Sunday, June 10, 2012

The Two Phases Of The Mexican Revolution

It's easy to look back on the happenings of the past and see where people went wrong with their choices; naturally, aside from lessons learned there is no changing the events. It can be interesting to re-examine old timelines, like those that make up the Mexican Revolution (1910-1929), and get an overview of the bigger picture, while clearing up questions that may still linger. The twenty year fight between the country's leaders and the rebels, was actually comprised of two different phases, with different motives foremost during each phase.

The primary lesson to take away from the first part of the Mexican Revolution is, in essence, the importance of a long-term game plan. For the previous thirty-five years, the president of Mexico had been the dictatorial capitalist Porfirio Diaz, who had stolen land from the working class and centralized the government into a corrupt group of sympathizers and friends. An idealistic politician named Francisco Madero ran against him in 1910, rallying most of the public to overthrow the current office and restore true democracy and liberal rights to the nation. After just a few weeks of heavy revolt the rebels won, because he had the support of revolutionaries like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, whose armies could cripple the national military.

This goal had been met fairly quickly, and suddenly Mexico found itself mobilized against a tyrant who was no longer in power; with their common enemy in exile, the major revolutionary leaders now found that their objectives were all quite different. Allies soon fell to broken truces and power struggles when they were unable to reach an agreement on how the government should be reorganized. This was the main point of the begin era of the Mexican Revolution: infighting among radical army leaders, and dubiously legitimate grabs for the Presidency resulting in counter-revolutions against the usurpers.

Victoriano Huerta assassinated President Madero and took his place in 1913. The revolt which Venustiano Carranza led, ousted him in 1914, and Carranza assumed the office - the event alienated the former rebel's allies such as Villa and Zapata. Despite creating the 1917 constitution (which still governs Mexico to this day), he was assassinated in 1919 due to feuds over who would replace him. His successor turned out to be Alvaro Obregon, another major leader in the Revolution, who managed to wrestle some stability into the country by appealing to all levels of society - except the clergy.

It was this persecution of the Church which set off the second phase of the Revolution, which lasted from 1926 until 1929, when things were finally resolved. The new 1917 Constitution contained very strict anti-clerical provisions, a reaction to previous laws; One problem for liberals had always been the Catholic influence of the conservative party. A peaceful protest against new unwelcome laws, erupted into violence and the fighting, became known as the Cristero War, because the rebels fought in the name of Jesus.. This secular/religious conflict would last until diplomatic intervention calmed each side, effectively ending the civil battles which had raged within Mexico for nearly twenty years.


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