Mexican Revolution -How did it begin?
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In 1876, Porfirio Diaz became the president of Mexico. His presidency lasted up until 1910, the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Diaz promoted laws that favored the rights of foreigners, especially rich investors from Germany and the United States. He treated the Mexican workers terribly. He used to use enforcers called "Rurales" (rural police force) to keep control of the people. If the Rurales caught the people speaking against Diaz, they shot them on the spot or sent them to work in plantations and worked them as slaves. The citizens lived in poverty and were terrorized by the government. Then the Flores-Magon brothers came along, Ricardo and Enrique, and they were the men who were brave enough to speak up against Diaz's corruption. They declared a "Mexico para los Mexicanos." The Flores-Magon brothers started the Partido Liberal Mexicano, a Mexican Liberal Organization to fight against Diaz. This allowed the people to finally try and fight for their rights. Don Porfirio responded by sending in the military to kill the people. The brothers were forced to exile in the U.S., but they are credited for being important roles in starting the revolution.
[Top picture: Porfirio Diaz Bottom: Flores-Magon brothers] |
In 1910, Don Porfirio was driven out of Mexico, and he left to France and never returned. A new man came into power, Francisco Madero. At first Madero was very strong about the idea of democracy, and had previously gotten into trouble for believing so firmly in it. Once he came to power however, he was no different from Diaz's rule, he still took care of only the rich because it was the class in which his family lived in. The people were disappointed to see that things did not change for the better with a new ruler. His general, Victoriano Huerta did not respect him, and soon enough he arrested Madero, overthrew him, and declared himself president in February of 1913. Huerta was an even worse dictator than Diaz, and quickly earned the hatred of the Mexicans. A year later, Huerta was beaten and forced to resign, and another man Venustiano Carranza declared himself president and announced that the revolution was over. Two leaders came to represent the poor in Mexico, Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Emiliano Zapata. They did not agree when Carranza declared the revolution was over. Once in power, Carranza killed Zapata because he seen him as a threat. Álvaro Obregon, Carranza's general, rose against Carranza for murdering Zapata. Carranza was assassinated in 1920, and Obregon saw his chance to take power. Later that year, he became the next president of Mexico. In order to make sure Villa did not take over, he planned to have Villa assassinated. Obregon served from 1920-1924, he kept some of the promises of the revolution but not all of them. In the end, the rich still stayed in power and the poor continued to suffer.
[Venustiano Carranza ] [Francisco "Pancho" Villa] [Emiliano Zapata] [Alvaro Obregon]