The Mexican Revolution was a period of political turmoil and armed struggle which occurred in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 21 May 1920. The Revolution began with the overthrow of Porfirio Diaz's 30-year dictatorship by Francisco I. Madero in May 1911, but dissent among the armed revolutionary factions resulted in a civil war which lasted until Alvaro Obregon's final victory in 1920. The chaotic revolution left up to 1,500,000 Mexicans dead, and it displaced 200,000 more people.
In 1910, the liberal Anti-Reelectionist Party politician Francisco I. Madero ran against the incumbent military strongman Porfirio Diaz and his National Reelectionist Party in that year's presidential election, which was rigged in Diaz's favor, resulting in Diaz winning with almost 99% of the vote. Madero was then imprisoned at Monterrey for planning an armed insurrection, but he jumped bail and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi, which called for the overthrow of Diaz's regime by force. From exile in Texas, Madero coordinated Diaz's ouster in May 1911, securing his victory by capturing Diaz's power base of Ciudad Juarez. A new election was held in 1911, and Madero was democratically elected to power with the Progressive Constitutionalist Party. Opposition to Madero's regime materialized from both conservatives - who saw him as too weak and too liberal - and from former revolutionaries and the disposessed, who saw him as too conservative. In February 1913, Madero and his Vice President Jose Maria Pino Suarez were overthrown in a reactionary counter-coup led by Diaz's former general Victoriano Huerta, and they were assassinated shortly therafter. Huerta's military regime (backed by the United States, business interests, and other counter-revolutionaries) took power, but a coalition of revolutionary forces - led by inspirational generals such as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa - ousted him from power in 1914.
From 1914 to 1915, Mexico plunged into civil war as the revolutionaries failed to reach a political agreement, and Liberal Constitutionalist Party leader Venustiano Carranza emerged as the victor in 1915 after Villa's Division del Norte was defeated at Celaya by Carranza's brilliant strategist, Alvaro Obregon. Zapata went on to continue guerrilla warfare against the government until his 1919 assassination. In 1920, Obregon turned on his former ally, Carranza due to their political differences and Obregon's own hunger for power, and the German and Zapatista-backed Obregon overthrew Carranza and had him assassinated. Obregon became the new President of Mexico after deposing Carranza's successor Adolfo de la Huerta, and Villa's 1923 assassination ensured that the conflict was at an end.
The revolution achieved several major changes; the 1917 Constitution empowered the state to expropriate resources vital to the nation, lands were redistributed from the elites to the peasants, an 8-hour work day was implemented, workers were given the right to strike, women were paid equally, and child labor and company stores were banned to end the exploitation of labor. The constitution also placed new restrictions on the Catholic Church in Mexico, with anticlerical measures being adopted as a part of the government's program of land reform and secularization. Social inequality remained, but the standard of living in the cities grew, and the merchant class benefited the most from the revolution. However, the temporary stability ushered in by Obregon's victory in 1920 was shattered with his assassination by a Catholic fanatic in 1929, and the nation soon found itself embroiled in the Cristero War as the secularism of the Revolution was met with a violent Catholic reaction.
Politics of the Mexican Revolution[]
Liberal Party (PL) - Founded in 1822 following Mexican War of Independence. Led by Diaz until 1892 general election, when he formed the National Porfirist Party. Survived as minuscule rump party for decades, ran Fernando Iglesias Calderon for Vice-President in 1911 as a "Liberal" and Emilio Vazquez Gomez for President in 1911 as a "Pure Liberal" in opposition to the "Radical Liberal" candidate Francisco Leon de la Barra. Dissolved following Madero's victory in 1911.- National Reelectionist Party (PNR) - Founded in 1910 by Porfirio Diaz to replace his earlier National Porfirist Party (1892-1910). Controlled Mexican government and all state governments until May 1911, when Francisco I. Madero overthrew Diaz and ended the Porfiriato era. Dissolved on Diaz's overthrow.
- Anti-Reelectionist Party (PAR) - Founded in 1909 by Francisco I. Madero, Francisco Vazquez Gomez, Jose Vasconcelos, Roque Estrada Reynoso, Federico Gonzalez Garza, Pino Suarez, Felix Palavicini, et. al. in opposition to Diaz's re-election at the 1910 presidential election. Bolstered by the creation of Anti-Reelectionist Clubs, the publication of El Antireeleccionista newspaper, and the merger of Bernardo Reyes' Democratic Party (Reyes became the leader of his own Reyistas). Middle-class movement which appealed to the literate urban elites and intellectuals, promised individual rights, municipal liberties, and the autonomy of states. In the summer of 1910, Diaz purged the new party after arresting Madero at Monterrey for plotting armed insurrection, arresting 6,000 of its leaders and forcing the rest into hiding. Formed opposition government in Ciudad Juarez under Madero, and seized power in 1911 at the start of the Mexican Revolution. Succeeded by PCP in 1911; rump faction continued into 1920s.
- Progressive Constitutionalist Party (PCP) - Founded in 1911 by Francisco Vazquez Gomez; successor to the PAR. Dominated Mexican government from 1911 to 1913 during Madero's presidency. Overthrown in reactionary military coup led by Victoriano Huerta in 1913; Madero and Suarez assassinated. Remnants took part in the creation of the 1917 Constitution.
- Radical Liberal Party (PRL) - Founded in 1836 as the radical wing of the Liberal Party. Led by Francisco Leon de la Barra at the 1911 presidential election; won .43% of the vote (87 votes) to Madero's 99.27% (19,997 votes). Disappeared after the election.
- Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) - Founded in 1916 by Alvaro Obregon and other Carrancistas. Supported Maderista ideals, the labor movement, and popular nationalism; nominated Venustiano Carranza for President in 1917. Supported Obregon's social democratic programme, and was, in turn, marginalized by the more moderate Carranza. Obregon rebelled against Carranza in 1919, leaving to form the Laborist Party; PLC became the party of Carranza's moderates. Carranza was assassinated by Obregon in 1920; Adolfo de la Huerta took over PLC before surrendering to Obregon. Party fractured in 1922, succeeded by De la Huerta's National Cooperativist Party.
- Mexican Laborist Party (PLM) - Founded in 1919 by Alvaro Obregon as leftist split from PLC. Supported the labor movement and democratic socialism, opposed moderate Carrancistas. Seized power from Carranza and De la Huerta in 1920, dominated Mexican politics during the 1920s. PLM leaders Obregon (1920-1924) and Plutarco Elias Calles (1924-1928) served as Presidents of Mexico; party declined after Obregon's 1929 assassination, most members followed Calles into the "official" National Revolutionary Party (future PRI).
- Southeast Socialist Party (PSS) - Founded in 1916 by Salvador Alvarado. Based in Yucatan, founded the Resistance Leagues. Supported Alvaro Obregon for President in 1920, supported Felipe Carrillo Puerto's Yucatan gubernatorial bid in 1921, implemented socialist rule in Yucatan from 1921 until Puerto's assassination by supporters of Adolfo de la Huerta (without Huerta's approval) in 1924.
