Francisco "Pancho" Villa
Born Doroteo Arango in San Juan del Río, Durango, in 1877 (1879 according to some sources), the man most of the world knew as Pancho Villa spent much of his life in Durango until, at age 16, he killed a man who had raped his younger sister. Little record exists of the next four or five years of his life, during which time he changed his name to Francisco Villa to evade the law. By the time he was 20, Villa had moved northward to Chihuahua, working on and off as a miner in Parral while selling stolen cattle in Chihuahua (official government biographies list his occupation then as "wholesale meat-seller"). In 1899 he returned to mining, this time in Santa Eulalia near Chihuahua, but he soon tired of the laborer's life and added bank robbery to cattle rustling and murder on the list of crimes for which he was wanted by the Díaz government.
Villa's Robin Hood story began after he established himself and his bandit followers in the sierras in 1900. Officially, the years 1900-09 are "unaccounted for," but it was during this period that he became a legendary hero to the poor for skillfully evading the Porfiriato's oppressive rurales. In 1910 Villa and his men came down from the hills to join Francisco I. Madero's revolutionary forces, thereby making a historical transition from bandidos to revolucionarios. The charismatic figure was able to recruit an army of thousands, including a substantial number of Americans, some of whom were made captains in the División del Norte. Villa even created one squadron made up entirely of Americans under the leadership of Capt. Tracey Richardson, a man who apparently fought with many different insurgent armies around the world at that time.
Following Madero's short-lived victory and assassination, Villa remained in command of his División del Norte army in resistance--along with Coahuila's Venustanio Carranza and Sonora's Alvaro Obregón--against the 1913-14 Victoriano Huerta dictatorship. Around this time Villa also became something of a folk hero in the U.S, and Hollywood filmmakers as well as U.S. newspaper photographers flocked to Northern Mexico to record his battle exploits--many of which were staged for the benefit of the cameras.
Villa's forces were based in Chihuahua, where Villa ruled over northern Mexico like a medieval warlord. Villa financed his army by stealing from the endless cattle herds in northern Mexico and selling beeves north of the border, where he found plenty of U.S. merchants willing to sell him guns and ammunition. Faced with a stagnant economy, he issued his own money; if merchants refused to take it, they risked being shot. Executions, which Villa often ordered on a whim, were usually left to his friend Rodolfo Fierro, best known by his nickname "El Carnicero" ("the Butcher"). In true Robin Hood style, he broke up the vast land holdings of local hacendados and parceled them out to the widows and orphans of his fallen soldiers.
During fiestas the mustachioed legend would dance all night with female camp followers, although he didn't drink. When Emiliano Zapata insisted Villa join him in a toast when their two armies met outside Mexico City in December 1914, Villa gagged on a swig of brandy. He was an avid swimmer and would run to stay in shape. According to one of Villa's last surviving widows, he officially married 26 times.
A split among the revolutionary leaders soon pitted Villa against Obregón and Carranza. When the U.S. government came out openly in support of the Carranza presidency, Villa retaliated by raiding U.S border towns, most notably Columbus, New Mexico. On the U.S. side of the border, Villa's image plummeted while many in Mexico saw Villa as an avenger of decades of yanqui oppression. Despite his popularity, the combined forces of Carranza and Obregón defeated the Villistas in one battle after another After two U.S. Army "punitive expeditions" into Mexico in 1916 and 1919 failed to route Villa, the Mexican government accepted his surrender and retired Villa on a general's salary to Canutillo, Durango. In 1923 he was assassinated while returning from bank business in Parral, Chihuahua.
Today Villa is remembered with pride by most Mexicans for having led the most important military campaigns of the constitutionalist revolution, in which his troops were victorious as far south as Zacatecas and Mexico City, east as far as Tampico, and west as far as Casas Grandes. Because of Villa's Columbus escapade and subsequent evasion of U.S. troops, he is also often cited as the only foreign military personage ever to have "successfully" invaded continental U.S. territory. When speaking with Mexicans--especially norteños--about Villa, don't underestimate the respect his name still garners in Mexico.
Villa's Robin Hood story began after he established himself and his bandit followers in the sierras in 1900. Officially, the years 1900-09 are "unaccounted for," but it was during this period that he became a legendary hero to the poor for skillfully evading the Porfiriato's oppressive rurales. In 1910 Villa and his men came down from the hills to join Francisco I. Madero's revolutionary forces, thereby making a historical transition from bandidos to revolucionarios. The charismatic figure was able to recruit an army of thousands, including a substantial number of Americans, some of whom were made captains in the División del Norte. Villa even created one squadron made up entirely of Americans under the leadership of Capt. Tracey Richardson, a man who apparently fought with many different insurgent armies around the world at that time.
