History UsefulNotes / TheMexicanRevolution

A standoff broke out between the Maderista forces and the rebels. Madero recalled newly appointed General Felipe Ángeles, who had successfully brokered a truce with the Zapatistas in Morelos, to lead his loyal forces against the rebels. Ángeles was the perfect choice for this mission; while he had joined the army under the old regime, he had gotten himself into political trouble before the revolution (and was thus "[[ReassignedToAntarctica on an observation mission to France]]" when the revolution broke out), and was a convinced democrat and Maderista. Also, he was literally an artillery officer in a moment when artillery knowledge (both cannons and the then-new machine guns) was critical. But for some reason, Madero let himself get hung up on the technicality that Ángeles's appointment as general had not yet been formally approved by the Congress as a reason not to just have him take command right then. As a result, he relied on General Victoriano Huerta to command his loyal troops against the rebels.

With only military officers placed in government positions, political opposition from both sides regularly murdered by the army and police in public - the signature excuse being "they were shot while trying to escape"[[note]]An old Porfirian story, but one that Huerta's regime used way more often than Díaz's[[/note]] - and all government funding solely directed towards expanding the army, resentment towards Huerta grew more fierce each day. The liberals hated Huerta for his open contempt for civil liberties and the constitution, the conservatives (including Felix) hated Huerta because he'd banned all elections and solely wanted power for himself. Even the Zapatistas admitted that the paternalistic Díaz could be clever and had the good sense to leave Mexico when his time was up, while Huerta was simply a stupid thug trying to terrorize everyone into submission.

The causes of the war can be summed up as the people being angry with how the aging president Porfirio Díaz was managing the country. In his early years as President, he was considered a very capable one, handling the economy and industrialization of the country in such a way that Mexico managed to make up for all those years of civil strife in a decade, but at the expense of screwing the lower social classes and making it very hard for the middle class to go up in the social pyramid, creating a huge wealth gap between higher and lower classes. And then, at the second half of his presidential years, everything started to change for the worse, as the political scene started to stagnate and foreign industrialists in Mexico were given a lot of privileges. To sum it up, he violently put down several revolts of Yaqui and Mayo Indians in Sonora, and deported the survivors to plantations at Yucatán, where they were worked to death. Peasants were indebted to their landowners, and had all basic human rights stripped from them. There was no freedom of speech (though the clandestine press was quite big) though to make up for it, Díaz organized several "Democratic clubs" where people could rant about how much he sucked, [[BigBrotherIsWatching under strict vigilance]]. And also, many foreign companies and landowners were allowed to run their lands like feudal kingdoms, able to screw their employees in every way they wanted -- [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty sometimes literally]]. And also, he was always committing electoral fraud in every election (though his perennial challenger, Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda, was a bit odd, and never made much of an impact on the rest of the country).

Huerta, it turns out, was an ultraconservative arch-militarist who hated Madero's liberal face and the democratic ''burro'' he rode in on. It seems that Huerta opened backchannel communications with the rebels pretty quickly, schemed with the anti-Madero US ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson, and within a few days, the general was openly on the other side. And that was all it took.

The rest of the revolutionary leaders were pissed off by the fact that a democratically elected president was killed by a cowardly bully so vicious he made Díaz look preferable, so the battles started against Huerta as everyone turned on him. In the south, Emiliano Zapata hadn't stopped being in rebellion since the revolt against Díaz broke out in 1911, and Huerta's heavy-handed tactics had basically put every able-bodied man in Morelos and substantial swathes of the states of Puebla, Guerrero, and even México at his disposal. Meanwhile, the state governments of the northeastern state of Coahuila and the northwestern state of Sonora rejected Huerta's coup from the beginning. The Sonorans, under their military leader Álvaro Obregón, developed a firm base of operations throughout their state; the Coahuilans, led by the ex-Porfirian (but reformist) Governor Venustiano Carranza, quickly found themselves overwhelmed by Huerta's forces and ran to Sonora for refuge.

