Revolution in 20th Century Latin America Web Page Project
Madero's regime faltered from the start. Zapata turned against him,
angered at his failure to effect the immediate restoration of land to
dispossessed Indians. Orozco, initially a supporter of Madero, was
also
dissatisfied with the slow pace of reform under the new
government and led a
revolutionary movement in the north. The
U.S. government then turned against
Madero as well, fearing that
the new president was too conciliatory to the
rebel groups and
concerned about the threat that civil war in Mexico was
posing to
American business interests there. Tensions reached a peak when
yet another faction of rebel forces, led by Félix Díaz (the former
dictator's nephew), clashed with federal troops in Mexico City
under the
command of Victoriano Huerta. On Feb. 18, 1913, after
the ninth day of that
melee (known as La Decena Trágica, or "The
Ten Tragic Days"), Huerta and
Díaz met in the office of U.S.
Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson and signed the
so-called "Pact of
the Embassy," in which they agreed to conspire against
Madero and
to install Huerta as president. Huerta assumed the presidency the
following day, after arresting Madero, who was assassinated a few
days
later.
Opposition to Huerta's drunken and despotic rule grew in the north,
and
an uneasy alliance was formed between Pancho Villa, Álvaro
Obregón, and
Venustiano Carranza, whose Plan de Guadalupe
called for Huerta's
resignation. In the spring and summer of 1914,
the rebel forces converged on
Mexico City, forcing Huerta into
exile. Carranza declared himself president
on August 20, over Villa's
objections. A state of anarchy and bloodshed
ensued until Villa,
Obregón, and Zapata held a convention at which it was
agreed that
the rivalry between Villa and Carranza made order impossible,
and
they elected Eulalio Gutiérrez interim president. Villa retained the
support of Zapata and backed Gutiérrez. Obregón, however,
re-allied
himself with Carranza and routed Villa in a bloody battle in
April 1915 at
Celaya. Thereafter, both Zapata and Villa lost ground,
and Villa, blaming
his defeat on U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's
support of Carranza, launched
a vendetta against Americans in
Mexico and in U.S. border towns. His raid on
Columbus, N.M.,
which claimed the lives of 18 Americans, prompted President
Wilson to order General John J. Pershing into the Mexican hills in
futile pursuit.
Carranza, president again, presided over the writing of the
Constitution
of 1917, which conferred dictatorial powers on the
president but gave the
government the right to confiscate land from
wealthy landowners, guaranteed
workers' rights, and limited the
rights of the Roman Catholic church.
Carranza remained in power
by eliminating those who opposed him (Zapata was
assassinated in
1919), but in 1920 opposition reached a climax when he tried
to
break up a railroad strike in Sonora. Deserted by virtually all his
supporters, including Obregón, he was killed attempting to flee the
capital on May 21. Adolfo de la Huerta became interim president
until
Obregón was elected in November.
Many historians regard 1920 as the end of the revolution, but
sporadic
violence and clashes between federal troops and various
rebel forces
continued until the reformist president, Lázaro
Cárdenas, took office in
1934 and "institutionalized" the reforms that
were fought for during the
revolution and were legitimized in the
Constitution of 1917.
"Mexican Revolution" Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
<http://search.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=53690&sctn=1>
[Accessed 20 September 1999]. 