Full transcript
0:00the Mexican Revolution is a defining
0:02historical event on modern Mexican
0:03history and one of the great Revolutions
0:05of the world it fundamentally shaped the
0:07country's path and preceded some of the
0:0920th Century's most important global
0:11social upheavals to find out why join me
0:14for this brief look at the history of
0:15the Mexican Revolution
0:17after its independence in 1821 Mexico's
0:20history had been one full of instability
0:22internal revolts and invasions including
0:24one by the United States which took half
0:26of its territory and another one by the
0:28French which occupied the country for
0:30nearly six years and very nearly
0:32succeeded even after kicking out the
0:34front in 1867 Mexico continued to
0:37experience rebellions and political
0:38upheaval and it was not until porfido
0:40Diaz took office after his own Revolt in
0:421876 that the country found some
0:44stability a ship so profound that this
0:46period came to be known as the
0:48porfiriato after the man himself Diaz
0:50achieved this through a combination of
0:52clientalism and violence a combination
0:54he called panopalo bread or stick where
0:57he would allow local bosses or Jesus
0:58politicos a lot of leeway in their local
1:00Affairs so long as they did not try to
1:02challenge him in turn this was upheld by
1:04an ideology of order and progress which
1:06was supposed to be based on the latest
1:08scientific theories like positivism thus
1:10not surprisingly the people advocating
1:12it in Mexico came to be known as
1:14scientificos or scientists an
1:16intellectual infinite mental Elite that
1:18would be at the center of the
1:19portfolianto their goal was to make
1:21Mexico's economically productive as
1:23possible using the latest Technologies
1:25problem was that after so much political
1:27turmoil the country lacked the necessary
1:29Capital so the Diaz regime opened the
1:31doors to American Finance soon enough
1:33the country became a wildly profitable
1:35Economy based around Mining and cash
1:37crops for export all sustained by Future
1:39haciendas and new infrastructure in
1:41roads ports and railroads Mexico was
1:44open for business and business was good
1:46especially for the scientificos and
1:48others close to the regime who would
1:49profit handsomely from the new system
1:51this was a tiny Elite however the vast
1:54majority of people benefited not at all
1:55because they were forced to be the cheap
1:57labor necessary for the whole thing to
1:59run this was made easier by the fact
2:01that throughout the 19th century poor
2:03Mexicans had been systematically
2:04dispossessed of their land and had no
2:06choice but to act as wage laborers for
2:08the larger siendas in order to survive
2:10in the worst cases many ended up in
2:12indebted servitude through the tyranny
2:14of the tienda de Raja or Company Store
2:16this is how it worked laborers in
2:19haciendas didn't get paid in cash but
2:22with scrip or vouchers that could only
2:24be exchanged there naturally since
2:26tiendas Araya were a monopoly things
2:28were way overpriced so the landowner on
2:30top of having cheap labor also got their
2:32wages back even worse illiterate as they
2:35were workers were often tricked into
2:37that that they could never repay and
2:39should they die the financial
2:40obligations simply moved to their next
2:42of kin if they tried to escape the
2:44police would make sure they couldn't go
2:45far and if they tried to organize
2:47themselves to fight back this was also
2:49dealt with violently there were two
2:51famous examples of this prior to the
2:53revolution Canada and Rio Blanco both
2:55were strikes the first one against an
2:57American-owned copper mine in Sonora in
2:591906 and the second one I guess that
3:01French controlled textile mill in
3:03Veracruz in 1907. the discontent in
3:06Sonora stemmed not just from General
3:08conditions but from the fact that
3:09American workers got paid more for the
3:11same job while in Veracruz the problem
3:13was part of wider labor unrest that
3:15included pueblanc Scala as well as
3:17railroad workers regardless of the
3:20reasons both were crushed in kananea
3:23this was done by Mexican troops along
3:24with Arizona Rangers who illegally
3:26crossed the border to support the
3:28Mexican rhodales in the confrontation
3:30about 23 people died and several dozen
3:32were wounded me meanwhile in Veracruz
3:34the strikers had asked directly for
3:36portfolio Diaz to intervene on their
3:37behalf but he declined when the workers
3:40decided to ride in Anger he personally