While Díaz was very authoritarian, he preferred a convincing democratic facade, and used diplomacy, civilian technocrats and a few military officers to run his government. No matter how shallow or flimsy they were, any concessions he made were tailored to carefully satisfy everyone, and Díaz had a very affable personality despite his repressive policies - striking textile workers of the Rio Blanco mill that were gunned down on Díaz's orders even wrote to him for his personal arbitration beforehand. Huerta hated cabinet meetings, treated all his civilian ministers like crap, regularly disdained any idea of elected government in favor of ''la mano nera'' (the iron hand), attempted to turn Mexico into an army with a state, and was a rude short-tempered alcoholic.

When finally, in 1908, Porfirio Díaz announced to the American reporter James Creelman that he was going to hold free elections in 1910, the people rejoiced. Francisco Ignacio Madero González, an upper class politician from the far northern state of Coahuila, decided to run for presidency to avenge his brother, who was killed during a democratic revolt in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He founded the Partido Antirreeleccionista (Anti-Reelectionist Party) after selling a lot of his possessions. He was regarded as a messiah of democracy by the people, who had grown tired of the constant political strong-arming by Díaz and his cronies. There were also some other Díaz's cronies who wanted to get in the presidential chair, but they weren't as popular as Madero himself.

Most surprising of all, Huerta was an enemy of the United States from day one, despite their ambassador to Mexico conniving to bring him into power in the first place. Huerta was so proudly anti-democratic that he was one of the few tinpot dictators they could not possibly support to protect their business interests, and anti-Huerta cartoons were popular in American publications. UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson would place an arms embargo on Mexico in August 1913, and had the US military famously occupy the port city of Veracruz in 1914 to punish Huerta for destroying Mexican democracy.

The Mexican Revolution was a conflict that raged (obviously) over UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} starting in 1910 and ending... well... anywhere from 1920 (with the military triumph and Álvaro Obregón) to 1940 (with the succession of Lázaro Cárdenas and the realization of many of the social promises of the revolution). It's considered the bloodiest conflict ever fought on Mexican soil (or, if you take the number of displaced, exiled, and disappeared people into the equation, the bloodiest fought on UsefulNotes/{{North America}}n soil[[note]]The other contender for the dubious title is of course UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar (which had more confirmed deaths but depending on how one counts may have had fewer overall casualties), in case you were wondering[[/note]]) with over one million casualties. It's also notable as the first social revolution of TheTwentiethCentury, beating Russia's [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober October Revolution]] by seven years. All of this war can be summed up in the following phases:

People rejoiced when Madero became president, as his youthful image and his charisma managed to bring a lot of the former people who worked for Díaz under his administration. However, many of these ex-Porfiriato men weren't really invested in Madero's revolution--especially the ones who only went over after he won. But for some reason, Madero insisted on listening to these guys instead of the people who'd had his back from the beginning. Probably this reflected a (somewhat legitimate) concern they'd try and topple his regime if he didn't placate them. However, this policy of listening to his enemies while ignoring his friends and allies understandably pissed off those friends and allies--most especially Emiliano Zapata and his band of agrarian socialist revolutionaries in Morelos (a south-central state extremely close to Mexico City[[note]]The capital of Morelos, Cuernavaca, has long been a summertime retreat for the rich families of Mexico City. With modern highways, it's only a 90-minute drive from the capital; in the early 20th century, that would be a 2-4-hour train ride.[[/note]]).

People rejoiced when Madero became president, as his youthful image and his charisma managed to bring a lot of the former people who worked for Díaz under his administration. However, many of these ex-Porfiriato men weren't really invested in Madero's revolution--especially the ones who only went over after he won. But for some reason, Madero insisted on listening to these guys instead of the people who'd had his back from the beginning. Probably this reflected a (somewhat legitimate) concern they'd try and topple his regime if he didn't placate them. However, this policy of listening to his enemies while ignoring his friends and allies understandably pissed off those friends and allies--most especially Emiliano Zapata and his band of agrarian socialist revolutionaries in Morelos (a south-central state extremely close to Mexico City).

