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The Mexican Revolution

By Amy Lambert

The Mexican Revolution took place between 1910 and 1920 and is one of the country´s most important historical events. One hundred years earlier the Mexico had fought for independence from the strict rule of the Spaniards, and won, but this did not mean they were a free nation. Mexico was now under the dictatorship of President Porfirio Diaz. He had done a lot for the country, but there were many problems with the way he ran it. The people had no freedom to express their opinions and whilst the few rich people were very rich, the poor were very poor.

At the turn of the 20^th century, several young political minds began to appear in Mexican society. When Porfirio Diaz announced that the country was ready for democracy, they thought this would be their chance to assume their roles in politics and change how things worked. However, this was not the case, as Diaz remained too powerful for anyone to go against him.

One of the main protagonists in the anti-Diaz movement was Francisco I. Madero, a democratic man who was not afraid to stand up for his people. He traveled the country promoting his ideas, until his movement gradually gained momentum, so much so that it became a serious threat to the rule of President Diaz. As a result, he was imprisoned shortly before the next elections, meaning that Diaz was elected once again. After hearing this news, Madero fled to the United States, where he wrote the ´Plan of San Luis´. This document stated that the elections had been unfair and that Porfirio Diaz should not be recognized as the president of Mexico. He named himself a temporary President until the next elections were held, promising great benefits to the poor if he was elected.

On the 20^th November 1910, Madero called for the people to revolt against Diaz, marking the start of the revolution. Following this, others like Madero helped lead their people to victory. Emiliano Zapata convinced the peasants from the South to fight, whilst Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Pascual Orozco led the uprising in the North. Six months later, this powerful rebellion defeated Diaz´s army, forcing his to resign and flee to France, where he died a few years later.

When the next elections were held, Madero was elected as President, with José Maria Pino Suárez as his vice president. However, this was only the beginning of the Revolution. Soon problems began to emerge as Madero was not delivering the things he had promised to the peasants, leading some of his former supporters, including Zapata, to abandon him. The nephew of Porfirio Diaz, Félix Diaz went head to head with the leader of the army, Victoriano Huerta to take the presidency from Madero. Huerta was announced President, but his ideas turned out not to be revolutionary. He brought back some of the old non-democratic laws that had existed during the Porfirio Diaz rule, such as no freedom of speech in the press, and no worker´s movements to be allowed.

Just a few days after, Madero and his Vice President Suárez were both assassinated, bringing about more protest from the people. The uprisings began again, and Zapata assumed his role as a leader of the fight for a second time. In 1914 they succeeded once again, forcing Huerta into exile. Venustiano Carranza would now take over as President, making progress towards peace in the country. He organized a convention that brought about the important Constitution of 1917, which helped with the equality of land division among the peasants and rich land owners, and which is still in practice today.

Carranza´s rule would also come to an end however, as he was a weak leader. He was assassinated by General Obrégon, who would be the new leader, taking Mexico into a new generation of democracy. Emiliano Zapata was also ambushed and assassinated in 1919.

Although the revolution is said to have come to an end in 1920, some fighting and violence continued long afterwards. The Mexican Revolution was a long process. The country saw that it had a lot to achieve and due to the inability to decide upon a common goal among the revolutionists, it took more that 10 years of war to finally obtain significant change in the country.

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