3:42sent troops from Mexico City to put down
3:44the strike and they quickly killed
3:46between 1780 people wounded hundreds
3:48more and captured the strike leaders and
3:50executed them the porfirieto meaning of
3:52order was clear prophets for the rich
3:54misery and poverty for the poor in
3:56violence for anyone who opposed it
3:58authorities blame these incidents and
4:00others unravel rousers from the partio
4:02liberal mexicano a radical political
4:04outfit that was led by people like the
4:06Flores magon brothers anarchists from
4:08Oaxaca that were a Bedrock of opposition
4:09to the regime through magazines like
4:11regeneracion and Elijo de la wisote and
4:14soon the Flores magon Brothers will be
4:16forced into Exile in the United States
4:18but their ideas would continue to
4:20circulate in Mexico in spying the
4:21opposition the political system would
4:23remain as close as ever however porfido
4:26Diaz's original 1876 Revolt had demanded
4:29Mexican politicians stop re-electing
4:30themselves with the slogan infective
4:32suffrage no re-election but after
4:34briefly stepping down in 1880 and
4:36allowing his close collaborator Manuel
4:38Gonzalez to be president he came back in
4:411884 claiming his slogan referred to an
4:43immediate re-election of course in 1888
4:46he changed his mind again Mexico needed
4:48him to stay on you see what could he do
4:50but answer the call of his country then
4:52in 1904 the regime lengthened the
4:54four-year term to a six-year one to make
4:56the Electoral sham even less necessary
4:58politically everything seemed to be
5:00under control except for one thing time
5:03in 1904 Don Port video was already 74
5:06meaning he would be 80 by the end of his
5:08sixth term so everyone expected that he
5:10would soon leave the scene this was
5:12especially so because in 1908 he granted
5:14an interview to James creelman an
5:16American journalist where he said that
5:18he would not run again in 1910 that he
5:20welcomed an opposition party in Mexico
5:22and that after many years the country
5:24was finally ready for democracy the
5:26bombshell news jolted Mexican Politics
5:28as people wondered who the potential
5:30successors for the Porfirio might be the
5:32two early front-runners were Jose mantur
5:34and Bernardo Reyes the first was the
5:36Secretary of finance and a member of the
5:38scientificos and the second was a
5:40general former Secretary of War and the
5:42man Diaz appointed to be the governor of
5:44Nuevo Leon even after Don Port video
5:45dispense with the fiction that he was
5:47not running in 1910 the Reyes and
5:49limantour supporters moved to try to
5:51secure a vice presidential spot for
5:52their candidates Reyes had genuine
5:54popular support and was the obvious pick
5:56to succeed on Porfirio given his loyal
5:58guilty and overall disposition to follow
6:00the order and progress ideology of the
6:02porfiriato but where a different
6:03politician might have seen a reliable
6:05person that might continue his project
6:07Don Porfirio only saw a threat to his
6:09power and so quickly suppressed the
6:11radista clubs and kept the vice
6:13president that was personally unpopular
6:15Don Porfirio wasn't ready to leave the
6:17scene yet so attention then turned to a
6:19newcomer Francisco Madero Madera was the
6:22son of a rich family from Kuala whose
6:24grandfather evaristo had been governor
6:26of Nuevo Leon in 1880 but who had been
6:27subsequently politically sidelined by
6:29Porfirio Diaz educated in France and the
6:32U.S when the S claimed he would not run
6:33again in 1910 Madero wrote a book called
6:36the potential succession in 1910 which
6:38basically thanked on Porfirio for his
6:40service but argued that the only way
6:41forward was to have truly free and fair
6:43elections it was the natural step in the
6:45country's political development at first
6:48the regime didn't worry too much about
6:49him since he was a complete unknown
6:51later wealthy as he was madero's
6:53connections kept him out of trouble but
6:55his book began to sell like wildfire and
6:57pretty soon he became a real elect
6:58alternative import video with
7:00anti-re-election Club springing all over
7:02the country in support of a potential
7:03candidacy faced with a real threat in
7:06years the regime simply imprisoned
7:07Madero San Luis Potosi and ran yet
7:10another sham election Madero however
7:12managed to escape to San Antonio Texas
7:13in October 1910 and proclaimed that
7:16planes and Luis a document that declared
7:18Porfirio Diaz to begin a legitimate
7:20president and called for armed
7:21Revolution to start November 20th 1910.
