The Mexican Revolution: Part XIV-The Headless Rebellion and the end of Obregon

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 XIV explores Obregon's negotiation with the American government, the end of Pancho Villa, the Headless Revolt, the Cristeros War and the end of the revolution.

 

Cast of Characters:

Alvaro Obregon-President of Mexico, formerly a leading general in Carranza's Constitutionalist army

Plutarco Elias Calles-Secretary of the Interior, key ally of Obregon, formerly governor of Sonora, Secretary of Industry, Commerce and Labor under President Carranza

Adolfo de la Huerta- Secretary of the Treasury, key ally of Obregon, formerly governor of Sonora

Francisco Villa-rebel leader in Chihuahua, his followers are called villistas

Saturnino Cedillo-dominant leader in San Luis Potosi, his followers are called cedillistas

Manuel Palaez-rebel leader in Tampico, funded by oil companies in exchange for security, exiled by Obregon

Warren Harding-president of the US from 1921 to 1923

Calvin Coolidge-Harding's vice-president, succeeded him in 1923

Salvador Alvarado-former governor of Yucatan, member of the Sonoran faction

Manuel Dieguez-former governor of Jalisco, member of the Sonoran faction

 

Sources:

Villa and Zapata: A Biography of the Mexican Revolution-Frank McLynn

The Mexican Revolution: Volumes I & II-Alan Knight

The Mexican Revolution 1910-1940-Michael J. Gonzales

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

The Life and Times of Pancho Villa-Friedrich Katz

Centaur of the North: Francisco Villa, the Mexican Revolution, and Northern Mexico

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

Felix Diaz, the Porfirians, and the Mexican Revolution-Peter V. N. Henderson

Oil and Revolution in Mexico-Jonathan C. Brown

Oil, Banks and Politics: The United States and Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1917-1924-Linda B. Hall

Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny-Margaret Leslie Davis

Wilson-A. Scott Berg

 

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