Revolution in Mexico – Civil War

The Mexican Revolution began on November 20th, 1910 and continued until 1920. This revolution was rooted in conflicts dealing with colonialism and land ownership. Workers uprose to fight for their right to gain wealth from the land they worked on, rather than the wealthy land-owners receiving all of the profit. The revolution was led by Franscisco “Pancho” Villa in the north and Emiliano Zapata in the south. Zapata fought in support of land reform.

Revolution began when individuals began to question the current dictator of 34 years, Porfirio Diaz. In 1910, Fransisco I. Madero wrote and distributed a plan for uprise starting on November 20th that called to replace Diaz with a temporary government. This uprise led to an armed struggle in the north of Mexico led by Pascual Orozco and Francisco “Pancho” Villa. During this time, Zapata was gathering supporters in the south to fight for the peasant’s right for land ownership.

On May 25, 1911, Diaz resigned and fled Mexico, allowing Madero to take his place as president. However, Madero was assassinated by Victoriano Huerta in early 1913. Huerta took power after the assassination, but was widely unpopular as a leader. In light of this struggle, the United States sent Marines to support the revolutionaries in 1914, causing Huerta to resign from his position.

Following Huerta’s presidency, Venustiano Carranza called for a conference of leaders to discuss Mexico’s future in the wake of revolution. A supreme law of Mexico was written by Carranza and his followers, which was approved in 1917. However, Carranza failed to uphold the promises written in his constitution, and was consequently assassinated. The final president to come to power was General Álvaro Obregón, ending the Revolution. Under Obregón, José Vasconcelos was appointed secretary of education, paving the future of Mexican Muralism.