7:24the Revolution was about to begin
7:26unfortunately for Madero those early
7:28days were a complete disaster for his
7:30side Aquila sardan one of madero's most
7:32prominent supporters was captured and
7:33killed in Puebla along with his brother
7:35Maximo serban on November 18th and some
7:38of the earliest uprisings like the one
7:40in Gomez Palacio on November 21st were
7:42crushed Madero himself who planned to
7:45start Insurgency by attacking porfirodia
7:47City in Chihuahua later rename Piedras
7:49negras had to postpone the attack after
7:51the 400 recruits he was expecting ended
7:53up being only 10. two men were crucial
7:56in turning things around Abraham
7:58Gonzalez kumadero had appointed governor
8:00of novoleon in Pascual Orozco a mallet
8:02here from Chihuahua that would end up
8:03being madero's best General the first
8:05was key in recruiting men to the cause
8:07including the most famous of all Pancho
8:09Villa and Orozco himself while the
8:12second despite having no military
8:13experience proved to be a natural
8:15military leader and kept being the
8:17portfarista troops not least because the
8:19Deep knowledge of the land he had
8:20acquired as a militia served him well
8:22for ambushes it also helped that the
8:24portfolista Army had been centralized so
8:26much the decision-making was low to a
8:28halt making it difficult to anticipate
8:30ambushes or respond efficiently to
8:32revolutionary attacks even work for
8:34their regime in early 1911 a new
8:36Uprising began in the south in the state
8:38of Morelos led by Emiliano Zapata a man
8:41who more than any one person would go on
8:42to embody the revolution itself the
8:44southern rebellion was made up mostly of
8:46poor peasants who had lost their land to
8:48the encroaching sugar haciendas and
8:50called for land redistribution under the
8:51plan of Ayala in the simple but
8:53effective Call to Arms Tierra libertad
8:56or land and Freedom by May 19th the zap
8:59batistas had captured quota a town
9:01roughly 60 miles from Mexico City this
9:03combined with the motheristas taking
9:05Juarez convinced porfido Diaz it really
9:07was time to leave on May 25th Don
9:09porfira resigned the presidency and took
9:12a ship to Europe never to come back the
9:14portfolio was over but madero's problems
9:16were just beginning a scrupulous as he
9:18was Madero refused to occupy the
9:20presidency until he was elected allowing
9:22instead Francisco de la Barra the
9:24portfoliist ambassador to the U.S to
9:26become an interim president he further
9:28called for his own supporters to put
9:30down their weapons permitted the federal
9:31army to remain intact and did not
9:33distribute their jobs his supporters
9:35were expecting Pascual Orozco for
9:37example who wanted the minister of War
9:38position got the command of the rural
9:40police in Chihuahua instead creating
9:42resentment even worse little in the
9:45promises of social change or land
9:46redistribution occurred which
9:48particularly irked the zapatistas who
9:50got repression from the federal
9:51government instead thus six months later
9:54when Madero became president he had not
9:56just a challenge of meeting his promises
9:57but also faced multiple rebellions there
10:00were the zapatistas who had never really
10:02stopped Bernardo Reyes humadero
10:04foolishly allowed back into the country
10:05Orozco who declared that Madero had
10:07betrayed the principles of the
10:09Revolution and Felix Diaz nephew Don
10:11Porfirio who wanted to follow in the
10:13footsteps of his famous uncle rayus and
10:15Diaz were quickly subdued and sent to
10:17prison in Mexico City Orozco was
10:19defeated by victoriano Huerta and sent
10:21him to Exile and the zapatistas were
10:23forced into hiding Madero must have had
10:25a sigh of relief but betrayal was
10:27brewing
10:28in February 1913 one of the local Mexico
10:31City military garrisons rebelled against
10:33the government under the leadership of
10:35General Manuel Mondragon they
10:36immediately freed Reyes and Diaz and set
10:38out to take the National Palace Bernardo
10:41Reyes took control thinking the palace
10:42forces would yield to his command
10:44instead they killed him and dozens more
10:46of the Renegade troops by the end of it
10:49400 were dead and thousands wounded
10:51including many civilians the rebels then
10:53retreated to the city's Armory alacio
10:55LaBella and soon began bombarding the
10:57city center unable to dislodge them by
11:00their call for reinforcements and put
11:02Victoria on a Huerta in command of his
11:03troops unfortunately for him the U.S
11:06ambassador Henry Wilson Felix Diaz and
11:08victoriano Huerta began conspiring
11:10against him had him arrested forced him
11:13to resign and had him killed outside of
11:15the Mexico cities like cumberi prison on
11:17February 22nd 1913.
