A Revolution In Mexico Essay Research Paper

A Revolution In Mexico Essay, Research Paper A Revolution in Mexico Much of Mexico’s history for the decade of 1910-1920 was recorded by hundreds of photographers. Using glass plate cameras and early cut film cameras, primitive by today’s standards, the photographers faced injury and death to take pictures that would serve as a remembrance to the people involved in the civil war or anyone on either side of the U.S.-Mexican border. Some of the views were obviously posed to portray certain views. Others showed the death and destruction resulting from the violence of a nation involved in a bloody civil war. These pictures help us to remember or learn about the past, but by far the most effective way to understand the Mexican Revolution is to hear the stories from a survivor.

Tomas Zepeda is one such man. Many times the revolution spilled across the border or involved U.S. military forces. The United States occupied Vera Cruz for nearly seven months in 1914 after Mexican officials arrested an American seaman. In 1916, Mexicans raided Glenn Springs, Texas, and Pancho Villa and his army crossed the border at Columbus, New Mexico, burned part of the town and killed seventeen soldiers and civilians. President Woodrow Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing to lead a “Punitive Expedition” into Mexico to kill or capture Villa. Villa eluded Pershing, and after eleven months the expedition returned to the United States. At age 13, Zepeda joined General Pablo Gonzales to fight for Venustiano Carranza. This article will tell the story of the Mexican

Revolution through the eyes of the soldier who survived the war. For most of Mexico’s developing history, a small minority of the people were in control of most of the country’s power and wealth, while the majority of the population worked in poverty. The two prominent leaders of the revolution were Emiliano Zapata, in Central Mexico; and Pancho Villa in the North. Emiliano Zapata was born on Aug. 8, 1879, in Anenecuilco, Mexico. He was a Mexican revolutionary, champion of agrarianism, and a soldier during and after the Mexican Revolution. In 1897 he was arrested because he took part in a protest by the peasants of his village against the hacienda that had appropriated their lands. After obtaining a pardon, he continued agitation among the peasants, and was forced into being

drafted into the army. Francisco Indalecio Madero (1873-1913), a landowner of the North, president of Mexico from 1911 to 1913 was champion of democracy and social reform. Madero led the revolution that swept through Mexico and overthrew the Porfirio Diaz regime, but he failed to implement notable reforms. Revolts broke out, and General Victoriano Huerta treacherously assassinated Madero’s brother, seized power, and arrested and imprisoned Madero. He was killed while allegedly attempting to escape. Francisco Madero, had lost the elections in 1910 to the dictator Porfirio Diaz and had fled to the United States, where he proclaimed himself president. Madero reentered Mexico with the help of many peasant guerrillas. Zapata and his followers decided to support Madero. In March 1911

Zapata’s tiny force took the city of Cuautla and closed the road to Mexico City. A week later, Diaz resigned and left for Europe, appointing a provisional president. Zapata, with 5,000 men, entered Cuernavaca, capital of the state of Morelos. Madero insisted on the disarmament of the guerrillas and offered Zapata compensation so that he could buy land, an offer that Zapata rejected. Zapata began to disarm his forces but stopped when the provisional president sent the army against the guerrillas. Madero was elected president in August 1911, and Zapata met with him again but without success. Zapata had a plan to return land to the peasants. Madero received opposition from Zapata who did not want to wait for the orderly implementation of Madero’s land reforms. In November of the