The Mexican Revolution

Before 1910, Mexico was controlled by General Porfirio Diaz, a man who stayed president due to his rigged elections and forced suppression. In 1910, Francisco Madero ran against him in an election and gained a lot of support. Diaz decided to arrest him in order to win, and once he did, Madero fled to Texas. There, he tried to encourage a revolt against Diaz but failed. Instead, he hired an bands of peasant guerillas in northern and southern Mexico. Pancho Villa was the commander in the North while Emiliano Zapata, an Indian leader, raised a 5,000 man army in the south.

Emiliano Zapata had created a 5,000 man army in the south, which defeated the Mexican Army in 1911. This made Diaz flee to Europe, leaving Madero to become president. However, this presidency was short and unstable. He had lost support from Zapata due to refusing the return of land, industrial workers made unions and were on strike, and Diaz supporters revolted.

Madera mainly lost his support once he added taxes to Mexico's oil industry, which was controlled by the US and Britain. US President William Howard Taft supported General Victoriano Huerta and placed US troops in the Gulf of Mexico and the border. In February 1913, Huerta forced Madero to resign but later executed him, becoming president. Those who were loyal to Madero, which were Venustiano Carranza, Villa, Zapata, and Alvaro Obregon, all rebelled against Huerta.

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson sent arms to support the pro-Carranza rebels. After this US aid in the rebellion, Huerta was defeated, making him flee. Carranza then declared himself president in 1914, making Villa and Zapata turn against him. They were soon defeated by him in 1915.

New President Carranza wrote the new Constitution of 1917 that placed many new reforms, such as land being redistributed, setting minimum wages and maximum work hours, government social programs, workers' rights, an education system, and freedom of religion.

Carranza failed to enact the majority of the reforms written in the Constitution of 1917. The lower class reacted to this by backing Obregon as the president of 1920. Carranza tried to arrest him but instead made violence break out. As Carranza tried to flee, he was found and killed, leaving Obregon to become president in the first fair election.

In 1928, Obregon was elected for president for the second time but was assassinated. Plutarcho Calles formed a political party named the National Revolutionary Party. Using the party, he put three presidents in office and invited people of many backgrounds to join.

In 1934, leaders of the National Revolutionary Party forced Calles to nominate radical reformer, Lazaro Cardenas, as the presidential candidate. He was elected and put into place the reforms promised in the Constitution of 1917. He took the railroad and oil industries from foreign control and nationalized them. He also made the National Revolutionary Party larger and increased peasants' power. This party then controlled the government of Mexico for the rest of the century.