11:20what the Mexicans call the senatrajica
11:23or the 10 tragic days was over huertas
11:26from the presidency and within weeks
11:28also had Abraham Gonzalez assassinated
11:30but if he thought he could restore the
11:31porfiriato he was wrong the governor of
11:33kawila benustiano Carranza declared
11:35himself in Rebellion assembled a
11:37northern military Coalition especially
11:39from Sonora that came to be known as the
11:41constitutionalists after the support for
11:43the 1857 Constitution and issued the
11:45plan of Guadalupe that called for the
11:47answer of Huerta Pancho Villa joined
11:49them along with thousands more including
11:51Alvaro bregon a future key General who
11:53had not participated in the original
11:55madalista Rebellion the zapatistas also
11:57took the side of the constitutionalists
11:59although they never officially
12:00recognized Carranza or the planet of
12:02Guadalupe but remained faithful to their
12:04own plan Ayala as it happens the only
12:07former revolutionary to John Huerta was
12:09Pascual Orozco even a word for the
12:11wartista regime the United States also
12:14refused to recognize its legitimacy put
12:16on arms embargo in place and occupy the
12:18Puerto Veracruz within a year it was
12:20clear that where the cause was lost
12:22especially after Pancho Villa toxas in
12:25June 1914. having one cracks began to
12:28appear on the constitutionalist side not
12:30surprisingly since they had little
12:31uncommon beyond their opposition to
12:32Huerta the main point of contention was
12:35who should rule Mexico and particularly
12:37whether Carranza should do so or not to
12:39solve the disagreement a convention was
12:41held in the neutral city of
12:42Aguascalientes that brought all the
12:44different factions together but was soon
12:46dominated by The vigistas Who
12:48orchestrated for the convention to
12:49declare itself Sovereign
12:51as the temporary president of Mexico and
12:54declared Carranza to be in Rebellion
12:55against it thus rather than solving
12:57their differences the convention Drew
12:59lines and forced people to choose sides
13:01billion Zapata made an alliance but
13:03Obregon and other constitutionalists
13:05like the governor of Sonora plutargolias
13:07opted to go with the menustano at that
13:10moment the conventionalists outnumbered
13:11the constitutionalists So within a month
13:13zapatan Villa had taken Mexico City this
13:16however was the height of their power
13:18neither of them was that interested in
13:20either maintaining power for themselves
13:21or controlling the government they were
13:23basically Federalists that wanted to be
13:25left alone that they ingredients
13:26necessary to purge the other
13:28revolutionary factions
13:30and so Zapata went back to his
13:32stronghold in Morelos and Villa was left
13:34to deal with carranza's forces on his
13:36own then he began committing mistake
13:38after mistake the most crucial one was
13:40that instead of luring over again to the
13:41North like his main General Felipe
13:43Angeles wanted Villa let him pick the
13:45terrain Obregon chosen a place where he
13:48could use some of the tactics he had
13:49read they were using in Europe in the
13:51subsequent Battle of zelagia in 1915
13:53Obregon lost his arm but Villa lost his
13:56army as his men got mowed down by
13:58machine guns from soldiers hidden in
13:59trenches the Northern Division as the
14:01vegista Army was called would never
14:03amass those numbers again
14:05but Dia himself would not leave a
14:07political scene quite yet in the
14:09meantime Zapata had begun redistributing
14:11land to people in Morelos and maintained
14:13his strategy of Guerrilla warfare
14:15expanding from time to time to
14:16neighboring states but he could not keep
14:18karanza from consolidating Power
14:19especially after Villa's defeat in the
14:21U.S recognizing dominosianos that de
14:23facto present in October 1915. bigot was
14:26furious with the news and in an insane
14:28plan to go the U.S to invade Mexico and
14:30weaken carranza's regime the general and
14:32a few hundred men raided the town of
14:34Columbus New Mexico in March 1916
14:36killing 67 Americans including several
14:39civilians in response the U.S did send
14:41troops to Mexico under Colonel John
14:43person future World War One General but
14:45his punitive Expedition failed
14:47completely other than to cause political
14:49headaches for Carranza who protested but
14:51could do little other than to hope they
14:52gave up which they eventually did in
14:54February 1917. meanwhile eager to
14:57bolster his position Carranza decided to
14:59call for a constitutional convention
15:00which would legitimize not just his
15:03regime but his revolutionary project in
15:05major sure to exclude the yistas and
15:07zapatistas what resulted was the
15:09constitution of 1917 the first document
15:11in the world to include social rights
15:13including free education and labor
15:15rights in articles 3 and 23rd
15:17respectively it also included article 27
15:20which nationalized all land and
15:21resources that weren't already in
15:23private hands in effect incorporating
15:25some of the zapatista goals into the
15:27Constitution despite their physical
15:28absence a few months later venusiano
15:31Carranza got exactly what he wanted and
15:33was elected present under a new
15:34constitutional regime even better from
15:36his perspective his government was
15:38finally able to neutralize the threat
15:39from Morelos as Emiliano Zapata fell
15:42into a trap and was assassinated by
15:44karancista troops on April 10 1919
15:47he was 39. it looked like political
15:51stability might have finally arrived but
15:53the revolution wasn't over just yet the
15:55peaceful transfer of power issue had not
15:57actually been resolved and it came
15:59running back in 1920 because Aldo
16:00Carranza decided to respect the
16:02principle of no re-election he tried to
16:04place his own man at the helm and leave
16:06Alvaro bregon and other
16:07constitutionalists especially those from
16:09Sonora out in the cold since the man he
16:12picked Ignacio bonillas was an obscure
16:14Diplomat that had no popular base of his
16:16own the group from Sonora interpreted it
16:19as a sure sign that Carranza was trying
16:21to perpetuate his power through a puppet
16:23does in April 1920 they declare
16:25themselves in Rebellion with the plan of
16:27Agua Prieta and quickly gained support
16:28throughout the Armed Forces faced with
16:31such massive opposition though menustano
16:32decided to relocate his government to
16:34the cost in Veracruz but he never got
16:36there bombs destroyed the track of the
16:38train he was riding forcing him to try
16:40to flee into the mountains on Horseback
16:41he did not make it far in the early
16:43hours of May 21st Carranza was murdered
16:46in Clan scalantongo a hamlet in the
16:48Puebla Highlands he was 60.
