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Pancho Villa was born June 5, 1878 in Hacienda de Río Grande, San Juan del Río, Durango, Mexico.
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In 1910 Villa joined Francisco Madero’s uprising against the dictator of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz and After the success of the revolution, Villa remained in the irregular army. -
In 1912, during the rebellion of Pascual Orozco, Villa aroused the suspicion of Gen. Victoriano Huerta, who condemned him to death, but Madero ordered a stay of execution and sent Villa to prison instead. Villa escaped from prison in November and fled to the United States. -
After Madero’s assassination in 1913, Villa returned to Mexico and formed a military band of several thousand men that became known as the famous Division of the North. -
In December 1913 Villa became governor of the state of Chihuahua. -
With Carranza, Villa won a decisive victory over Huerta in June 1914. Together Villa and Carranza entered Mexico City as the victorious leaders of a revolution. -
Villa was forced to flee Mexico City with the revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata in December 1914. Badly defeated by Carranza in a series of battles, he and Zapata fled to the mountains of the north.
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After the overthrow of Carranza’s government in 1920, Villa was granted a pardon and a ranch near Parral, Chihuahua, in return for agreeing to retire from politics. -
Villa was assassinated amid a barrage of gunfire while traveling home in his car from a visit to Parral in 1923.