1. 17.4 Wilson and the Mexican Revolution

2. Focus Your Thoughts... What is a dictatorship? Why would a revolution in Mexico draw the United States into conflict? Hint: Think about this in terms of ‘spheres of influence’ within a global community

3. The Diaz Dictatorship For most of the period from 1877 – 1910, a man named Porfirio Diaz ruled Mexico When Diaz came to power, he brought order to Mexico, which had endured decades of war and unrest; however, order came at a price Diaz jailed his opponents Diaz did not permit freedom of the press Diaz used his army to maintain ‘peace’ at any cost Thanks to the contributions of foreign investors (esp. the United States), Diaz was able to modernize Mexico very quickly Most Mexicans continued to live in poverty and opposition grew Porfirio Diaz

4. Overthrowing Diaz In 1910, Diaz ran for re-election; as in earlier elections, Diaz controlled the outcome and just before voting began, he jailed his opponent Francisco Madero When the votes had been counted, Diaz claimed he had earned over a million votes and Madero a mere two hundred Madero was released from prison in September of 1910 and fled across the border to Texas where he declared himself the President of Mexico and called for a revolution When Madero returned to Mexico in November, he found bands of rebels at the ready Francisco Madero

5. Shaky Leadership In November of 1911, Madero was elected President of Mexico He tried to set up a democratic government, but was quickly overwhelmed by the very forces he had unleashed in toppling Diaz In 1913, Victoriano Huerta, the commander of the government troops, overthrew Madero, imprisoned him, and had him executed soon after Huerta named himself President; but four armies immediately rose up to fight him Victoriano Huerta

6. The U.S. Intervenes Many European nations recognized Huerta’s government, but the United States did not Wilson viewed him as an assassin with no claim to power In February of 1914, he authorized the sale of weapons to Huerta’s enemies He adopted a policy of “watchful waiting” Woodrow Wilson

7. The Tampico Incident On April 9, 1914, nine crew members of the USS Dolphin went ashore for supplies in the Mexican port of Tampico There, they were arrested by soldiers loyal to Huerta; the Americans were quickly released unharmed and the Mexicans apologized U.S. Admiral Henry Mayo demanded more; he wanted Huerta to give the American flag a twenty-one gun salute within twenty- four hours; Huerta refused On April 20 th, the President asked Congress’s permission to use armed forces in Mexico Congress approved the request on April 22 nd

8. Occupying Veracruz Before Congress had even approved his request to send in troops, Wilson heard some alarming news – a German ship was headed to the city of Veracruz with a large supply of weapons for Huerta Without hesitation, Wilson ordered the U.S. Navy to seize the city The Battle of Veracruz U.S. marines land at Veracruz expecting an easy victory; the Mexicans open fire Seventeen Americans and over 300 Mexicans died After the Battle U.S. troops occupied the city for the next six months The occupation threatened to plunge The United States and America into war, but mediation by Argentina, Brazil, and Chile prevented it In June, mediators called for Huerta’s resignation and for the creation of a provisional government; Huerta refused, but as pressure mounted, he resigned and fled to Spain

9. The Revolution Concludes With Huerta gone from Mexico, Venustiano Carranza stepped in and declared himself the leader of the Mexican Revolution He faced opposition from Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata; for some time, it appeared they would win This concerned American leaders, who feared U.S. economic interested would be harmed Wilson sided with Carranza, causing Villa to retaliate Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa

10. Pursuing Pancho Villa In March of 1916, Villa led hundreds of troops across the U.S. border to Columbus, New Mexico Striking at dawn, he burned the town and killed seventeen Americans President Wilson quickly ordered a military expedition to hunt down Villa; within a week, we had ten thousand troops in Mexico We searched for eleven months, but never found Pancho Villa... the farther we went into Mexico, the more the Mexicans resented us Fearing war with Mexico at a time when the rest of the world was already involved in World War I, we called off our search for Villa and pulled our troops out of Mexico

11. A New Constitution In 1916, Carranza called a Constitutional convention In February of 1917, a new Constitution went into place Contained the ideas of all the revolutionary groups Protected the liberties and rights of citizens Despite the new Constitution, fighting in Mexico continued until 1920, destroying the Mexican economy and increasing immigration to the United States