Doroteo Arango Arambula, better known as Pancho Villa was an intelligent man that had the chance to defeat the oppressive corrupt Mexican government. Pancho Villa was born into a lower-class family that worked in the fields. He later became a revolutionary figure that went from being poor into a well-known revolutionary hero for many of the Mexican people. Pancho Villa was able to outsmart troops to help peasants and fight for the equality in Mexico. In his earlier life he committed many crimes that he could not make up for, but when it came to his revolutionary war commander skills he was unstoppable. Pancho Villa became a very important factor in the Mexican revolution due to his involvement in it. He was one of the first revolutionaries …show more content…
that fought against the corrupt Mexican regime and won against the United States government. He believed in delivering the poor influence and empowering them to fight for their rights. Although he was known for his crimes and being a bandit, he was not born into a life of crime. In his early life Villa’s sister was almost raped by a wealthy man and Villa had no other option but to kill the aggressor. This led Villa to changing his name and hiding in the mountains in order to not be captured by the police.
Over the years he became a modern Robin Hood that caught the attention of Francisco I. Madero. He would be sneaky and take from the rich to give generous amounts of money to the poor. He was very popular amongst the lower classes in Mexico. Madero promised to change the lower class if they fought alongside him against the regime of Porfirio Diaz. Many were willing to sacrifice and fight for the equality and wish to see Mexican government honor their rights. Pancho Villa agreed to take on the fight and attempt to overturn the regime of Porfirio Diaz and later Venustiano Carranza. Having come from a peasant class, he understood the struggles of his people and he hated to see them being exploited by the corrupt government. He joined a team of bandits who raided the wealthy and distributed their wealth amongst the lower classes. Although he was seen as criminal from the rich point of view, the lower-class people saw him as a hero who stood for equal rights. His followers had faith in his experience and smart guerrilla warrior and fought with him against the harming …show more content…
government. In his article Gomez-Quinonez mentions “Francisco Villa (1878-1923) led a movement in defense of people’s equities and autonomies in the face of domestic and foreign oppressions, which were linked to worldwide relations of exploitation, production and trade. A popular hero for many Mexican people, he may be viewed as a social reformer, as a man of direct populist action. ‘An aspect of his historical popularity is the view of him as justice giver of others and a just person in his own right, as a man of ethics practicing a commendable populist morality rooted in a local culture of northern Mexico. But beyond this, he is seen as a person of the people; in his context, that means a person of rural and indigenous roots, a farmer or ranchero of Indio-mestizo background. To this day, his popularity has persisted both in Mexico and the United States, a popularity rooted in his actions and the positive interpretations of them by the people” (1) Villa stood for the rights of the people and was seen very clearly as a hero and a revolutionary who stood against the long regime of Diaz. He was just like one of the peasants, but he was brave enough to lead revolts and lead the people into the revolution alongside Madero and Orozco. Although he was merciless, Pancho Villa could not afford to show merciless toward traitors under his command or rivals. Pancho Villa was a Mexican revolutionary leader who helped the poor and wanted a reform from the Porfiriato. Although Pancho Villa was a killer, a bandit and a revolutionary leader he will always be remembered as a hero. The Mexican Revolution began in Mexico in November of 1910 and was the first big social revolution in Mexican history. Francisco I. Madero and Venustiano Carranza were known for their campaigns of need for political reform. Meanwhile Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata were well-known by the people for growing their demands of the lower classes and urban workers for major social and economic reforms. Almost all the people that were involved in the revolution opposed against foreign countries investing in Mexico. The major target on the revolutionaries’ eyes was General Porfirio Diaz who governed Mexico for over 30 years since 1870. Ironically, he led a revolt of his own in 1876 and his slogan was against re-election. He then became president in 1877 emphasizing the principal of no re-election that was the reason he won the people’s votes. Initially Diaz honored his slogan by stepping down from the presidency in 1880 to let Manuel Gonzalez his successor take his place. However, Gonzalez was a puppet of Diaz who manipulated him into making the decisions he wanted to make. Diaz later re-elected term after term until 1910 and he justified these continued terms by the political stability and economy of the country. Although he brought a lot of foreigners to invest in Mexico, this only harmed the lower classes and beneficiate the high classes. In “Porfirio Diaz” it is mentioned “Díaz sold three quarters of the nation's mineral resources to foreign interests and apportioned millions of acres among friendly hacendados. The peasants, far from obtaining social justice, lost more of their communal lands; half of the entire rural population was bound to debt slavery. Opposition and discontent grew rapidly in the last decade of Díaz's rule. In 1909, Díaz declared his intention to restore democratic rule, yet his fraudulent reelection the following year demonstrated his promises empty, and sparked a revolution headed by Francisco I. Madero. In 1911, Díaz was forced to flee the country; he died in exile.” Diaz had ruled over 30 years and people were tired of his regime, therefore Madero decided to run against him provoking a revolt. The presidential election of 1910 provided the background of the Mexican Revolution. Francisco I. Madero was from the high classes and was supported by Diaz, however Porfirio did not give Madero a choice of free election o the vice-president who would succeed him and therefore Madero decided to run from president himself. Francisco I.
