The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 in response to the authoritarian rule of Porfirio Díaz, who had been president for over 30 years. Díaz resigned in 1911 and was exiled to France. Francisco Madero then became president but was overthrown and killed in a coup led by Victoriano Huerta in 1913. This led to a civil war as revolutionaries like Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Venustiano Carranza fought to overthrow Huerta. Carranza eventually assumed power in 1914 and a new constitution was adopted in 1917, but the revolution continued until 1920 when Alvaro Obregon became president, ending the civil war. The revolution brought some reforms but Mexico

1. The Mexican Revolution
Objective:
• To understand the events that led to the Mexican
Revolution
• To understand the struggle for Mexican Democracy

2. “Porfiriato”
Porfirio Díaz was one of the generals of
the Liberal army who was President of
Mexico from 1877 until 1911, a period
known as the Porfiriato because the figure
of Porfirio Díaz dominated it.
During this period, the economy grew;
new railways and telephone networks
were built; new banks opened; industry,
mining, agriculture and commerce
expanded. Major concessions led to
foreign control over large sectors of the
economy.

3. Although President Díaz brought many benefits to
Mexico, he was a dictator - a President who abused his
power. Under Díaz, a few land owners became very
wealthy, but the majority of Mexicans remained poor.
David Siquieros Mural: "Don Porfirio [Diaz] and his Courtesans". 1957-65

4. The Rebellion Begins
During the first
years of the 20th
century, a new
generation of
educated, young
Mexicans that did
not belong to Díaz'
group desired
change. For the first
time in thirty-three
years other political
parties were formed.

5. Francisco Madero
In 1910, the Mexican
Revolution began as a
result of frustration that
Diaz's promise of free
elections was not kept and
he declared that he had
won yet another election.
Francisco I. Madero was
one of those who had
organized another political
party. After the election he
led the revolt against Diaz
who eventually resigned
and was exiled to France.

6. The Revolution Begins!

7. Mexican Revolution

8. Elections were then held, which
Madero won, but the people were
impatient and Madero was incapable
of bringing order to the country.
Madero only made moderate
democratic reforms to relieve social
tensions. He was challenged by
Emiliano Zapata who wanted
massive land reforms that were
expressed in his motto “Tierra y
Libertad” (Land and Liberty).
In 1913, after a military coup
supported by the United States,
Madero was executed and another
general, Victoriano Huerta took over Zapata
as President.

9. General Victoriano Huerta
In 1913 he plotted secretly with
Madero's enemies, and overthrew
the president. Huerta established a
military dictatorship, notable for
political corruption and rule by
imprisonment and assassination.
He was supported by large land
owners, the army, and foreign
companies. Numerous
counterrevolutions broke out; the
most important insurgent leaders
of the Constitutionalist Movement
were Venustiano Carranza,
Francisco Villa, and Emiliano
Zapata.

10. Pancho Villa Pancho Villa led peasant rebels in
the north and attacked the Federal
Army. Villa lead and fought in a
decades worth of battles for the
cause with his army known as
"The Dorados" (The Golden
Boys). The name was ironic
considering that they were mostly
makeshift Revolutionaries who
were recruited from village to
village where Villa and his men
would pillage to have water, food
and women. During the course of
the Revolution in Mexico, Villa
seemed to be blessed, never
sustaining life threatening injuries.

11. The revolutionaries, including Francisco Villa in the north,
and Emiliano Zapata in the south, began a struggle to
overthrow President Huerta.

12. Soldaderas March

13. The Mexican Revolution mobilized large segments of the
population, both men and women. The Villista forces included
railroad workers, cowboys, and townsfolk who took up arms
against the army.

14. David Siquieros Mural: "People in Arms"
Detail. 1957-65

15. Venustiano Carranza
Steady insurgent military pressure forced
Huerta to resign in July, 1914. When this
happened, Venustiano Carranza then
assumed power. Huerta fled to Europe and
returned to the United States, where he was
subsequently arrested for revolutionary
activities; he died shortly after being released
from an army jail.
Under Carranza's presidency a new Constitution was adopted in
1917. The new Constitution took into account individual and social
rights, particularly to protect the workers and the peasants, and was
very nationalistic. In 1920, he tried to install a President that was
favorable to him. Alvaro Obregon, who was a candidate for president,
rebelled.
Carranza tried to flee to Vera Cruz. On May 20, 1920, he was killed
as he slept in a small wooden hut in San Antonio Tlaxcalantongo.

16. Alvaro Obregon
Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata
remained in control in their own
home territories, but they could
not wrest the government from
control of the more moderate
leaders in Mexico City.
Obregón used his military skill and WWI tactics to defeat Villa’s
calvalry in a series of bloody battles in 1915 and became president
in 1920. The revolutionary program became official during his
administration and advanced into a recognizable if not
thoroughgoing system of agrarian and labor reforms; peonage was
still rampant.

17. Zapata
On April 10, 1919,
Zapata was tricked into a
meeting with one of
Carranza's generals who
wanted to "switch sides."
The meeting was a trap,
and Zapata was killed as
he arrived at the
meeting.

18. Civil War Ended
Since 1920, with the Civil War over, a new
“Revolutionary Elite” ruled Mexico. However, the
Revolution had devastated the nation. 1.5 million
were killed, major industries destroyed, ranching
and farming were disrupted.

