The Mexican Revolution: Part VI-Ten Tragic Days

The Mexican Revolution lasted from 1910 to 1920. Although Francisco Madero managed to overthrow  the dictator Porfiro Diaz, he proved to be an ineffective president, who soon lost power. A succession of generals and rebel leaders struggled to gain the president's chair, but the fighting merely grew more destructive until Alvaro Obregon emerged as the victor in 1920. Part VI shows how General Huerta took advantage of an attempted coup by Bernardo Reyes and Felix Diaz, Jr and seized power, but Madero's death and Huerta's blunt repression sparks a series of revolts.

Cast of Characters:
Francisco Madero Jr.-president and member of the wealthy Madero clan, his followers are called maderistas
Pazqual Orozco-primary rebel leader in Chihuahua against Diaz, failed rebel against Madero, his followers are called orozquistas
Francisco Villa-rebel leader in Chihuahua, his followers are called villistas
Emiliano Zapata-leader of an agrarian movement in Morelos, his followers are called zapatistas
Venustiano Carranza-governor of Coahuila, former minister of war and leader of the Constitutional movement against Huerta
Francisco Leon de la Barra-former foreign minister and interim president following Porfiro Diaz's resignation
Victoriano Huerta-a general in the federal army, who led a coup against Madero and appointed himself president
Bernardo Reyes-former general, former Minister of War, former governor of Nuevo Leon and failed rebel, his followers are called reyistas
Felix Diaz Jr.-Porfiro Diaz's nephew, general in the federal army and failed coup leader, his followers are called felicistas
Henry Wilson-American ambassador to Mexico 

Sources:
Villa and Zapata: A Biography of the Mexican Revolution-Frank McLynn
The Mexican Revolution: Volumes I & II-Alan Knight
Mexico: Biography of Power, A History of Modern Mexico, 1810-1996-Enrique Krauze, translated by Hank Heifetz
Francisco I. Madero: Apostle of Mexican Democracy-Stanley R. Ross
Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War-John Mason Hart
Revolutionary Mexico: The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution
The Life and Times of Pancho Villa-Friedrich Katz
Centaur of the North: Francisco Villa, the Mexican Revolution, and Northern Mexico
Emiliano Zapata: Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico-Samuel Brunk
Zapata and the Mexican Revolution-John Womack, Jr.
Ranchero Revolt: The Mexican Revolution in Guerrero-Ian Jacobs
Agrarian Warlord: Saturnino Cedillo and the Mexican Revolution in San Luis Potosi-Dudley Ankerson
Orozco: The Life and Death of a Mexican Revolutionary-Raymond Caballero
In the Absence of Don Porfirio: Francisco Leon de la Barra and the Mexican Revolution-Peter Henderson
Huerta: A Political Portrait-Michael C. Meyer
Felix Diaz, the Porfirians, and the Mexican Revolution-Peter V. N. Henderson

Image Credit:
Dec 6 1914 General Tomás Urbina, General Pancho Villa and General Emiliano Zapata, Creator: Casasola, Agustín Víctor, 1874-1938, Elmer and Diane Powell collection on Mexico and the Mexican Revolution, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Wikimedia Commons