Many men and women acted in favor of the Mexican Revolution, but this armed conflict had decisive characters that determined both its course and outcome.
Let us know in this article who were the main characters of the Mexican Revolution.
1. Porfirio Díaz
Porfirio Díaz was president of Mexico since 1876, ruling the country for more than 30 years. It was his intention to continue as national leader indefinitely that caused the start of the revolution.
In total there were seven continuous presidential terms in which Díaz led the nation, a government known as "El Porfiriato", whose power did not come from the trust of the voters, but from force and injustice.
The Legislative Power was always dominated by the Executive, while the judges of the Judicial Power were agents of the President's decisions.
The governors of the states of the Republic were appointed by Díaz and they appointed municipal authorities and state agencies.
2. Francisco I. Madero
After his exile, Francisco Madero created the "Plan de San Luis", a government program whose objective was to exhort the people to take up arms against the "Porfiriato" on November 20, 1910.
Madero appeared as a candidate in the elections of that same year with the Anti-reelection Party, in order to try to prevent a new presidential term for Porfirio Díaz through the elections.
His uprising was the trigger for the Mexican revolutionary process and at the same time the cause of his arrest and expulsion from the country.
It was in exile that he concluded that only with the popular struggle would the changes that Mexico longed for be achieved. Thus he devised the Plan of San Luis.
Madero rose to the presidency due to the success of the 1911-1913 revolution, but his government was unable to reassure and dominate the radical leaders of the field.
This character of the revolution was pressured by the United States and by the conservative factions of the country, being first betrayed and then assassinated by Francisco Huerta, one of his trusted generals.
Francisco Madero was an honest man who wanted the progress of Mexico and the alternation in the government, but they did not allow him to fulfill his objectives.
3. Flores Magón brothers
The Flores Magón brothers undertook their revolutionary activities between 1900 and 1910. They exercised actions in the political and communicational field through Francisco Madero's antirelectionist movement.
In 1900 they created Regeneración, a newspaper at the command of the revolutionary movement. Two years later, the brothers Ricardo and Enrique published “El Hijo del Ahuizote”, a work that landed them in jail and led to their expulsion from the country in 1904.
Their beginnings as journalists who disagreed and opposed the government of Porfirio Díaz occurred in 1893 with the newspaper, "El Democrata."
The critical sense and ideas instilled by Teodoro Flores, father of the Flores Magón brothers, turned them into fierce revolutionaries who shared the ideals of the indigenous people, with the progressive ideas of European philosophers and with the Mexican tradition of fighting for freedom. .
4. Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta is considered by many historians as the promoter of the betrayal of President Madero, which also ended his life.
Huerta entered the Military College of Chapultepec where he finished his training as a lieutenant in 1876.
He was prominent in the national cartography service for 8 years and in the last days of the Porfiriato he was close to the betrayals, loyalties, entanglements and agreements of the political aspects of the government.
The general, Ignacio Bravo, ordered him to repress the Mayan Indians of the Yucatan peninsula in 1903; later he did the same with the Yaqui Indians in the state of Sonora. He never appreciated his indigenous ancestry.
During Madero's presidency, he fought the agrarian leaders, Emiliano Zapata and Pascual Orozco.
Victoriano Huerta occupies a contradictory place in the history of the Mexican Revolution for betraying Madero and with it, the hopes of Mexicans for a modern and progressive government.
5. Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata is one of the most popular characters of the Mexican Revolution for representing the majority of the poor, peasant, humble people with little school education.
The "Caudillo del Sur" was always committed to the equitable distribution of land and was a supporter of Madero's ideas and plans with the Plan of San Luis.
At some point he disagreed with Madero's actions for land distribution and agrarian reform, and when he was assassinated he allied with Venustiano Carranza, leader of the group known as “Constitucionalistas” and they fought against the followers of Victoriano Huerta.
Zapata defeated Huerta in 1913 as head of the revolution and together with Francisco “Pancho” Villa later fought against Carranza.
Emiliano Zapata created the first agrarian credit organization in Mexico and worked to turn the sugar industry in the state of Morelos into a cooperative.
He was betrayed by Jesús Guajardo, ambushed and assassinated at the Hacienda de Chinameca, in Morelos.
6. Francisco “Pancho” Villa
The real name of Francisco “Pancho” Villa is Doroteo Arango, a man who was in the mountains when the revolutionary process broke out.
Villa joined the ranks of Madero against Porfirio Díaz with an army created and commanded by him in the northern part of Mexico, always emerging victorious.
After fleeing to the United States due to the persecution of Victoriano Huerta, he returned to Mexico and supported Venustiano Carranza and Emiliano Zapata in the fight against Huerta, whom they defeated in 1914.
Zapata and Villa were betrayed by Carranza, so they began to fight against him, but Álvaro Obregón defeated them and Carranza established himself in power.