Madero campaign had a focal point against Diaz and his re-election slogan. Since Madero kept saying harming things towards Diaz’s reputation Diaz decided to throw Madero in Jail until the elections of 1910 were over. Just like the previous elections, Diaz won against Madero and this one set forth his Revolutionary Plan in the Plan of San Luis Potosi, named for the city in which he was in jail. The plan provided the concerns of Madero primarily in Mexico’s political problems and the transition to a new government. Initially Madero did not create this plan for a social and economic reform. His plan however did offer the lower classes help, but it only demanded the private owners to return the traditional land to the peasants and giving the urban working-class land for better working conditions. Although Madero’s effort to lead the revolution failed at first, many other rebellions occurred throughout Mexico under Madero’s banner when he was in San Antonio. Emiliano Zapata stood up and revolted in south Mexico or an agrarian reform. The north revolt was lead by Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco. Madero later returned to Mexico in early 1911 and resumed his leadership of the revolt against the Mexican regime. The northern forces had their attention in capturing Ciudad Juarez in the border of Mexico and the United States. El Paso and Juarez are separated by the Rio Grande. Rebel forces that were led by Villa and Orozco capture Juarez. In his book Lansford mentions
“Another sort of panic had seized General Pascual Orozco. That damned pelado-that ignorant savage, villa-had stolen a march on him, and now was racing up the Acequia Madre-the empty irrigation canal which led from Hat’s Mill Dam, in El Paso, down through Juarez, and behind the very trenches Villa had just taken. That black devil-he had plotted his attack down to the last details! This was no accident. Without orders from Madero, Orozco threw his own troops west against stiff federal machinegun fire. By then Madero knew there was no holding back and had committed Colonel Garibaldi’s forces to those of Colonel Jose de la Luz Blanco, who charged by the southwest. But it was Pancho Villa, himself, leading his men with smoking rifle and deadly grenades, who inspired the fight.” (81) Villa was a very important part of the Mexican Revolution because he stood up for his people and he had people that supported him and fought alongside him. Villa would lead his own troops his own way no matter what others decided. Madero’s election was the start of the end of the Mexican Revolution. After the Diaz was thrown off the power Madero took over the presidency but was suddenly murdered. In his book Marcovitz mentions “Villa finally made his way from exile in the United States back into Mexico on March 28,1913, after learning of Madero’s assassination and Huerta’s seizure of power. He seethed at the image in his mind of Victoriano Huerta presiding over the Mexican people. Other revolucionarios were also not happy with Huerta in power. In the south, Emiliano Zapata continued his raids on the haciendas, determined to wrest land away from the wealthy class for his peasant followers.” (44) Not that long after defeating the dictatorship of Diaz, Mexico had another intent of dictatorship Victoriano Huerta, who Villa also fought with the United States support. Victoriano Huerta was another General of the Military
Mexican Americans have been in this country longer than many groups of people. Although, they have been here longer, whites took thier land from them. Along with taking their land from them, they took all the pride that the Mexicans Americans had. It seemed that way until they started fighting for their rights in the early nineteen hundreds. Treaties were made that gave land rights to them and speeches were made by political leaders deeming this countries actions unjust. However, the treaties were ignored and the speeches were ploys to gain votes. Many Mexican American leaders noticed that their people were mistreated and walked all over by the anglo government.
Juan Cortina served as a part of the irregular cavalry during the Mexican War and participated in many major battles under General Arista of the Tamaulipas Brigade. It is likely that he was very popular among his fellow soldiers, as he would later return to the region as governor.
