What Are The Six Stages Of The Mexican Revolution

639 Words2 Pages

Kyra Harr
March 5, 2015
Modern World History

Mexican Revolution: The Six Stages

“I would rather die standing than live on my knees”. Emiliano Zapata, a revolutionary leader in the Mexican Revolution, easily summarized the objective of the Mexican Revolution. However, despite all of the violence and movements, it is often suggested that not much has changed. Crane Brinton, while analyzing revolutions, theorized that all revolutions have six stages. In order to properly analyze the Mexican revolution, one should try and imagine it in six stages: The old regime, initial actions, rule of the moderates, rise of the extremists, reign of terror and virtue, and thermidor. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910, when Porfirio Diaz was forced to step down from power. When still in power, Diaz had modernized Mexican society by building mines, plantations, telegraph lines and railroads. He had, unlike the previous …show more content…

Carranza was supported by Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata: rebel leaders and revolutionaries. Together, Villa and Zapata promoted social reform, harassed the Mexican army, and fought the return of land to the indians. Villa in the North and Zapata in the south, they both gained control of their regions. In 1914, Huerta admitted defeat to Carranza and went into exile. Carranza and his military chief, Obregon, took power and then turned on Zapata and Villa. Zapata and Villa fought back to win Mexico City and control of the rail network. After hundreds of thousands of deaths, the rebels eventually admitted defeat, and both Villa and Emiliano Zapata were assassinated. Carranza then created a constitution in 1917, creating a constitutional republic. This constitution stated that a powerful president could not be reelected, the end of debt-peonage and declared the mineral wealth of Mexico a national asset. The constitution also tried to abolish the Catholic Church’s influence on the

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