16:51Bauer was now in the hands of the
16:53Sonoran group Adolfo De La Huerta took
16:56office for just a few months while
16:57Oregon was duly elected for the period
16:591920-1924 Then plutar colliescadia
17:02succeeded him in 1924 a betrayal from
17:04the perspective of the La Huerta who
17:06rebelled briefly in 1923 but who had his
17:08Insurrection crushed by Obregon the
17:11other man to lose his life that year was
17:13Pancho Villa the legendary Rebel had
17:15actually made a deal with the La Huerta
17:161920 to retire to anacienda Durango
17:19where he concentrated on staying out of
17:20politics and growing his new lands but
17:23as the De La Huerta challenge to the
17:24kagista regime began to brew Obregon and
17:27Kaya stardiga might pick up his weapons
17:28once again inside with the La Huerta so
17:31they had him assassinated on July 21
17:331923 on a visit to paraling Chihuahua
17:36Pancho Villa was killed as he drove
17:38through town he was 45.
17:43the last two men standing Oregan decided
17:46that he would run for the presidency
17:47once again in 1928 claiming just like
17:50Don porfidio had in 1884 that the
17:52re-election part had only meant no
17:54immediate re-election there was
17:55opposition of course Gomez and Francisco
17:58Serrano both loyal regionistas presented
18:01their own candidacies and then attempted
18:03a coup but this was crushed
18:06Serrano was killed with most of his
18:08closest supporters in with silac Morelos
18:10in October 1927
18:14followed the same fate about a month
18:16later in Veracruz the path was now clear
18:18from Oregon after nearly 20 years of
18:20political upheaval Mexico looked like it
18:22had come back to the very place where it
18:24had all started and there were people
18:26that worried gagis and Obregon would
18:27succeed each other in perpetuity that
18:29could very well have happened but it was
18:31not to be on July 17 1928 while he was
18:35celebrating his re-election victory at a
18:36banquet Alvarez was also assassinated
18:39This Time by Jose Leon torale a Catholic
18:41Zealot pertaining to be a newspaper
18:43cartoonist so he could get close enough
18:44to Obregon to shoot him at point-blank
18:47range he was 48.
18:51Oregon's death created a serious power
18:53vacuum because it was not clear who
18:54could replace him especially because
18:56cages couldn't to solve the problem
18:58Kanye's made a deal where no politician
19:00in the country could re-elect themselves
19:01including him and created a political
19:04party intended to adjudicate political
19:06disputes inside the organization rather
19:08than with bullets he was then able to
19:10place himself as the power behind the
19:11throne picking the presidents to be this
19:13lasted for six years a period known as
19:15the maximato but eventually one of the
19:17prodigies he chose for president Lazaro
19:19Cardenas got the best of him and sent
19:21him into Exile The Party Guy is founded
19:24however what became known as the pre or
19:26revolutionary institutional party would
19:28shape Mexican politics for the next 70
19:30years and although far from being a
19:32democracy with the new party in charge
19:34the country did finally gain stability
19:36in regular peaceful transitions thus
19:39after so Much Death and despite many
19:41revolutionary promises going unfulfilled
19:43the revolution did solve the stability
19:45and re-election problem an issue that
19:48had plagued the country for most of its
19:49history up to that point far from what
19:52the revolutionaries might have hoped for
19:53but better than one could have expected
19:55as late as 1928 and so it goes with
19:58revolutions