The Mexican Revolution: Part VII-President Victoriano Huerta

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 VII explains how Huerta's dictatorship was opposed by factions led by Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, as well as an American occupation of Vera Cruz to protect American oil producers in the region.

Cast of Characters:
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
Victoriano Huerta-a general in the federal army, who led a coup against Madero and appointed himself president
Venustiano Carranza-governor of Coahuila, former minister of war and leader of the Constitutional movement against Huerta
Alvaro Obregon-a leading general in Carranza's Constitutional army
Felipe Angeles-a general in the federal army, who was loyal to Francisco Madero, and then became Villa's leading general
Woodrow Wilson-president of the United States

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
Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War-John Mason Hart
Revolutionary Mexico: The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution-John Mason Hart
Revolution on the Border: The United States and Mexico, 1910-1920-Linda B. Hall and Don M. Coerver
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
Orozco: The Life and Death of a Mexican Revolutionary-Raymond Caballero
Huerta: A Political Portrait-Michael C. Meyer
Venustaino Carranza's Nationalist Struggle, 1893-1920-Douglas W. Richmond
Alvaro Obregon: Power and Revolution in Mexico, 1911-1920-Linda B. Hall
The Last Caudillo: Alvar Obregon and the Mexican Revolution-Jurgen Buchenau
The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States and the Mexican Revolution-Friedrich Katz
Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny-Margaret Leslie Davis

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