HIST362 Study Guide

Unit 6: Revolutionary Mexico and Legacies of Colonialism

6a. Provide a concise historical narrative of the Mexican Revolution between 1910 and 1920

  • What were the primary causes of the Mexican Revolution? Describe its political aftermath.
  • Define the Porfiriato.
  • Describe the roles the following people played in the Mexican revolution: Porfirio Diaz, Francisco Madero, Emiliano Zapata, Victoriano Huerta, Doroteo Arango (Pancho Villa), and Venustiano Carranza.
  • Define Zapatismo and the Ten Tragic Days.
  • What rights did the Mexican Constitution of 1917 proclaim for Mexican citizens?

The Mexican Revolution, also called the Mexican Civil War, took place from 1910 to 1920. The revolution brought an end to the "porfiriato", the rule of Porfirio Diaz, the authoritarian Mexican president from 1876–1911, and changed Mexico's culture and government on a national and regional level. Important revolutionary figures include Francisco Madero (1873–1913), Emiliano Zapata (1879–1919), and Pancho Villa (1878–1923).

In October 1910, Francisco Madero, an advocate for social justice and democracy, called on Mexicans to rise up to oppose the Diaz dictatorship. He was supported by Emiliano Zapata who had inspired an agrarian movement (Zapatismo) in the state of Morelos by calling on the peasants to demand water rights and land reform. In May 1911, Díaz was forced to resign and flee to France after the Federal Army suffered several military defeats by the forces supporting Madero. In October 1911, Madero was elected president with resounding support from the Mexican people. However, Madero soon disavowed the support he had received from Zapata's forces and denounced the Zapatistas as simple bandits. 

Despite his popularity, Madero soon encountered opposition from more radical revolutionaries and from former Diaz supporters. In February 1913, General Victoriano Huerta, the military commander of Mexico City, led a military coup that included intense fighting (called the Ten Tragic Days or la Decena Trágica), and resulted in the arrest and assassination of Madero along with his vice president, José María Pino Suárez. The country quickly plunged into civil war in protest and Huerta fled the country in 1914, ousted by a coalition of Constitutionalist forces from northern Mexico led by Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón and Francisco "Pancho" Villa, with the support of Zapata's troops.

After serving as head of state from 1915–1917, Venustiano Carranza was elected president from 1917 to 1920 after he oversaw the creation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917. This document recognized the rights of organized labor, established the basis for a free, mandatory, and secular education, and limited the power of the Catholic Church. Carranza was assassinated in 1920 and his opponent Obregon was elected president, marking the end of the Mexican Revolution.

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6b. Analyze the causes of the Mexican Revolution and compare them with the causes of the American and the French revolutions

  • What were the root causes of the Latin American independence movements?
  • What accounts for the longevity of the Diaz regime? Describe the Diaz regime's approach to modernization and the social cost of modernization.
  • How did political transformation in the 1800s affect Mexico's peasants?
  • How did industrialization change the structure of Mexican society?
  • What role did American corporate interest play in the Mexican revolution?
  • How did external developments in Europe and Latin America affect the Mexican revolution?
  • How do these causes compare with factors that triggered the American Revolution and French Revolution, such as aspects of colonialism, the lives of the peasants, economic factors, and efforts by the "old regime" to control the population.

During his 34-year dictatorship, called the Porfiriato, Profirio Diaz created a centralized government and pursued an aggressive policy to build a modern capitalist and industrialized state, with substantial investment from the United States and other foreign countries.

Power and wealth were concentrated within the central government, among the foreign (usually American) investors, and among the members of the wealthier upper classes, who were often of Spanish heritage, and included wealthy merchants, and the owners of the great landed estates (haciendas). The peasants, villagers, and members of the Mexican working class were often of mixed race (Mestizos) or members of the indigenous population (Zapotecs, Yaquis, and Maya).

Both the peasants and workers had a history of rebellion in Mexico. Not only were Mexican landowners and American conglomerates abusing the peasants, miners, oil workers, ranch hands, and other members of the working class, but massive amounts of land was being transferred to foreign corporations, such as American agribusiness, and Mexican landowners. These groups had few rights and saw little of the economic prosperity that benefited those who supported Diaz.

Increasingly, Mexican intellectuals aligned themselves with European-style liberalism. Industrial workers (although not unified) began to unionize, and the rural and urban poor began to object to their positions. The small but growing middle class also objected to the concentration of wealth in the upper class and in foreign investors. As with the French Revolution, consolidation of power and wealth at the top left the vast majority of citizens out of the political and economic life of the country.

Complicating this infighting among economic and political groups was a growing sense of Mexican nationalism which would create a sense of national identity and provide an element of cohesion to resist foreign domination, especially from the United States. These nationalist sentiments allowed groups to join together, often on a temporary basis, because they felt it was their right to assert their own national independence and national sovereignty. 

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6c. Critically evaluate the political agendas of the various groups which competed for power during the Mexican Revolution

  • What was the role of peasants, the working class, and intellectuals in the Mexican Revolution?
  • Name the four phases of the Mexican Revolution.
  • Name the five themes of the revolution Steven Volk discusses.
  • Why were the rights of workers so important in the Mexican Revolution?
  • How did the agenda of the American government and control by foreign corporate interests play in the Mexican Revolution?
  • What role did the Catholic Church play in the Mexican Revolution?

The Mexican Revolution had many major groups with competing agendas. These included the rural peasants, large landowners, industrial workers, and the elite. The rural peasantry, who had not owned the land they worked since before the Spanish takeover, and industrial workers had a history of rebellion in Mexico, and workers had a growing power as Diaz worked to modernize and industrialize the country.

The elite outside Mexico City were often hostile to Diaz because of their lack of political power, and they often joined with the poor to rebel. Nationalism, and especially the reaction against U.S. intervention, helped push distinct groups to support revolutionary forces together.

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6d. Compare how violence functioned in the Mexican, American, and French revolutions

  • Which groups in each revolution used violence, against whom, and what were their ends?
  • According to Weber's definition of legitimate violence, which groups had the right to use violence (see Unit 2)?

Revolutions are often defined by their violence. Groups and factions in each of the revolutions we have studied so far used violence to pursue their political and economic agenda and their governments responded in turn.

During the American Revolution, the colonists successfully used guerilla warfare tactics against the British government forces who typically responded with traditional forms of military force. During the French Revolution, revolutionary forces became famous for using extremely violent methods to instill a sense of fear in the population. Their tactics included public execution of conservative opponents and anti-revolutionaries, especially during the Reign of Terror. During the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa and others led peasants in violent revolts against large landholders. Leaders, such Victoriano Huerta attacked their rivals and assassinated competing leaders.

Since Max Weber argued that governments have the exclusive right to the legitimate use of violence, what would he think about the use of violence by revolutionary forces who become, or will become, the legitimate government?

Review the sources indicated for each of the three revolutions and compare their degree of violence, taking into account the general population, the duration of the revolution and other factors such as diseases.

Review The Legacy and Promise of the Mexican Revolution by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.


Unit 6 Vocabulary

  • Catholic Church
  • Doroteo Arango (Pancho Villa)
  • Emiliano Zapata
  • Francisco Madero
  • Mexican Constitution of 1917
  • Porfiriato
  • Porfirio Diaz
  • Ten Tragic Days
  • Victoriano Huerta
  • Venustiano Carranza
  • Zapatismo