"After Mexico gained it's independence from Spain in 1821, it faced internal power struggles that left it in a volatile state of rebellion and instability for years." In 1846, the Mexican government, under the dictator Santa Anna, went to war with the United States. As an outcome of that war, Mexico lost a large amount of land--the land we now know as Texas. In 1854, Juan Alvarez and his troops led a successful revolt to drive Santa Anna out of power. One of Alvarez's strongest supporters was a man by the name of Benito Juarez, a Zapotec Indian leader. In 1855, Juarez became the minister of Justice under the new regime and issued two new controversial laws. One denied the right of the church and military courts to try civilian cases and the other made the sale and distribution of church lands legal. Many people disagreed with these laws and for three years a civil war raged between the two sides. In 1861 Juarez took control of the capital, Mexico City, and put his new Constitution into effect. Not only had Juarez's laws split the country, they had caused the civil war that left Juarez in debt to Spain, England, and France. The three countries were concerned about the debt, so they held a meeting in London, at which Spain and Britain decided to waive the debt in exchange for military control of the Custom House in Vera Cruz. France did not agree to these terms and invaded Mexico in 1861 in hopes of defeating the country and disposing of Juarez. The French troops--deemed among the best trained and equipped in the world--marched into the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862, expecting no resistance. The French army consisted of 6,000 men under the command of Marshal Lorencz. The French were met by an armed force of 2,000 peasants under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza. The Mexican guerilla forces successfully defended their positions and attacked and drove back the French forces. Victory, however, was short lived. Within a year, France had successfully conquered Puebla and the rest of Mexico, and went on ruling there until 1867 when Juarez was once again restored to power. He ruled the country until his death in 1872. Cinco de Mayo, therefore, does not celebrate Mexico's independence, rather it symbolizes "the right of the people to self determination and national sovereignty, and the ability of non-Europeans to defend those rights against modern military organizations.
Madero called for retirement of Diaz in carefully chosen words, “General Diaz knows perfectly well that his retirement from the presidency would be a benefit to the country…that leaving it free to form a new government in accordance with its aspiration and its needs” (21).
... There was a long list of leaders/presidents in the Mexican revolution. Some of them were not qualified one bit and didn’t know what it took. The less ready or qualified you were, the better chance you had of being killed or starting a war. The main man originally in this story was Porfirio Diaz
the land and yet it had such a weak economy and could use the money
...ur taken prisoners. As a result, Wilson prepared a letter to Congress demanding a full-scale war and an ultimatum was sent to Carranza, demanding the release of all American prisoners, which Mexico had already threatened to kill. Within days, all prisoners were released and all international bridges were seized. Although Carranza was finished, Pancho Villa was not ready to throw in the towel. Thus, he prepared for a series of attacks to come. General Pershing reported to Wilson of Villa’s repeated violence, but Villa continued, capturing many towns held by Carranzista forces. On January 1917, Pancho Villa gathered his forces to capture Toreon. In the end, hundreds of his men were dead and his defeat was seized upon by Wilson as a convenient way out of the problems in Mexico.
The character of Demetrio Macias proves to be quite ironic. One facet of his character reveals his determination to find Pancho Villa’s army, while the other side of his character parallels the extraordinary qualities Pancho Villa had as a hero. People viewed Pancho Villa as a revered hero who pushed out foreign "proprietors" and fought for the common man. On one hand, there is the compassionate man who helped those in need and rescued orphans providing them with food, education, and a home. On the other hand, there was the ferocious general who destroyed villages and killed innocent victims. Villa was generous and helpful to his followers, of which he insisted on loyalty and trust, but to those who violated his trust and authority, he was merciless and cruel. We can clearly see the similarities of these two leaders when we analyze their noble actions. Demetrio’s reluctance to stop ...
In 1910, Francisco Madero, a son of wealthy plantation owners, instigated a revolution against the government of president Díaz. Even though most of his motives were political (institute effective suffrage and disallow reelections of presidents), Madero's revolutionary plan included provisions for returning seized lands to peasant farmers. The latter became a rallying cry for the peasantry and Zapata began organizing locals into revolutionary bands, riding from village to village, tearing down hacienda fences and opposing the landed elite's encroachment into their villages. On November 18, the federal government began rounding up Maderistas (the followers of Francisco Madero), and only forty-eight hours later, the first shots of the Mexican Revolution were fired. While the government was confide...
