Punitive Expedition in Mexico, 1916-1917

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Introduction
It is 9 March 1916, very early in the morning a big group of Mexican revolutionaries loyal to Francisco (Pancho) Villa was heading towards the town of Columbus, NM. A raid was in the works and the events that were about to take place in that border town were unknown by the detachment of U.S. soldiers from the 13th Cavalry Regiment guarding the post.

History
Just a year after the Mexican revolution started relations between Mexico and the United States became tense after the resignation of the president Porfiro Diaz in 1911. The United States was seeking opportunity to take advantage of Mexican oil and mineral resources. Mexico's problems were not only associated with the United States. Great Britain and Germany had collective interest in Mexico’s economy. When Francisco I. Madero was recently elected after Porfiro Diaz, his anti-American strategy was revealed. This was noted the by United States, and with some help from American diplomats opposition groups were seeking his succession. Later on Francisco I. Madero was assassinated by Victoriano Huerta operatives.
Huerta dissolved the legislature and established a military dictatorship. His rule was both inefficient and severely repressive, and he was almost immediately confronted with opposition from constitutionalist forces led by Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon, Pancho Villa, and Emiliano Zapata. They won the support of Woodrow Wilson, the newly elected U.S. president, who refused to recognize Huerta.1 The United States supported revolutionary groups that opposed Victoriano Huerta. Among the resistance was leader Doroteo Arango best known as Pancho Villa.
After Huerta exiled in 1914 Venustiano Carranza gained the presidency of Mexico as a provisional govern...

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...-handed, despite its military power and sophisticated equipment. A wrong tactic was to display muscle in military employment and technology, not to understand the population, and to win the support of the foreign government. Even when the operation failed to capture Villa, it did provide a valuable training experience for all the men who took part. One of the largest American military operations since the Civil War, it provided lessons to be utilized later on during World War I.

Works Cited

Aguirre Botello, Manuel. Pancho Villa Ataca Columbus, 1916. Web, 2001

Lacey, Jim. Pershing. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Pelaez Ramos, Gerardo. La Expedicion Punitiva. EU contra Villa y contra Mexico. Web. 2010 .

Promeet, Dutta. Wallenfeldt, Jeff. Young, Grace. Victoriano Huerta. Web. 2014.

Vandiver, Frank E. Black Jack. Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1977.

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