Key takeaways
- Wikipedia dates the Mexican Revolution from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920; the Library of Congress calls the 1917 Constitution its culmination but its timeline ends on 30 November 1920.
- Francisco Madero's Plan of San Luis Potosí called for a rising against Porfirio Díaz on 20 November 1910; Díaz resigned in May 1911.
- Madero and Vice-President Pino Suárez were killed in February 1913 after Victoriano Huerta's coup.
- After Huerta fell in 1914, Carranza and Obregón's Constitutionalists defeated Villa, whose cavalry was broken at Celaya in April 1915.
- The Constitution of 1917, ratified on 5 February 1917, centred on articles 3, 27 and 123; Wikipedia gives a toll of around one million dead, mostly non-combatants.
The Mexican Revolution was a decade of overlapping regional wars that began with a call to rise against President Porfirio Díaz on 20 November 1910, destroyed the old Federal Army, produced the Constitution of 1917 and ended — in Wikipedia's dating — on 1 December 1920. Wikipedia calls it "the defining event of modern Mexican history" and puts the cost at around one million deaths, mostly non-combatants. Wikipedia gives that as an approximation — "around" — so it is best read as an order of magnitude, not a count.
It is easiest to follow by faction, because the alliances kept changing.
The Porfiriato and a promise Díaz did not keep
Díaz ruled from 1876 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1911, the Library of Congress notes — 31 years in office across two spells, a period now called the Porfiriato. The Library credits him with peace, stability and economic progress "coupled with repression and dictatorship"; Wikipedia describes industry and infrastructure built on foreign investment while farmers and peasants complained of oppression.
In 1908 Díaz told the American reporter James Creelman that Mexico was ready for democracy and that he might step down. Francisco Madero, son of a landowning family in Coahuila, took him at his word and published a book announcing his own candidacy. Díaz had him jailed before the 1910 election. Madero escaped to San Antonio, Texas, and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosí calling for all Mexicans to rise on 20 November 1910.
1910–1913: Madero's brief victory
Rebellions broke out in Morelos and, on a larger scale, in the north. Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa took Ciudad Juárez in May 1911; the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez, signed on 21 May, provided for Díaz's resignation, and he went into exile. Wikipedia describes this first phase as relatively short and bloodless.
Madero took office in November 1911 and immediately faced Emiliano Zapata, whose Plan of Ayala that month declared rebellion over the failure to deliver land reform. Former allies such as Orozco rebelled too. Madero kept the old Federal Army intact — which the historian Friedrich Katz, quoted by Wikipedia, calls "the basic cause of his fall." Among his enemies, the Library of Congress notes, was Félix Díaz, the former president's nephew, abetted by the US ambassador Henry Lane Wilson. In February 1913 the army commander Victoriano Huerta led a coup; Madero and Vice-President José Pino Suárez were shot dead.
1913–1915: everyone against Huerta, then against each other
The governor of Coahuila, Venustiano Carranza, was declared First Chief of a Constitutionalist coalition against "the Usurper," with Álvaro Obregón leading his army. Woodrow Wilson refused to recognise Huerta, and in April 1914 US forces seized Veracruz. Huerta stepped down in mid-July 1914, by Wikipedia's account, and fled to Europe on a German ship; the Library of Congress timeline dates his resignation to 15 June 1914, so the two sources disagree on the month.
The victors then split. At the Convention of Aguascalientes in late 1914 Villa and Zapata lined up against Carranza. The decisive battle came at Celaya in April 1915, where, Wikipedia says, Villa's frontal cavalry charges met Obregón's modern tactics. The United States recognised Carranza's government in October 1915. In 1916 Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, killing eight US soldiers and ten civilians — eighteen Americans in all — and General Pershing led a punitive expedition into Mexico that never caught him.
The Constitution of 1917
By the end of 1916, the Library of Congress says, Carranza controlled every state except Chihuahua and Morelos. He called a convention at Querétaro expecting a revision of the 1857 constitution; instead, most delegates were what the Library calls twentieth-century liberals, radicals by Mexican standards. Half had university degrees and only 30% had fought in the Revolution. The constitution was ratified on 5 February 1917.
The Library of Congress picks out three articles:
| Article | What it did |
|---|---|
| 3 | Free, obligatory, secular public education; a secular state |
| 27 | Return of lands taken from peasants; redistribution of land not used "appropriately"; national ownership of the subsoil; no foreign land ownership within 100 km of a border or 50 km of the coast |
| 123 | An 8-hour day, a 6-day week, a minimum wage, equal pay, and the right to organise and strike |
An 8-hour day over a 6-day week is a 48-hour working week — a legal ceiling written into a national constitution in 1917, the same year as Russia's two revolutions. The Library notes it would serve as a model for progressive constitutions around the world.
When did it end?
The sources do not agree — the Library of Congress does not even agree with itself — and that is informative. Its exhibition overview describes a revolution "lasting until 1917" and its constitution page calls the 1917 Constitution the revolution's culmination, yet its timeline ends with Obregón sworn in as president on 30 November 1920: "The Revolution is over." Wikipedia ends it on 1 December 1920, the date it quotes the historian Álvaro Matute giving for that swearing-in. Before it, Carranza had tried to impose a civilian successor, the Sonoran generals Obregón, Calles and de la Huerta had risen under the Plan of Agua Prieta, and Carranza had fled and been killed. Wikipedia adds that revolutionary generals then held the presidency until 1940, that the party founded in 1929 — later the PRI — ruled until 2000, and that "when the Revolution ended is not well defined." Picking an end date is a periodisation choice, and each choice tells a slightly different story.
The earlier independence struggles that made Mexico a state are in the Latin American independence wars, and how to build a country history timeline shows how to lay out a sequence with this many changing sides.
World History Timeline Sim, our app, lets you browse events by country and year, which helps keep 1910, 1913, 1915 and 1917 in order. Its Time Travel Mode is explicitly alternate history, and the app is a companion to coursework rather than a replacement. More guides sit under education and brain training.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
What caused the Mexican Revolution?
What did Zapata and Villa want?
What are the key articles of Mexico's 1917 Constitution?
Why did Pancho Villa raid Columbus, New Mexico?
Sources
- Overview - The Mexican Revolution and the United States (opens in a new tab)Library of Congress — accessed
- Timeline - The Mexican Revolution and the United States (opens in a new tab)Library of Congress — accessed
- The Constitution of 1917 (opens in a new tab)Library of Congress — accessed
- Mexican Revolution (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
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