Lecture 7: The Mexican Revolution Flashcards
What were some shortcomings of Mexican independence that set the stage for the Mexican revolution?
- Highly divisive population –> rich elites and large lower-class
- Catholic Church has exclusive rights to religious matters
- A lot of instability when Mexico becomes a republic
- Mexican-American war –> Mexico loses 1/3 of its territory
What was La Reforma?
La Reforma emerged in Mexico in response to the policies that favoured the elite, the corruption of the caudillos, and the loss of the northern territories to the US
Established by president Benito Juarez
What were the goals of La Reforma?
- Secularization
- Elimination of privileges of the social elite
- Expropriation of church properties
- Rejection of foreign intervention
- Rejection to pay back foreign debts
Who becomes president of Mexico during the civil war?
Benito Juarez (liberal)
Why did the French invade Mexico?
- In response to Juarez’s plan not to pay back foreign debt, Britain, France and Spain organize an attack
- However, France, under Napoleon rule, decides to take over Mexico city
- Maximilian of Habsburg (from Austria) becomes emperor
What were the conservatives in Mexico’s stance on the French invasion?
Initially, they supported France since they wanted to go back to the status quo of before Juarez’s liberal agenda
However, Maximilian of Habsburg was too liberal for them, and France loses a lot of support
How did French people feel about the French invasion of Mexico?
Lost a lot of support because it was costing France a lot of money
What was the US’s stance on the French invasion of Mexico?
The US was unhappy to have a strong European influence so close to their territory, so they support Mexico and help in throwing out the French
Who becomes the president of Mexico after the French invasion?
Porfirio Diaz
What characterizes the political/administrative spheres of the Porfiriato?
- End of 19th century beginning of 20th century
- Political clientelism and disenfranchisement
- Autocratic rule
- Land concentration
What characterizes the economic sphere of the Porfiriato?
- Foreign investments –> leads to foreign control of many sectors of Mexico (by US primarily)
- Rapid industrialization
- Strong economic growth, yet unequal distribution
What characterizes the social sphere of the Porfiriato?
- Positivism and social Darwinism
- Revalorization of Indigenous past but a complete dismissal of contemporary Indigenous peoples
Who wrote the Plan de San Luis Potosi, criticizing Porfirio Diaz, and eventually running in the elections against him?
Madero
True or false: was the Mexican revolution a centralized uprising?
False, it included multiple different actors all united in the rejection of the status quo
This decentralized reality made it difficult to come to consensus, which ultimately led to many assassinations (ex. Zapata)
What are the key objectives of the Mexican Revolution?
- Ending autocracy
- Land reforms
- Rejecting neo-colonialism
Compare Russia’s October Revolution to the Mexican Revolution
Similar context, in that it included a disenfranchised population, agrarian societies and landowning elites, regarding uneven industrialization
However, socialism does not play a big part in Mexico’s revolution as it did in Russia
What is a basic timeline of the Mexican Revolution?
- 1910: Porfirio runs for presidency; threatened by Madero so Porfirio puts him in jail
- Madero writes the Plan de San Luis Potosi in the US
- 1911: With the support of Orozco and Pancho Villa, Madero overthrows Porfirio Diaz
- Zapata denounces Madero
- 1912-1913: Orozco breaks off from Madero; Madero is killed; Orozco joins Huerta
- However, Zapata, Pancho Villa, and Carranza fight him –> civil war
- 1914-1915: Carranza declares himself president (new radical reform, but doesn’t get implemented)
- 1920: Obregon becomes new president
Who are the two most recognizable leaders of the Mexican Revolution?
Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata
Who were las Soldaderas?
Women played a big role in the Mexican revolution. Didn’t often go directly to fight, but supported a lot of the revolution
Who was Jose Guadalupe Posada
- Mexican street engraver/graphic designer
- Popular with the youth
- Shows popular leaders as skeletons as if they were dead → mocking their dependence on European styles and their indifference in the plight of Indigenous peasants and workers.
What is a corrido?
Stories told with a running narrative
