The Mexican Revolution 1910–20

The Mexican Revolution was a bitter and bloody civil war which saw a number of rival armies fight for control of this impoverished country over a ten-year period. During the course of the conflict between 1910 and 1920, perhaps one million Mexicans lost their lives — some in battle, others by execution, but the great majority from hunger and disease.

Before 1910 Mexico had been ruled for 34 almost unbroken years by Porfirio Diaz, a former Republican general who had been involved in the overthrow of the French–installed Austrian Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian, in 1867. Diaz ruled Mexico as virtual dictator from 1876 until his overthrow in 1911. Throughout the years when Diaz held power the Mexican economy performed well, at the expense of the ordinary working man, whose living conditions worsened considerably. In grim fact, the average Mexican was worse off in economic terms in 1910 then he had been in 1810; for most workers wages were lower in 1910 than they had been ten years before, with agricultural laborers earning 35 cents a day in 1899 compared with 26 cents in 1910. Mexico’s wealth was in the hands of the ruling families; just 1 percent of the population controlled 85 percent of the nation's riches.

Not surprisingly, these injustices created a liberal opposition who began to challenge Diaz's hold on power. The leaders of this opposition came from amongst the ruling classes, and prominent among them was Francisco I. Madero, a 37–year–old businessman and lawyer who was a member of the fifth richest family in Mexico. Madero challenged Diaz from a prison cell in the 1910 election, and although unsuccessful, he became the focus of support from various anti–Diaz rebels. Madero was released from prison and escaped across the border into the USA, from where he emerged in November 1910 to start an armed insurrection. What followed was ten years of armed struggle, which was to tear Mexico apart and to cause untold suffering for the Mexican people.