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    WHP 7-1-8 Read - Mexican Revolution - 550L

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    The Mexican Revolution overthrew the long-time dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1911, but then splintered into a decade-long civil war as different factions fought over the political and social future of Mexico. It began as a political revolution but evolved into a social revolution as well, as groups like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa fought for land redistribution from wealthy landowners to poor peasants. The revolution ultimately established a liberal democracy and constitution with reforms like land redistribution, workers' rights, and universal education, but failed to fully deliver on its social promises.

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    WHP 7-1-8 Read - Mexican Revolution - 550L

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    petersmith1966
    11 views6 pages
    The Mexican Revolution overthrew the long-time dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1911, but then splintered into a decade-long civil war as different factions fought over the political and social future of Mexico. It began as a political revolution but evolved into a social revolution as well, as groups like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa fought for land redistribution from wealthy landowners to poor peasants. The revolution ultimately established a liberal democracy and constitution with reforms like land redistribution, workers' rights, and universal education, but failed to fully deliver on its social promises.

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    The Mexican Revolution overthrew the long-time dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1911, but then splintered into a decade-long civil war as different factions fought over the political and social future of Mexico. It began as a political revolution but evolved into a social revolution as well, as groups like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa fought for land redistribution from wealthy landowners to poor peasants. The revolution ultimately established a liberal democracy and constitution with reforms like land redistribution, workers' rights, and universal education, but failed to fully deliver on its social promises.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    11 views6 pages

    WHP 7-1-8 Read - Mexican Revolution - 550L

    Uploaded by

    petersmith1966
    The Mexican Revolution overthrew the long-time dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1911, but then splintered into a decade-long civil war as different factions fought over the political and social future of Mexico. It began as a political revolution but evolved into a social revolution as well, as groups like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa fought for land redistribution from wealthy landowners to poor peasants. The revolution ultimately established a liberal democracy and constitution with reforms like land redistribution, workers' rights, and universal education, but failed to fully deliver on its social promises.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 6

    The Mexican Revolution

    By Alejandro Quintana (adapted by Bennett Sherry)

    The Mexican Revolution overthrew a dictator in just six months, but


    for the next ten years, Mexican revolutionaries fought each other to
    determine the outcome of the revolution.
    550L
    The Mexican Revolution
    Alejandro Quintana and Bennett Sherry

    Two revolutions for the price of one


    The Mexican Revolution began in 1910. It was really two revolutions in one. It was a political revolution. But it was
    also a social revolution. That split led to years of fighting.

    What is the difference between political and social revolutions? Political revolutions aim to change the political
    system. Social revolutions aim to reshape the social order. They change property rights. They change who controls
    a nation’s wealth. Political revolutions only change a country’s political system. They leave social and economic
    systems in place.

    Liberal democracy and the spark of revolution, 1910-1913


    What caused the Mexican Revolution? It was kicked
    off by anger against President Porfirio Diaz. He was
    elected eight times in a row. Mexico claimed to be a
    democracy. But elections were not fair at all.1 Diaz
    could not lose. He was more like a dictator than a
    president.

    Diaz did other things that angered many. He opened


    Mexico to foreign businesses. By 1910, a quarter of all
    land in Mexico was owned by American companies.
    Other land was bought up by rich landowners. Little
    was left for Mexico’s natives and peasants.

    Diaz said he had a right to rule for so long because


    he was making the country richer. For years, he did
    did create a strong economy. But in the early 1900s,
    the economy began to fall apart.

    When Diaz ran for re-election in 1910, Francisco


    Madero decided he had had enough. Madero founded
    the Anti-Re-electionist Party.

    Diaz quickly threw Madero in jail. But Madero


    managed to escape to the United States. From Texas,
    Madero called for a revolution. Supporters rose up
    all across Mexico. Diaz was unable to stop them. On
    May 25, 1911, Diaz fled the country. Madero was then
    elected president. President Porfirio Diaz, in 1910. He was a general in the Mexican
    army during the Second Franco-Mexican War, which helps explain all
    the medals. Public domain.

    1 Most Mexican men had the right to vote. But Diaz passed several anti-democratic laws. These made it impossible for him to lose.
    2
    The Mexican Revolution
    Alejandro Quintana and Bennett Sherry

    A broadside celebrating the election of President Francisco Madero in 1911. Below an image of the president, rhyming text proclaims his
    virtues and describes Mexico City’s streets decorated with flowers and banners. By Antonio Vanegas Arroyo,
    from the Library of Congress. Public domain.

    Ten tragic days, February 1913


    Madero was a political revolutionary. He wanted to turn Mexico into a real democracy. He was not interested in
    major social change. But many of his followers were. Among them were social revolutionaries like Pancho Villa and
    Emiliano Zapata. Villa and Zapata fought for peasant and native communities. They wanted to redistribute land from
    rich landowners to peasants and native groups. In other words, they wanted to take land owned by the rich and give
    it to the poor. Both Zapata and Villa led their own revolutionary armies.

    Madero’s presidency was short-lived. He went too far for conservatives and not far enough for social
    revolutionaries. For example, he did not introduce land redistribution. That angered the social revolutionaries. After
    fifteen months in office, Madero was overthrown. He was executed on February 1913.

    General Victoriano Huerta then seized power. He declared himself military dictator. The army now ruled Mexico.
    There was no more democracy.

