Mexican Revolution

What happened

Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911) maintained order through repression, favoring foreign investors and large landowners. Peasant discontent grew. Francisco Madero's democratic movement (1910) sparked revolution. Díaz fell; Madero took power. Regional warlords (Pancho Villa, Emilio Zapata) pursued competing visions: Villa wanted northern industrial development; Zapata wanted land redistribution. The revolution fragmented into multiple factions. Military strongmen competed; Zapata was assassinated (1919); Villa was exiled. By 1920, a new constitution established land reform, reduced church power, and strengthened labor. Estimates: 1-2 million died (10% of Mexico's population).

Why it mattered

The Mexican Revolution was the first major social revolution of the 20th century—predating Soviet revolution (1917). It demonstrated that peasant-based revolution could seize state power and impose radical redistribution. Land reform became permanent in Mexico; ejidos (communal lands) redistributed vast territory. The revolution inspired leftist movements globally and showed how rural insurgencies could challenge state power. The revolution created a new Mexican national identity, weakened the church, and empowered labor. However, the revolution's gains were gradually reversed by neoliberalism in the 1980s-1990s. Modern Mexico's cartel violence and drug trafficking partly stem from weakened state capacity created by revolution's disruption.