Villa was offered a ranch in Chihuahua and an amnesty to withdraw from political life and fighting. He died during the presidency of Álvaro Obregón in 1923.
7. Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón fought alongside Francisco Madero to end the Porfiriato, but when he returned from his retreat he allied himself with Venustiano Carranza while he faced Huerta, with whom he remained until the 1917 Constitution was promulgated.
The one known as the “invincible general” participated in many battles, one of them against Pancho Villa, whom he defeated in the battle of Celaya.
His alliance with Carranza ended in 1920 when he faced the Agua Prieta Rebellion.
Obregón was elected President and governed Mexico from 1920 to 1924. During his term, the Secretary of Public Education was created and the distribution of lands that had been confiscated during the Díaz government materialized.
He died at the hands of José de León Toral on July 17, 1928 at La Bombilla restaurant, in Guanajuato, while he was being photographed.
8. Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza appears in the Mexican Revolution to oppose Porfirio Díaz along with Francisco Madero, with whom he was Minister of War and Navy and governor of the state of Coahuila.
After Madero's death, Carranza launched the Plan of Guadalupe, a document with which he ignores the government of Victoriano Huerta and proclaims himself "First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army," advocating the restoration of constitutional order.
While opposing and fighting Huerta, Carranza allied with Álvaro Obregón and Pancho Villa in the northern region of the country and with Emiliano Zapata in southern Mexico.
As president, Venustiano Carranza promoted agrarian provisions for the benefit of the peasants and dealt with fiscal, labor and labor matters and matters related to mineral resources and oil.
This character of the revolution legalized divorce, set the maximum duration of the daily working day and established the amount of the minimum wage earned by workers. He also promulgated the Constitution of 1917, still in force.
Carranza was assassinated by an ambush in Puebla in May 1920.
9. Pascual Orozco
Pascual Orozco was a mineral transporter native to Chihuahua, Guerrero state, who achieved notable success in 1910, the year the revolution broke out.
Pascual Orozco, father of this character from the Mexican revolution, opposed the Diaz government and supported the Mexican Revolutionary Party, which was one of the first to oppose the continuity of the Porfiriato.
Orozco Jr. not only joined the followers of Madero, he also contributed large amounts of money to buy weapons and was responsible for organizing fighting groups in Chihuahua, participating in some battles such as San Isidro, Cerro Prieto, Pedernales and Mal Paso, in 1910 .
Orozco was with Pancho Villa in the taking of Ciudad Juárez in 1911, however, discrepancies arose between them after Madero's rise to the presidency, differences that ended their alliance and made him take up arms against him.
Pascual Orozco decided to support Victoriano Huerta, but when he was overthrown he went into exile in the United States where he was assassinated in 1915.
10. Belisario Domínguez
Belisario Domínguez always considered himself the greatest opponent of Victoriano Huerta.
He was a doctor with a pen and fiery word, whose speeches promoted the importance for the peoples of freedom of expression.
He graduated as a surgeon from the prestigious La Sorbonne University in Paris. His beginnings in Mexican political life were with the creation of the newspaper "El Vate", whose articles opposed both Porfirio Díaz and his regime.
He was a founding member of the Democratic Club, municipal president of Comitán and senator, which allowed him to see up close the rise of Victoriano Huerta to the presidency of the republic, becoming its greatest critic, an opposition that led to a bloody death in the cemetery from Xoco, in Coyoacán, as he was tortured and martyred.
Aureliano Urrutia, one of his executioners, cut out his tongue and gave it to Huerta as a gift.
The assassination of Belisario Domínguez was one of the reasons for the overthrow of Victoriano Huerta.
11. Serdán Brothers
Originally from the city of Puebla, the Serdán brothers, Aquiles, Máximo and Carmen, were characters of the Mexican Revolution who opposed the government of Porfirio Díaz.
They died when facing the army when they were discovered while conspiring with other followers of Francisco Madero. They are considered the first martyrs of the Mexican Revolution.
They were supporters of the Democratic Party and together with Maderista members, they created the Luz y Progreso Political Club in the city of Puebla.
In addition to supporting him in his actions to reach the presidency, Aquiles founded in Puebla, together with Francisco Madero, the Anti-Reelection Party.
It was Madero who asked the Serdán brothers to begin the revolutionary uprising in Puebla on November 20, 1910, but they were betrayed.
Aquiles Serdán was discovered in his hiding place due to a sudden coughing attack, where he was injured multiple times and finished off with a coup de grace.
Máximo and Carmen were captured by forces allied to Porfirio Díaz. The first of these fell by the bullets of the more than 500 men, including soldiers and police, who had entered the house.
Although it is known that Carmen was taken prisoner along with other women, there is no certainty about her death.