    3
    The Mexican Revolution
    Alejandro Quintana and Bennett Sherry

    The fight to define the Revolution, 1913-1920


    All Mexican revolutionaries hated Huerta. This made them join forces. Together, they defeated Huerta in July 1914.
    But soon after, they split apart again.

    On one side were the Conventionistas, a group that included Pancho Villa and Zapata. They wanted big economic
    and social reforms. On the other side were the Constitutionalistas, led by Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón.
    They wanted to create a liberal democracy. They were less willing to return land to peasants and natives.

    The two sides were unable to settle their differences. Soon, a civil war broke out. This was the revolution’s
    bloodiest period. From 1915 to 1917, one million people died in the fighting.

    In the end, the Constiutionalistas won out. They passed a constitution and elected Carranza president. The Mexican
    Constitution of 1917 laid out legal and political rights. It also promised land redistribution, more workers’ rights, and
    other social and economic changes. But most of these promises were not delivered.

    Pancho Villa (center) and Emiliano Zapata (with the large sombrero) in 1914. Public domain

    Consolidating the Revolution, 1920-1940


    The Mexican Revolution came to an end with the election of President Álvaro Obregón in 1920. By then, Zapata was
    dead. In 1919 he was killed on the orders of Carranza. Soon after, Carranza himself was killed. Pancho Villa retired
    in 1920. Three years later, he too was killed.

    4
    The Mexican Revolution
    Alejandro Quintana and Bennett Sherry

    Plutarco Calles became president after Obregón. He founded the National Revolutionary Party. That party stayed in
    power until 2000.

    In 1934, Lázaro Cárdenas became Mexico’s forty-fourth president. Cárdenas finally brought some of the social and
    economic changes promised by the 1917 constitution. Cárdenas strengthened workers’ rights. He redistributed over
    70,000 square miles of land.

    Revolutionary legacy
    The revolution caused the deaths of over
    a million people. But it brought many
    good changes to Mexico. The
    dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz was ended.
    The 1917 constitution gave Mexicans
    various political rights. In time, the
    revolution brought education for all. It
    brought more workers’ rights. It brought
    land redistribution.

    But change was limited. Things did


    not get better for everyone. Rich
    landowners kept most of their power.
    Even after land redistribution, most
    peasants remained poor.

    The Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City. By Haakon S. Krohn, CC BY-SA 3.0.

    5
    The Mexican Revolution
    Alejandro Quintana and Bennett Sherry

    Sources
    Buchenau, Jürgen. The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).
    Duncan, Mike. Season 9: The Mexican Revolution. Revolutions Podcast. Podcast audio. August 12, 2018—March 12, 2019. https://
    www.revolutionspodcast.com/
    Knight, Alan. The Mexican Revolution: A very Short Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
    Osten, Sarah. The Mexican Revolution’s Wake: The Making of a Political System, 1920–1929. (New York: Cambridge University
    Press, 2018).
    Richmond, Douglas W., and Haynes, Sam W., eds. The Mexican Revolution: Conflict and Consolidation, 1910-1940. (College Station:
    Texas A&M University Press, 2013).

    Alejandro Quintana and Bennett Sherry


    Alejandro Quintana is an associate professor of History at St. John’s University in New York City. His research and teaching
    focus on state formation, nation-building, nationalism, revolutions, and social movements, during the nineteenth and twentieth
    centuries.
    Bennett Sherry holds a PhD in History from the University of Pittsburgh and has undergraduate teaching experience in world
    history, human rights, and the Middle East at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Maine at Augusta. Additionally,
    he is a Research Associate at Pitt’s World History Center. Bennett writes about refugees and international organizations in the
    twentieth century.

    Image Credits
    Cover image: Zapatista’s and camp followers on the march to Xochimilco. © Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images
    President Porfirio Diaz, in 1910. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Porfirio_diaz.jpg
    A broadside celebrating the election of President Francisco Madero in 1911. Public domain. https://www.loc.gov/
    item/99615849/
    Pancho Villa (center) and Emiliano Zapata (with the large sombrero) in 1914. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/
    wiki/File:Gral._Urbina,_Gral._Villa,_Gral._Emiliano_Zapata._Mexico._12-6-14_(29803803913).jpg
    The Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City. By Haakon S. Krohn, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
    File:Monumento_a_la_Revolución_2.jpg

    The Lexile® Framework for Reading


    Articles leveled by Newsela have been adjusted along several The Lexile® Framework for Reading evaluates reading ability and
    dimensions of text complexity including sentence structure, text complexity on the same developmental scale. Unlike other
    vocabulary and organization. The number followed by L indicates measurement systems, the Lexile Framework determines reading
    the Lexile measure of the article. For more information on Lexile ability based on actual assessments, rather than generalized
    measures and how they correspond to grade levels: www.lexile. age or grade levels. Recognized as the standard for matching
    com/educators/understanding-lexile-measures/ readers with texts, tens of millions of students worldwide receive
    a Lexile measure that helps them find targeted readings from
    To learn more about Newsela, visit www.newsela.com/about. the more than 100 million articles, books and websites that have
    been measured. Lexile measures connect learners of all ages
    with resources at the right level of challenge and monitors their
    progress toward state and national proficiency standards. More
    information about the Lexile® Framework can be found at
    www.Lexile.com.

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