to get rid of the time
constraints
Catholic Church went against the constitution; in 1926
militant Catholics, in alliance with hacendados, attacked
and killed many of the teachers in rural areas
 January
1926- Church declared the
constitution of 1917 “wounds the most
sacred rights of the catholic church”

Education
 Calles
responsed with The Calles Lawregistration of priests with civil authorities
and the closing of religious primary schools
 Catholics guerrillas, Cristeros, responded
with the slogan, Viva Cristo Rey (long live
Christ the King)

Put down by the summer of 1927
 Obregon
and Calles worked together to
amend the constitution and extend the
presidential term to from 4 to 6 years and
allow reelection after one term out of
office


Hoped to rotate the presidency
Plan took a halt after Obregon was elected in
1928 but was assassinated in July of 1928 by a
Crisero

In response Calles organizes the National
Revolutionary Party (PNR later PRI)- takes down
the last of the powerful military caudillos.
Puppets (3) of Calles ruled during Obregon’s sixyear term
 Jefe maximo- maximum chief of the revolution
 “Revolutionary Family” began to obtain more
wealth- ignored agrarian reform, hostile to strikes
and unions



More corrupt than Porfirista regime
Controlled Mexico until the election of Vicente Fox
in 2000
 Led
to a new generation of young, middleclass reformers (intellectuals)


Called for implementation of the constitution of
1917
Liked Marxism and the model of the soviets

Advance the bourgeois
 National
Congress of Women Workers and
Peasants (1930’s)

Expand indigenous rights, protect women workers,
raise the minimum wage, increase land reform,
promote women’s suffrage





His honesty and compassion made him famous, spent
half of his money on education as governor of
Michoacan
Part of the Revolutionary Family – able to win the
election 1934 through this support and Calles blessing
Land distribution to villages- aimed to raise
agricultural productivity and improve quality of life
To end corruption he set an example and cut his pay
in half
 Answers questions from the peasants himself
These ideas angered Calles and he denounced the
labor movement
 Cardenas had Calles deported to the US in 1936

Ejido- communal landholding system



Distributed land to villages, 45 million
acres
Rancho- land provided to the
individual in northern Mexican
states
Land also set aside for scale
cultivation of commercial cropssugar, coffee, cotton, rice

Organized by profit sharing (oversaw by
government)
 Land
Reform, schools, medical care, roads
led to the modernization of Mexican life
and society by 1940.



Led to the growth of the internal Mexican market
1939-1941- highest production during the
revolution
However, the land in the Ejido was usually poor
for farming with limited amount of resources to
help production

By 1940, government oversee led to a decline in the
ejido system and a growth in large landed property
 Workers
were aware of the sympathetic
view of the new regime

642 strikes in 1935- more than twice the number
in the six years before



Reforms centered around raising of wages
Reform weakened the power of the generals
Negatives- Labor lost independence to
government oversight which eventually lead to
corruption and control of trade unions





Cardenas supported labor’s efforts for higher wages along
with favoring Mexican industry with government loans and
protective tariffs
Nacional Financiera- government bank that funded
industrial loans, public welfare projects
WWII helped the economy- fewer imports
March 18, 1938- Dispute over oil between the US and
Britain
 Cardenas expropriated the companies in the interest of
the public
 Oil Nationalization- provided cheap, plentiful fuel for
Mexican industry
90% of mining industry still rested in foreign hands
 Cardenas
pledged to grant women equal
rights

Saw little in the governmental sector, more
workers rights
 Women’s
suffrage started in 1939 but
wasn’t put into effect until 1953
 Material
and cultural condition of the masses
had improved
 Peasants and workers managed to secure a
larger share of the total national income
 Promotion of education in rural areas
 By
the end of his presidency Cárdenas had
abandoned reform. The conservative
general Manuel Ávila Camacho succeeded
Cárdenas and all pretence of reform
ended
 350,000
to a million deaths
 Country economically devastated
 Fall of the Hacienda and the Hacendado

Caudillo Rule
 Redistribution
of Land
 Capitalist Economy and a Functioning
Democracy- Oil
 Catholic Church lost economic and political
influence
 Poverty and economic inequality
9:1 The Mexican Revolution Timeline