12. José María Pino Suárez
José María Pino Suárez had an outstanding participation in the government of Francisco Madero, with whom he headed the office of the Secretary of Justice in 1910.
A year later he was governor of the state of Yucatán and between 1912 and 1913 he held the position of Secretary of Public Instruction and Fine Arts. In this last year he was assassinated while he held the position of vice president of the republic.
He was a prominent member of the Anti-Reelection Party and a faithful companion of Madero, so much so that he served as a messenger when he was imprisoned in San Luis Potosí.
Madero's enemies began to destabilize the new government and one of those acts was to assassinate both José María Pino Suarez and the President of the Republic himself, in February 1913.
13. Plutarco Elías Calles
School teacher who for his actions in the revolutionary process reached the rank of general.
His most brilliant acts were against Pascual Orozco and his "Orozquistas"; against Pancho Villa and his rebels and an important work in the overthrow of Victoriano Huerta.
Although he was appointed Secretary of Commerce and Labor during Venustiano Carranza's mandate, he conspired and participated in his overthrow.
He held the presidency of the country from 1924 to 1928, promoting profound reforms in the educational system, in the agrarian system and in the execution of various public works.
Plutarco Elías Calles believed that the revolutionary struggle was the way for the reforms and social and political transformations that Mexico required.
He organized and founded the National Revolutionary Party with which he wanted to end the prevailing caudillismo in the country and the bloodshed, thereby ensuring the political dominance of Mexico from the presidency and was responsible for the return of Álvaro Obregón.
His term as President was known as the "Maximato".
Plutarco Elías Calles is considered one of the forerunners of modern Mexico.
14. Jose Vasconcelos
Thinker, writer and politician, with outstanding participation in the processes that occurred during the Mexican Revolution.
He was the creator of the Ministry of Education and in 1914 appointed director of the National Preparatory School. Because of his dedication to work, he was called "Teacher of the Youth of America."
He went into exile in the United States because of Venustiano Carranza's threats and to avoid being imprisoned for being critical.
After these events and during the government of Álvaro Obregón, Vasconcelos returned to Mexico and was appointed Secretary of Public Education, a position with which he promoted popular education by bringing renowned teachers and artists to Mexico and was able to found public libraries and departments of Fine Arts, Schools, Libraries and Archives.
This philosopher was also responsible for the reorganization of the National Library of Mexico, created the magazine “El Maestro”, promoted rural schools and promoted the holding of the First Book Exhibition.
It was during his direction that prominent Mexican painters and muralists such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco were commissioned with the great and emblematic murals and paintings that are still preserved in Mexico.
15. Antonio Caso
Another of the characters of the Mexican Revolution who used his intellectual condition to make contributions to the revolutionary process, through criticism of the foundations of the Porfirio Díaz government.
Antonio Caso was characterized as a detractor of the positivist theory that the Porfiriato proclaimed. An academic and philosopher who founded the Athenaeum of Youth and became one of the most important intellectuals of the revolutionary era.
Caso was, together with other Mexican intellectuals and academics, one of the precursors of the creation and establishment of the most important university in the country.
16. Felipe Angeles
This personage of the Mexican Revolution was identified with the political and government ideas of Francisco Madero.
Felipe Ángeles developed beliefs committed to social justice and humanitarianism.
He entered the Military Academy at the age of 14, following the guidelines of his father, who had preceded him.
His commitment to the government plan and the ideas of Madero led him to lead a humanitarian military campaign.
He fought alongside Pancho Villa, with whom he shared ideals of justice and equality.
Villa was exiled to the United States in 1915 and when he returned 3 years later he was reunited with Felipe Ángeles, who after a betrayal was arrested, subjected to a court martial and shot in November 1919.
17. Benjamin Hill
Benjamín Hill was a relevant military man and one of the founders of Francisco Madero's Anti-reelectionist Party, with whom he shared his ideas and plans, which led him to join the armed struggle in 1911, achieving promotion to colonel.
He was appointed chief of military operations in his native Sonora. His actions include fighting against forces loyal to Victoriano Huerta in 1913 and until 1914 he was commander of part of the Northwest Army.
He was governor of the state of Sonora and its commander until 1915; later, he was appointed commissioner.
During Venustiano Carranza's presidency, he was promoted to brigadier general as a reward for his work with the army.
He served as Secretary of War and Navy and in December 1920 he was recognized in the government of Álvaro Obregón as a "veteran of the revolution." Shortly after, he passed away.
18. Joaquín Amaro Domínguez
Military of excellent trajectory developed mainly during the Mexican Revolution.
His best example was his own father, who joined the loyalists with Francisco Madero and it was for these ideals that he took up arms and fought.
Being just a common soldier, Joaquín enlisted in the forces commanded by General Domingo Arrieta to fight for the Maderism, with which he managed to rise to the rank of lieutenant.