Author Mariano Azuela's novel of the Mexican revolution, The Underdogs, conveys a fictional representation of the revolution and the effects it had on the Mexican men and women who lived during that time. The revolutionary rebels were composed of different men grouped together to form small militias against the Federalists, in turn sending them on journeys to various towns, for long periods of time. Intense fighting claimed the lives of many, leaving women and children behind to fend for themselves. Towns were devastated forcing their entire populations to seek refuge elsewhere. The revolution destroyed families across Mexico, leaving mothers grieving for their abducted daughters, wives for their absent husbands, and soldiers for their murdered friends. The novel's accurate depiction also establishes some of the reasons why many joined the revolution, revealing that often, those who joined were escaping their lives to fight for an unknown cause.
Madero’s role in the revolution was that he called for the Mexican Revolution to begin by writing the Plan de San Luis Potosí, and to use his troops, commanded by Villa and Orozco, to defeat Díaz at the Battle of Juárez in 1911. After that, Madero became the president of Mexico. Zapata was displeased by Madero’s inability to make land reforms for the peasant farmers. Zapata rose against Madero, but Huerta already turned against Madero and had Madero assassinated in 1913.
He found many loves, had many children, gained and lost the respect of another country, and changed much of the fate of his own country. After shooting a man who harassed his sister, Villa “fled, spending six years on the run in the mountains. While there, he joined a group of fugitives and became a bandit” (Biography.com Editors). As the head of the house, Pancho kept things in order as well as he could without a father to help him. When he fled to become a bandit, his whole life changed to that of an ordinary man to an outlaw. This is what could be known as Villa’s transformation into Mexico’s most well-known rebel generals. People like Celia Garza, however, transitioned in a much different way. When asked about the experience by her grandson, she simply told him, “I was inspired so I took action.” “In 1910, while still living as a fugitive, Pancho Villa joined Francisco's Madero successful uprising against Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz” (Biography.com Editors). Pancho’s crazy life led him from the life of a bandit to the life of a rebel general, respected by many who disagreed with the way the President ran the country. This in turn led to the fate of Mexico’s independence and a n immediate change in opinion towards the way Mexico was
In 1910, the first social upheaval of the 20th century was unleashed in Mexico. Known as the Mexican Revolution, its historical importance and impact inspired an abundance of internationally renowned South American authors. Mariano Azuela is one of these, whose novel, "The Underdogs" is often described as a classic of modern Hispanic literature. Having served as a doctor under Pancho Villa, a revolutionary leader of the era, Azuela's experience in the Revolution provides The Underdogs with incomparable authenticity of the political and social tendencies of the era between 1910 and 1920. The Underdogs recounts the living conditions of the Mexican peasants, the corruption of the government troops, and the revolutionary zeal behind the inspiring causes of the revolution. In vivid detail and honest truth, Azuela reveals the actuality of the extent of turmoil that plagued Mexico and its people during the revolution. However, before one can acknowledge The Underdogs as a reflection of the Mexican Revolution one must have an understanding the political state of Mexico prior to the Revolution and the presidents who reigned during it.
In 1876, Porfirio Diaz, an Indian general in the Mexican Army took control of the nation, and continued to be elected until 1910. This new era was too one way and started the Mexican Revolution. The government eventually allowed Mexico to fall into dictatorship that gave way to a new a powerful upper class. When Diaz came into power he had high hopes for Mexico's future, and established a stable government that rid the nation of crime. The quality of life improved around the towns and the cities.. The way the government worked was expanded when Diaz sent out his strong governors to rural areas. The military was made stronger by using more professional methods of training the soldiers. From this way of training came a military police force called the Rurales made of thousands of troops. This police force kept order and enforced Diazs' laws. Diaz also co...
The Mexican Revolution began November 20th, 1910. It is disputable that it extended up to two decades and seized more than 900,000 lives. This revolution, however, also ended dictatorship in Mexico and restored the rights of farm workers, or peons, and its citizens. Revolutions are often started because a large group of individuals want to see a change. These beings decided to be the change that they wanted to see and risked many things, including their lives. Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata are the main revolutionaries remembered. These figures of the revolution took on the responsibility that came with the title. Their main goal was to regain the rights the people deserved. The peons believed that they deserved the land that they labored on. These workers rose up in a vehement conflict against those opposing and oppressing them. The United States was also significantly affected by this war because anybody who did not want to fight left the country and migrated north. While the end of the revolution may be considered to be in the year of 1917 with the draft of a new constitution, the fighting did not culminate until the 1930’s.