* in the ''ComicBook/{{XIII}}'' album "Recap/XIIIThreeSilverWatches", the eponymous hero gets told about three brothers from his family who took part in the Revolution and stole a treasure, which they then hid in a remote location. He goes hunting for that treasure in "Recap/XIIIMaximiliansGold".

The Mexican Revolution was a conflict that raged (obviously) over UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} starting in [[TheEdwardianEra 1910]] and ending...well...anywhere from [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920]] (with the military triumph and Álvaro Obregón) to [[TheForties 1940]] (with the succession of Lázaro Cárdenas and the realization of many of the social promises of the revolution). It's considered the bloodiest conflict ever fought on Mexican soil (or, if you take the number of displaced, exiled, and disappeared people into the equation, the bloodiest fought on North American soil[[note]]The other contender for the dubious title is UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar (which had more confirmed deaths but depending on how one counts may have had fewer overall casualties), in case you were wondering[[/note]]) with over one million casualties. It's also notable as the first social revolution of the 20th century, beating the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober October Revolution]] by seven years. All of this war can be summed up in the following phases:

* Season 9 of Creator/MikeDuncan's podcast ''Podcast/{{Revolutions}}'' (aired August 2018-March 2019) is a narrative history of the Mexican Revolution. In terms of length, it is roughly tied for fourth place with Season 5 on the [[UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWarsOfIndependence South American Wars of Independence]], at 27 episodes each[[note]]They both come after the [[UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions Russian]] [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Revolution]] at 103 episodes, UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution at 55 episodes plus 5 supplementals, the UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 at 32 episodes[[/note]]--though Season 5 did have one supplemental, Season 9's count includes a double-length episode, and it ''feels'' longer and more epic, somehow. Duncan was very excited to do this revolution, and had planned to include it from the very beginning of the series some five years earlier, so the history is quite detailed.

!!The Causes

When finally, in 1908, Porfirio Díaz announced to the American reporter James Creelman that he was going to hold free elections in 1910, the people rejoiced. Francisco Ignacio Madero González, an upper class politician from Coahuila, decided to run for presidency to avenge his brother, who was killed during a democratic revolt in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He founded the Partido Antirreeleccionista (Anti-Reelectionist Party) after selling a lot of his possessions. He was regarded as a messiah of democracy by the people, who had grown tired of the constant political strong-arming by Díaz and his cronies. There were also some other Díaz's cronies who wanted to get in the presidential chair, but they weren't as popular as Madero himself.

!!Overthrowing Díaz
On November 20th, 1910, Francisco I. Madero called all Mexicans to arms against Díaz's illegal government. This was taken to heart by many factions who were against Díaz's increasingly erratic government policies. The whole conflict against Díaz ended quickly, as no one really wanted him there. At the end, Díaz exiled himself to France (ironically, the country he fought against with such fervor 50 years before), though not before making that quote at the top of the page.

!!Madero's Presidency

!!Decena Trágica (The Ten Tragic Days)

On February 9, 1913, several Army detachments revolted in Mexico City, all of them trying to oust Madero from power. However, during the coup, a loyalist Army officer saw many soldiers bringing machine guns into the city, and raised the alarm at the National Palace. Then, all hell broke loose in Mexico City, as every side was paranoid and shot at everything that moved. In the confusion, Bernardo Reyes--who at the start of the plot seemed the most likely to come out on top--was shot and killed by forces loyal to the Madero regime.

This was a big mistake.

-->--'''Porfirio Díaz''', before going into exile

Most surprising of all, Huerta was an enemy of the United States from day one, despite their ambassador to Mexico conniving to bring him into power in the first place. Huerta was so openly anti-democratic that he was one of the few tinpot dictators they could not possibly support to protect their business interests, and anti-Huerta cartoons were popular in American publications. UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson would place an arms embargo on Mexico in August 1913, and had the US military famously occupy the port city of Veracruz in 1914 to punish Huerta for destroying Mexican democracy.