The Mexican revolution was the first major Socio-Political Revolution of the 20th century. It lasted for a decade and was at least as bloody as the Spanish Civil War of a quarter of a century later, the population of-the country falling from 15 to 12 million between 1910 and 1920. Unlike the later Spanish conflict it attracted only minimal and peripheral foreign intervention and remained largely a domestic affair has ensured that the names of the main participants -- Zapata, Villa, Huerta and others -- are almost universally known. The same cannot however be said for the causes of the Revolution, its conduct or its outcome. This article endeavours to remedy this and give at least an outline of the circumstances which precipitated a decade of blood-letting and the course of the Military and Political events during that period. INTRODUCTION After the defeat and execution of the French puppet Emperor Maximilian, Beni to Juarez, the leader of the Mexican nationalists and constitutional President of Mexico, set about the conversion of the country from an anarchic post-colonial state into a modern nation, giving it its first truly stable government since independence. Juarez was re-elected President in 1871 but died the following year, the first Mexican President to die from natural causes. A rebellion against the next elected President gave Porfirio Diaz, a prominent republican general of the war against the French and Maximilian, the opportunity to establish himself as President. Diaz was to rule Mexico as absolute dictator from 1876 to 1911, with a brief inter-regum in 1830-84 when another general was permitted to hold office in deference to Diaz's promise not to succeed himself. Although autocratic and corrupt, Diaz provided 34 years of stable government during which the economy flourished and foreign investment increased although at the cost of a worsening of the already wretched conditions of the Indian peasants and the growing urban working classes. Popular disaffection, manifested in a series of strikes, increased during the early years of the 20th century, inflamed by the polemical writings of Francisco Madero, a liberal aristocrat who unsuccessfully challenged Diaz for the presidency, from prison, during the 1910 election. Released from prison, Madero fled to the United States from where he provided the ideological background to the revolts of the Indian tenant farmer Emiliano Zapata, in the south and the Mestizo bandit, Doroteo Arango, better known as "Pancho Villa" in the north. The successes of the rebels sparked off army revolts and rioting, causing Diaz to flee the country on May 25th, 1911. Madero was elected President in November 1911 but proved to be inept if well meaning, soon being denounced by Zapata as unfit to govern. More Mexican Revolution Introduction Fall of Diaz, Madero as President Murder of Madero, Huerta Hijacks the Presidency US Intervention and Carranza Becomes President Decline of Villa, Rise of Obregon, and Pershing Expedition Carranza Triumphant: Murder of Zapata and Eclipse of Villa Appendix 1: Mexican Army of Revolutionary Period Appendix 2: Mexican Navy of Revolutionary Period Appendix 3: Mexican Air Force of Revolutionary Period Back to Table of Contents -- El Dorado Vol V No. 3 Back to El Dorado List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by The South and Central American Military Historians Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com