He participated in numerous actions against Zapata's followers, the Reyistas and Salgadistas, reaching the rank of Major and then Colonel, in 1913.
The death of Francisco Madero and José María Pino Suárez (1913) led Joaquín Amaro Domínguez to join the ranks of the Constitutionalist Army, with which he remained until 1915 when he was promoted to brigadier general.
He participated in the actions carried out in the south of the country against the forces of Pancho Villa.
As Secretary of War and Navy, he established regulations to reform the structure of the Armed Institute; he demanded the correct fulfillment of military discipline and promoted sports activities.
After the Mexican Revolution, he devoted himself to educational work at the Military College, where he was director.
19. The Adelitas
Group of women who fought for the rights of the dispossessed, humble peasants and other women, during the revolution.
The name "Adelita" came from a musical composition composed in honor of Adela Velarde Pérez, a noble nurse who collaborated with many soldiers, including the composer of this famous corrido.
The Adelitas or Soldaderas, as they were also called, took up arms and went to the battlefields like one more soldier to fight for their rights.
In addition to fighting, these women cared for the wounded, prepared and distributed food among the soldiers and even carried out espionage work.
One of their main motives for fighting with arms was the injustices committed against women, the poor and humble, during the government of Porfirio Díaz.
Among this brave group of women were some who reached high ranks in the military establishment.
Adelitas Women
One of the most representative Adelitas was Amelia Robles, who reached the rank of colonel; so as not to bother the men, she asked to be called, Amelio.
Another “Adelita” of arms to take was Ángela Jiménez, an explosives expert who claimed to feel comfortable with a weapon in her hands.
Venustiano Carranza had a very special secretary. It was about Hermila Galindo, who every time she traveled outside of Mexico for diplomatic reasons exposed the rights of women as an activist for this cause.
Hermila Galindo was the first female deputy and a fundamental piece in the conquest of women's voting rights.
Pancho Villa had the collaboration of Petra Herrera, until their pact was broken; Mrs. Herrera had her own army with more than a thousand women in her ranks, who won an important victory in the second battle of Torreón in 1914.
Most of these dedicated and strong women never received the recognition they deserved for their valuable contribution to the revolutionary process, because at that time the role of women was not prominent.
The recognition of the work and dedication of the Adelitas materialized when all the Mexican women won their right to vote.
Who are the main leaders of the Mexican Revolution?
Among the most important characters of the Mexican Revolution, some caudillos stand out, such as:
- Porfirio Diaz.
- Emiliano Zapata.
- Doroteo Arango, alias Pancho Villa.
- Francisco Maderos.
- Plutarco Elías Calles.
Who became the main revolutionary leader?
The main character of the revolutionary leaders was Francisco Madero.
What important events occurred in the Mexican Revolution?
There are 5 fundamental events to understand the events of the Mexican Revolution. We will list them below:
- 1910: Francisco Madero establishes the revolutionary plan called, Plan de San Luis, with which he confronts the government of Porfirio Díaz.
- 1913-1914: Francisco Villa starts the uprisings in the north, while Emiliano Zapata stars in those in the south.
- 1915: Venustiano Carraza is proclaimed President of the Republic.
- 1916: all the leaders of the revolution unite in Querétaro to create the new Constitution.
- 1917: the new Constitution is proclaimed.
Characters of the Mexican Revolution. Women
The women who participated in the Mexican Revolution received the denomination of Adelitas or Soldaderas and among the most prominent we have:
- Amelia Robles
- Angela Jimenez
- Petra Herrera
- Hermila Galindo
What did Venustiano Carranza do in the Mexican Revolution?
Venustiano Carranza was the first head of the Constitutionalist Army formed after the assassination of Francisco Madero. In this way, he fought to overthrow Victoriano Huerta, taking over the presidency on August 14, 1914, initially acting as President-in-Charge and then as Constitutional President of Mexico from 1917 to 1920.
Characters of the Mexican Revolution in Guerrero
Among the main characters of the Mexican revolution in Guerrero, we have:
- The Figueroa Mata Brothers: Francisco, Ambrosio and Rómulo.
- Martín Vicario.
- Fidel Fuentes.
- Ernesto Castrejón.
- Juan Andreu Almazán.
Nicknames of the characters of the Mexican Revolution
- Felipe Ángeles was called “El Artillero” for being the best gunner of the revolution.
- Plutarco Elías Calles, nicknamed "The Antichrist", for his conflicts with the Catholic Church.
- Victoriano Huerta was nicknamed "El Chacal" for the vile murder of Francisco Madero and José María Pino Suarez.
- Rafael Buena Tenorio was nicknamed the "Golden Granite" for being the youngest general to participate in the Mexican Revolution.
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