Following Madero's short-lived victory and assassination, Villa remained in command of his División del Norte army in resistance--along with Coahuila's Venustanio Carranza and Sonora's Alvaro Obregón--against the 1913-14 Victoriano Huerta dictatorship. Around this time Villa also became something of a folk hero in the U.S, and Hollywood filmmakers as well as U.S. newspaper photographers flocked to Northern Mexico to record his battle exploits--many of which were staged for the benefit of the cameras.
Villa's forces were based in Chihuahua, where Villa ruled over northern Mexico like a medieval warlord. Villa financed his army by stealing from the endless cattle herds in northern Mexico and selling beeves north of the border, where he found plenty of U.S. merchants willing to sell him guns and ammunition. Faced with a stagnant economy, he issued his own money; if merchants refused to take it, they risked being shot. Executions, which Villa often ordered on a whim, were usually left to his friend Rodolfo Fierro, best known by his nickname "El Carnicero" ("the Butcher"). In true Robin Hood style, he broke up the vast land holdings of local hacendados and parceled them out to the widows and orphans of his fallen soldiers.
During fiestas the mustachioed legend would dance all night with female camp followers, although he didn't drink. When Emiliano Zapata insisted Villa join him in a toast when their two armies met outside Mexico City in December 1914, Villa gagged on a swig of brandy. He was an avid swimmer and would run to stay in shape. According to one of Villa's last surviving widows, he officially married 26 times.
A split among the revolutionary leaders soon pitted Villa against Obregón and Carranza. When the U.S. government came out openly in support of the Carranza presidency, Villa retaliated by raiding U.S border towns, most notably Columbus, New Mexico. On the U.S. side of the border, Villa's image plummeted while many in Mexico saw Villa as an avenger of decades of yanqui oppression. Despite his popularity, the combined forces of Carranza and Obregón defeated the Villistas in one battle after another After two U.S. Army "punitive expeditions" into Mexico in 1916 and 1919 failed to route Villa, the Mexican government accepted his surrender and retired Villa on a general's salary to Canutillo, Durango. In 1923 he was assassinated while returning from bank business in Parral, Chihuahua.
Today Villa is remembered with pride by most Mexicans for having led the most important military campaigns of the constitutionalist revolution, in which his troops were victorious as far south as Zacatecas and Mexico City, east as far as Tampico, and west as far as Casas Grandes. Because of Villa's Columbus escapade and subsequent evasion of U.S. troops, he is also often cited as the only foreign military personage ever to have "successfully" invaded continental U.S. territory. When speaking with Mexicans--especially norteños--about Villa, don't underestimate the respect his name still garners in Mexico.
Emiliano Zapata
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."
~Emiliano Zapata~
(1879-1919)
Emiliano Zapata was born on August 8th, 1879 in Anenecuilco, Mexico. He was born into a fairly wealthy family and his father trained and sold horses for a living. When his father died Emiliano was 16 years old, he was left to take care of his siblings. Around this time, Mexico was ruled by a dictatorship under Porfirio Diaz. He soon got very interested in politics.
In 1987, he was arrested because he took part of a protest by the peasants. After he was released from jail, he continued protesting among the peasants and so he was drafted into the army. Six months later he was discharged from the army, but he was sent to train a landowner's horses. His neighbors elected him president of the board of defennse for their village.
A man named Francisco Madero lost the election to Porfirio Diaz in 1910 and he fled to the United States. He declared himself president and then came back to Mexico with the help of peasant guerrillas. Emiliano Zapata decided that he would support Francisco Madero. This led to many changes and challenges towards Mexico. Zapata and his team took power in the city of Cuaulta during March of 1911. They also closed the road to Mexico City. Soon after Diaz resigned from his presidency and fled for Europe.
Also in March of 1911, Maderno was elected president of Mexico. Soon with some help Zapata prepared the Plan of Ayala. This stated that Maderno was not going to be capable of accomplishing the goals set for the revolution. Maderno was soon overthrown and murdered by one of his former supporters. Also, Zapata led a revolt against the haciendas south of Mexico City. His soldiers were the peasants and even some were women.
Another leader soon appeared, but in Chihuahua named Francisco "Pancho" Villa. Both Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata were part agrarian rebels and social revolutionaries. Together they held the major cities, used the proceeds of oil sales to buy modern weapons, and controlled the country's exports of oil. Fighting between the Revolutionaries and the Constitutionalists carried on for years.
During the Revolution and the Civil War more than 2 million people died and if left most of Mexico in ruins. In 1919 the Constitutionalists defeated and killed Emiliano Zapata. Four years later, Pancho Villa was assasinated.