Mexican Revolution

  • Election Year

    Election year when anti-Díaz forces coalesced against his re-election
  • Re-election

    Díaz runs for reelection but when Francisco Madero enters the race he has Madero put in jail and he wins the election.
  • Escape

    (October) Madero escapes to San Antonio, TX, where he drafts the Plan of San Luis Potosí that calls for the overthrow of the Díaz regime.
  • Viva la Revolución!

    The Revolution begins with insurrections in several states in northern Mexico; over the next decade thousands of Mexicans flee to El Paso and the U.S.
  • Wins!

    Madero wins election to the Mexican presidency.
  • Battle of Juarez

    Madero’s troops, under the direction of Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Pascual Orozco, attack federal troops in Ciudad Juárez as hundreds of bystanders watch from rooftops and train cars; this Battle of Juárez lasts for three days.
  • Flee

    Having lost in Juárez, Díaz resigns and flees to Paris, France
  • Plan de Ayala

    Emiliano Zapata drafts the Plan of Ayala that denounces Madero, recognizes Orozco as the leader of the Revolution, and calls for land reform
  • Breaking alliances

    Orozco breaks his alliance with Madero, who assigns Villa and Victoriano Huerta to combat Orozco’s rebels in the north.
  • Coup against madero

    Huerta joins with Felix Díaz (Porfirio’s nephew) and Bernardo Reyes in planning a coup against Madero.
  • La Decena Tragica

    During ten tragic days (“La Decena Trágica”) in Mexico City, the forces of Huerta, Díaz, and Reyes attack Madero’s army
  • New president!

    Huerta assumed the presidency.
  • Dead

    Madero, his brother, and his vice president are killed.
  • Plan de Guadalupe

    Venustiano Carranza drafts a Plan of Guadalupe that accuses Huerta of restoring a dictatorship and committing treason; Carranza calls for a return to the values of the Constitution of 1857 and his supporters are called Constitutionalists.
  • Sending troops

    U.S. president Woodrow Wilson sends troops to occupy Veracruz, Mexico
  • huerta's defeat

    Villa’s forces defeat Huerta’s forces in Zacatecas and Hurta resigns
  • Challenge

    Villa and Zapata break from Carranza and continue to challenge him
  • Carranza's flee

    Carranza flees to Veracruz, where he negotiates the removal of U.S. troops
  • Recognition

    The U.S. recognizes Carranza as Mexico’s president
  • Los de abajo

    Mariano Azuela writes Los de abajo (The Underdogs), the first novel about the revolution, in an adobe home in El Paso.
  • Battle of Celaya

    Carranza’s supporters, under the direction of Álvaro Obregón, defeat Villa at the Battle of Celaya
  • No Villa

    U.S. General John J. Pershing leads 10,000 soldiers into Mexico in a “Punitive Expedition” that fails to capture Villa.
  • Riot

    Anglo residents in El Paso attack Mexicans in a race riot
  • Zimmermann note

    Zimmermann note deciphered and published
  • New Constitution!

    A new Mexican Constitution is drafted and Carranza is elected president.
  • Zapata is dead

    Zapata assassinated by order of Carranza
  • Defeat

    Villa is defeated at the last Battle of Juárez; Zapata is assassinated at Chinamecca.
  • A new president

    Obregón is elected president of Mexico.
  • Carranza is dead

    Carranza is murdered
  • a new syndicate

    The Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors founded
  • R.I.P Villa

    Pancho Villa assassinated by order of Obregón
  • Agreement

    August Bucareli Agreement signed
  • Revolt

    De la Huerta revolt
  • President

    Calles elected president
  • Paintings

    Siqueiros painted his murals The Myths and Burial of a Martyred Worker at the National Preparatory School
  • Church is restricted

    Calles introduced laws which restricted the Catholic Church
  • rebellion

    cristero rebellion took place
  • R.I.P Obregón

    Obregón is assassinated
  • PNR

    Calles created the National Revolutionary Party (PNR)
  • New President

    Cárdenas elected president
  • Petroleum

    President Cárdenas nationalized the petroleum industry
  • PRM

    PNR transformed into Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM)
  • Rebellion

    Cedillo Rebellion began and lasted until January 1939
  • Good Neighbor

    US Good Neighbor Policy instituted by President Roosevelt
  • The End

    Trotsky murdered in Mexico City Ávila Camacho became president