19. Pancho Villa
• In Jan., 1916, a group of Americans
were shot by bandits in Chihuahua, and
on Mar. 9, 1916, some of Villa's men
raided the U.S. town of Columbus,
N.Mex., killing some American
citizens. It is not certain that Villa
participated in these assaults, but he was
universally held responsible.
• Wilson ordered a punitive expedition
under General Pershing to capture Villa
dead or alive. The expedition pursued
Villa through Chihuahua for 11 months
but failed in its objective. Carranza
violently resented this invasion and it
embittered relations between Mexico
and the United States.

20. July 20, 1923
Villa
Assassinated

21. Revolutionary Results
Some Real Changes:
•1917 Mexican Constitution
•Land reforms, limited foreign ownership of key
resources
•Guaranteed rights of workers
•restrictions on clerical education and church
ownership of property
•educational reforms
•Workers organized and were represented in
government
The Mexican Revolution had a limited impact
beyond its borders: WHY?

22. Comparing Revolutions
Russian Revolution Mexican Revolution
•1910-1920
•1905-1923
•Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata
•Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky
•peasants want: Land reform, political rights
•peasants want: Land reform, political
rights, out of WWI •autocratic leader - harsh rule, small land
owning elite, foreign control of industry
•autocratic leader - harsh rule, small
land owning elite •“Tierra y Libertad” - Socialist reforms
•“Peace, land, bread” - Marxist reforms •1910 - Diaz Resigns and flees Mexico,
Madero in Power - Limited Reforms
•1917 - March revolution removes Czar -
Limited reforms •1913 - Madero removed and Killed -
General Huerta becomes dictator
•1917 - Nov revolution (Bolshevik Rev)
creation of USSR - Red Army •1914-1920 Civil War forces Huerta from
power
•1918-1921 Civil War (Reds vs Whites)
• 1917 - Mexican Constitution
•1924 - Stalin becomes communist
dictator •1920 - Obregon becomes President - gov’t
led by Revolutionary elite

23. General Lazaro Cardenas
A most significant political development in
Mexico since the Revolution came with the
election of General Lázaro Cardenas as
president in 1934. His government carried
out considerable land reform, he
reorganized labor, and, most significant of
all, he nationalized the oil industry.

24. Diego Rivera
Nationalism and
Indigenism take
hold in Mexico.
Attempts were
made to
“Indianize” Mexico.
Stressed
nationalism,
glorified the past,
and denounced
Western capitalism.

25. Flower Vendor

27. Blood of the Martyrs fertilizing the earth

28. Dividing the Land

29. The exploiters

30. The Agitator

31. The Burning of The
Judases

32. The Arsenal - Frida Kahlo distributes arms

33. Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky, and Andre Breton in 1937

36. Pan-American Unity

37. Epic of The Mexican People Today and Tomorrow

38. Modern
Industry

39. Frozen Assets

43. Democracy?
After Cardenas, the pace of reform
slowed. Although Mexico is a democracy,
one party has dominated the country
since 1929 until very recently.

44. Party of the Institutionalized
Revolution (PRI)
Partido Revolucionario Institucional
• Revolutionary leaders wanted to institutionalize the new regime.
• Created a One-Party System known as the PRI.
• Incorporated labor, peasant, military, and middle class sectors.
• They controlled politics sometimes through the use of repressive
means.
• Limited the President to a one six-year term.
•Developed NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement)
Expand economy by building closer ties with U.S. and Canada.

45. The Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI)

46. Economy
• For many years, Mexico followed a policy of economic
nationalism. The government imposed high tariffs to protect
local industries. By 1974, Mexico borrowed heavily from
foreign nations to develop its oil industries.
• By the 1980s, Mexico was in a debt crisis.
• More recently, Mexico moved toward free trade, or trade that
had low tariffs and no restrictions.

47. NAFTA
• NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement)
Mexico Canada
• Members were the countries of _________, __________, and
the United States
________________.
• NAFTA would abolish most tariffs on goods traded among
the three member nations.
• Goal - Expand economy by building closer ties with U.S. and
Canada.

48. CHALLENGES
Many Mexicans hoped that free trade would attract foreign
investment and create new jobs. Based on this cartoon, what is the
concern of some in the United States?

49. Zapatistas
Calling themselves Zapatistas in honor of
Emiliano Zapata, some nearly 2000 masked
rebels attacked and captured four towns in
Chiapas in 1994. They demanded work,
land, housing, food, health care, and
education.
Choosing Zapata as a symbol of the
movement, the Zapatistas tried to show
that the basic problems of a fair society
remained unsolved and that the revolution
was incomplete.

50. POLITICAL CHANGE
1. Based on this cartoon, what role has the PRI played in Mexican
politics?
2. Explain how the cartoon anticipates a change in Mexican politics.

51. 1. To what is the cartoonist comparing the PRI? Why?
2. Based on this image, what (or who) is going to bring about
change?

52. Vicente Fox 2000-2006
Member of the National Action Party (PAN) was elected
president at the end of 2000, thus ending the PRI’s dominance of
the political system of more than half a century.

53. Felipe Calderon 2006-Present
Lawmakers scuffle as one uses a chair to try to block an
access to Congress as opposition lawmakers try to block
the arrival of president-elect Felipe Calderon on Friday.
Felipe Calderon was sworn into office
despite conflict from those who believe
the election was fraudulent.