Mexican Revolution summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Mexican Revolution.

Mexican Revolution, (1910–20) Lengthy struggle that began with the overthrow of Porfirio Díaz, whose elitist and oligarchic policies had caused widespread dissatisfaction. Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa, Pascual Orozco, and Emiliano Zapata amassed supporters, and in 1911 Madero was declared president, but his slow-paced reforms alienated both former allies and foes. He was deposed by Gen. Victoriano Huerta, whose own drunken and despotic dictatorship quickly fell to Villa, Venustiano Carranza, and Álvaro Obregón. Carranza declared himself president in 1914 over Villa’s objections and, after further bloodshed, prevailed. He oversaw the writing of the liberal constitution of 1917 but did little to implement its key provisions; in 1920 he was killed while fleeing a rebellion. With the election of the reform-minded Obregón, the revolutionary period ended, though sporadic clashes continued until Lázaro Cárdenas took office in 1934.

Institutional Revolutionary Party Summary

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexican political party that dominated the country’s political institutions from its founding in 1929 until the end of the 20th century. Virtually all important figures in Mexican national and local politics belonged to the party, because the nomination of

Mexico Summary

Mexico, country of southern North America and the third largest country in Latin America, after Brazil and Argentina. Mexican society is characterized by extremes of wealth and poverty, with a limited middle class wedged between an elite cadre of landowners and investors on the one hand and masses

Liberty Leading the People, oil on canvas by Eugène Delacroix, 1830; in the Louvre, Paris. 260 × 325 cm.

revolution Summary

Revolution, in social and political science, a major, sudden, and hence typically violent alteration in government and in related associations and structures. The term is used by analogy in such expressions as the Industrial Revolution, where it refers to a radical and profound change in economic

war Summary

War, in the popular sense, a conflict between political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude. In the usage of social science, certain qualifications are added. Sociologists usually apply the term to such conflicts only if they are initiated and conducted in accordance