Pancho Villa was a Mexican revolutionary leader born in 1876 who grew up poor and orphaned. He initially worked as a farmhand but killed one of the farm owners, forcing him to flee to the mountains. During the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Pancho Villa joined forces with Francisco Madero to help overthrow the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, demonstrating natural military abilities. He formed his own army in northern Mexico with the support of peasants, which aided the wider revolutionary movement to victory.