Term Paper on "Mexican Revolution"

Term Paper 9 pages (3199 words) Sources: 1+ Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Mexican Revolutions

The principal causes of the Maderista revolution of 1910 included dissatisfaction with the President Porfirio Diaz's dictatorship, the unequal distribution of wealth, and widespread injustice. (Gaceto Consular). Not only did the majority of people lack financial resources, they also lacked any means to exercise political power. (Gaceto Consular). In addition, Diaz's government accepted the involvement of the United States in Mexico's political affairs, despite the power differential between Mexico and the United States, and despite the protests of its citizens.

In short, the class issues that plagued Mexico and turned many of its peasants into de-facto slaves were at the root of the revolution.

To truly understand how class helped contribute to the Maderista Revolution, one must understand the political environment of pre-revolutionary Mexico. President Diaz was a dictator, but his dictatorship contained some of the trappings of democracy. For example, Diaz made a public announcement that Mexico was ready for democracy. (Gaceto Consular). This announcement created an expectation of a democratic government, which aligned with the expectations of community-level leaders, who wanted to participate in Mexico's political life. (Gaceto Consular). However, despite the fact that the Mexican Constitution provided for a democracy, the reality in Mexico was far from democratic. The unequal distribution of wealth meant that Diaz and his supports could use their "political and economic resources to stay in power indefinitely." (Gaceto Consular).

Francisco Madero was one of the leaders who believed that the people should have a voice in Mexican politics. Madero was forced to flee to the United States because of persecution by Diaz and his supporters. However, even from the United States, Madero was able to encourage the revolution. He issued the Plan of San Luis, which was "a manifesto which declared that the elections had been a fraud and that he would not recognize Porfirio Diaz as the legitimate President of the Republic." (Secor). The manifesto reinforced one of the basic causes of the revolution, which is that the people felt that they had no voice in Mexican politics, by calling for universal voting rights. Furthermore, Madero emphasized the economic class issues at the root of the revolution, because Diaz's government had confiscated land from the Mexican peasants, and Madero promised to return that land. (Gaceto Consular).

In fact, the promised agrarian reforms were substantial because of the historic abuses during Diaz's reign. Diaz's reign was marked by dramatic economic disparities between the upper and lower classes. These economic disparities were not solely a natural part of the economy. Instead, the class differences were the result of manipulation and theft on the part of the upper class, and were highly linked to the mineral trade in Mexico. Those in power, who were members of the economic upper class, used their power to strip land from the peasant class, which led to a dramatic change in the importance of economic class. While these peasants had traditionally been farmers, they had also traditionally been landowners. However, after the lands were consolidated into larger plantations, the peasants lost the economic safety of ownership. It would be a mistake to look at this change as simply an economic one.

On the contrary, the peasants went from landowners to something like sharecroppers. Because they did not own the land, if they were to continue living as agrarian workers, they did so at the leisure of the landowners. The result was that the peasants lost their personal autonomy; they could not even leave the plantations without becoming criminals because they owed debts to the landowners.

In addition to providing motive for the revolution, the fact that peasants who fled for the plantations contributed to the revolution in a substantial way. Peasants who fled were guilty of a crime and subject to being returned to the plantation. As a result, many of them fled north of Mexico into San Diego. The gathering of Mexican immigrants there provided a fertile planning ground for the revolution. Madera, himself, went to live in the San Diego area, and it was there that he planned the initial stages of the revolution. Therefore, the pre-revolutionary agrarian scenario contributed to the revolution in two significant ways: it gave the peasants a reason to desire revolution and also created a scenario in which a substantial number of dissatisfied peasants would be in a central location, outside of Diaz's control, to plot a revolution without fear of capture.

In addition, there were some changes in Mexican society prior to the revolution which made the revolution possible. "Mexico experienced a productive restructuring in the thirty years before the 1910 revolution, which consolidated its northern frontier- a critical area in view of the U.S. expansion- and defined its incorporation into the world market." (Camin and Meyer, 2). In addition, Mexico's economy became an international economy just prior to the revolution. First, Mexico's vast mineral resources were exported worldwide. In addition, Mexican agricultural products, like hemp, sugar, and cotton were grown for export to other countries, primarily the United States. The mineral and agricultural production led to the development of factories, which employed people who had previously been strictly agrarian. However, many of these interests were not under Mexican control, but were controlled by foreign interests, which was very reminiscent of colonialism.

Foreign investment increased from 110 million pesos in 1884 to 3,400 million in 1910. A third of that injection of funds fueled the largest technological revolution of Porifirian Mexico: the construction of almost thirteen thousand miles of railroad tracks. (Camin and Meyer, 2). The railroad made vast journeys possible, and also provided a means for communication regarding the conditions on relatively isolated plantations.

II. It is almost impossible to conclusively state why Victoriano Huerta decided to extinguish the Maderista Revolution, because Huerta did not ever explain his reasons for doing so. Therefore, any explanation of his actions rely on the individual interpretation of historic events, which have given rise to several different, sometimes competing, explanations for Huerta's behavior. Sympathetic people may suggest that Huerta had Mexico's best interests at heart, and extinguished the revolution because he was not confident that Madero had the ability to lead a successful revolution, or that he did not believe that Madero could successfully lead post-revolution Mexico. However, the revolution was progressing in an extremely successful manner, so those reasons seem unlikely, and even the effects of time have not created strong sympathies for Huerta's actions. Those who are unsympathetic to Huerta believe that his motives were personal, and that he extinguished the revolution and ended Madero's life to seize glory and power for himself. However, it may not be fair to judge Huerta's goals by the regime that he established after seizing power; the sheer amount of conflict faced by Huerta's government almost insured that he would have to rule like a despot in order to retain any type of order and control in the Mexican government. Therefore, the most reasonable explanation of Huerta's behavior would probably combine his possible personal, professional, and patriotic goals to determine what motivated him to end the Maderista Revolution.

Huerta's image is that of a Machiavellian schemer, who was willing to do anything and everything to seize power. Such a negative view of Huerta may seem uncharitable, but aligns with Huerta's personal image, which is that of a murderous alcoholic. That image is false, or at least incomplete, because it does not take into account Huerta's other significant qualities. While Huerta was an alcoholic, he was not a brute, and, while his military prowess may have landed him with the ultimate responsibility for many deaths, it is unquestionable that had he been a less brilliant strategist, many more would have died. In fact, Huerta was:

An able and competent professional soldier, he excelled in astronomy and mathematics at the Military College and was also skilled as an engineer, cartographer, surveyor, and railroad specialist. He studied Napoleon's campaigns and some of his own were models of planning and execution. Huerta's abilities were recognized by some of his worst enemies. (Tuck).

To understand Huerta's anti-Madero motives, it is important to understand Huerta's background. First, it is important to note that, unlike Madero and the other revolutionaries, Huerta did not have a negative view of Diaz. On the contrary, Huerta "greatly admired

Porfirio Diaz, another Indian who had succeeded in the outside world. When Diaz was overthrown, Huerta commanded the honor guard that accompanied him into exile. On bidding farewell to the old dictator, Huerta was moved to tears." (Tuck). Therefore, it was clear that Huerta's beliefs about leadership would be more closely aligned with a dictatorship than a democracy.

Furthermore, it is important to realize that Madero's government was suffering as the result of internal strife before Huerta ever sought to extinguish the revolution. Pascual Orozco had been one of Madero's chief lieutenants, but rebelled against Madero when Madero refused to make Orozco the governor of Chihuahua. (Tuck). This rebellion was significant and would probably have been victorious because of its incredible financial backing. In fact, it… READ MORE

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