U.S. Intervention at Vera Cruz: Fall of Huerta In the early stages of the battle for Tampico a minor incident involving the arrest and rapid subsequent release of some U.S. naval personnel escalated, resulting through a bizarre process of escalation in the U.S. occupation of Vera Cruz which was actively resisted by the Federal garrison who suffered considerable casualties. This almost united the Constitutionalists with the Federals in defence against a common invader, only the common sense of Villa preventing Carranza and Obregon from common cause with their enemy. The incident did provoke intense diplomatic activity by the South American "Big Three", Argentina, Brazil and Chile, ultimately bringing further pressure to bear on the Huerta Government. On a military level events were also continuing to go against Huerta, Monterrey falling on April 14th, followed by Tampico on May 14th, only Saltillo continuing to holdout in the north. Against his own better judgement, Villa, who was preparing for the final advance on Mexico City, allowed himself to be persuaded by Carranza to attack Saltillo. Villista forces captured Paredon, the main outpost of the defences of Saltillo, garrisoned by 5,000 Federal troops, on May 17th and three days later Saltillo itself fell. The smouldering differences between Villa and Carranza as respectively the military and political leaders of the Constitutionalist faction, now came to a head and a major rift occurred. Villa having resigned the command of the "Division del Norte", the most important formation of the Constitutionalist army, his lieutenants refused to choose a successor, eventually persuading him to resume command and on June 23rd the Villistas, now numbering 23,000, took Zacatecas, garrisoned by 12,000 Federal troops. Villa's further advance was however prevented by the lack of coal for his rail transport and meanwhile Obregon's Division of the NorthWest took Guadalajara on July 6th, provoking the resignation of Huerta, who fled into exile on July 17th 1914. Carranza Becomes President The way was now open for Carranza to assume the office of President and he entered the capital in triumph on August 13th, three days after Obregon had arrived with the first Constitutionalist troops. Zapata who had borne the main brunt of the Military operations in the south and whose troops were already in the southern suburbs of Mexico City, had never recognized Carranza, whilst the latter's rejection of Villa, ensured that the three-year-old civil- war was now split three ways. In the north, fighting broke out again almost immediately between the supporters of Carranza and those of Villa. A revolutionary Convention, held at Aguascalientes in October and November, voted to expel Carranza from the presidency and replace him by the relatively unknown but widely acceptable Eulalio Gutierrez. Refusing to resign, as he had originally offered when the possibility of the acceptance of the offer had seemed slight, Carranza withdrew to Vera Cruz which the U.S. forces had abandoned on November 23rd, Obregon reluctantly continuing to support him in the face of the open defiance of Villa and Zapata. The Zapatistas now occupied Mexico City, Zapata and Villa meeting at Xochimilco on December 4th to agree a plan of campaign against Carranza that involved a pincer movement against Vera Cruz, with the Villistas attacking from the north-west and the Zapatistas from the south-east. Puebla was taken by the Zapatistas before Christmas but then halted 200 miles short of their main objective. Villa, fearful of his straggling line of communications, also faltered, spending Christmas in the capital. In the New Year fighting broke out again between Carrancista and Villista factions in the north and while Villa was occupied elsewhere Obregon reorganized the Constitutionalist forces as the "Army of Operations". Puebla was retaken from the Zapatistas, on January 5th, 1915, after a six day battle, while a second Carrancista force pushed to within 60 miles of Mexico City. By January 25th Obregon had reached Teotihuacan, 30 miles from the capital, this he entered three days later after the retreat of the Zapatista garrison. Obregon however abandoned Mexico City on March 9th, the city being reoccupied almost immediately by the Zapatistas. 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