Mexican Revolution
- Date
- 1910–1920
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Latin America (Mexico)
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
Beginning in November 1910 with Francisco Madero's call to arms against the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, the Mexican Revolution became the first major social revolution of the twentieth century.
Díaz fell in May 1911, but Madero's murder during the February 1913 coup by Victoriano Huerta reignited a multi-sided civil war among Constitutionalists under Venustiano Carranza, the northern forces of Francisco 'Pancho' Villa, and the peasant agrarian movement of Emiliano Zapata, whose Plan de Ayala demanded 'Tierra y Libertad' (Land and Liberty). The conflict cost an estimated one to two million lives. Its most enduring product was the Constitution of 1917, a landmark document that enshrined land reform, state ownership of subsoil resources, secular education, and far-reaching labour rights, anticipating social-rights constitutions worldwide. Zapata was assassinated in 1919 and Carranza in 1920; the election of Álvaro Obregón in 1920 is conventionally taken as the revolution's close. The upheaval reshaped Mexican national identity, inspired a flowering of muralism and indigenist culture, and served as a reference point for agrarian and anti-imperialist movements across Latin America.
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Empires active in 1910–1920
- Empire of Japan1868 CE – 1947 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- German Empire1871 CE – 1918 CE
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE – 1912 CE
Related politics & governance events
- The Xinhai Revolution and the fall of the Qing1911–1912 (Wuchang Uprising 10 October 1911; abdication 12 February 1912)
- Sykes-Picot Agreement partitions the Ottoman Middle East16 May 1916
- Russian Revolutions of 1917March & November 1917 (February & October Revolutions, O.S.)
- Treaty of Versailles and the founding of the League of Nations28 June 1919 (in force 10 January 1920)
- New Zealand Becomes First Self-Governing Nation to Grant Women the Vote19 September 1893
- Hitler's appointment and Nazi consolidation of power30 January 1933 – August 1934
Further reading
The wider story
The Americas: A Hemispheric History
Brisk single-volume history of the whole hemisphere since European contact.
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