1860-1910

1. Mexico Estados Unidos Mexicanos 1860-1910

2. Timeline 1860-1917 • 1862-1867- The French take over the Mexican government and with the help of conservatives install Emperor Maximilian • 1876-1910- Era of dictator Porfirio Diaz: Industrialization and Modernization • 1910-1917- The Mexican Revolution

3. French Invasion andThe Maximilian Era 1861- 1867

4. Benito Juarez Born March 21, 1806 of Zapotec descent. He became a lawyer and then Governor of Oaxaca and later President of the Mexican Republic. Died on July 18, 1872. He was one of the leaders of the liberal movement to bring the Church and the wealthy class under government rule. His reign also experienced foreign invasions and constant battle with conservative forces.

5. Batalla de Puebla (a.k.a. Cinco de Mayo) • On October 1861, the French forces invade Mexico and on May 5, 1862 the less trained and least equipped Mexican troops caused heavy losses to the French under the leadership of Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. The French nevertheless, enter Mexico City on June 10, 1862.

6. Maximiliano y Carlota • He was born in 1832 as Archduke of Austria and takes the offer by the Mexican wealthy class and clergy to become the second emperor of Mexico. • He was actually more liberal than expected and began losing support from the wealthy Mexican class at the same time Liberal forces under Juarez began making gains.

7. The Maximilian Era April 1864-May 1867 Facing serious domestic and diplomatic problems at home, the French Monarch Napoleon III, decides to cut his losses and terminate support for the Mexican adventure. Maximilian refuses to leave the country and is captured with his Mexican allies and put to death by a firing squad.

8. Porfirio Diaz- 1830-1915 He ruled Mexico with an iron fist for 35 years, from 1876 to 1911. His period of rule, referred as the Porfiriato, was marked by great progress and modernization. The benefits were felt by very few, however as millions of peons labored in virtual slavery. He created an economic boom by allowing foreign investment to develop Mexico’s vast resources.

9. Podcast- Porfirio Diaz

10. Events that led to the Mexican Revolution • 84% of the population was illiterate. • About 20% of the land was owned by foreigners. • A high percent of rural Mexicans did not own land. • U.S. investors owned more industries than Mexicans. • About 90% of all fixed investment in mining was foreign. • The average life expectancy for Mexicans was 30 years. • Population nearly doubled from 8.7 million in 1874 to 15 million by 1910. Mexico’s Hope: An Encounter with Politics and History by James D. Cockcroft, 1998

11. Popular Figures Francisco “Pancho” Villa (Doroteo Arango) Was born in Durango, Mexico in 1878. At age 16, he kills an hacendado who is trying to take advantage of his younger sister. From 1894 to 1910 he spends most of his time in the mountains running from the law.

12. Villa was drawn into the Revolution by supporting Francisco Madero who first challenged the Porfiriato in 1910. In the following years he would be betrayed by various generals. When the US took the side of one of those generals, he attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico killing 18 Americans. The US sent thousands of troops into Mexico to capture Villa but after a year were still unsuccessful. Villa retired from revolutionary life in 1920 but had only a short retirement for he was gunned down in his car on July 20, 1923.

13. Popular Figures Emiliano Zapata • Born in Morelos around 1879 as a sharecropper and horse trainer. Was forced to join the army for 7 years. • Sided with Madero and formulated his Plan de Ayala which called for the seizure of all foreign land, the return of all land taken from villages, confiscation of 1/3 of all land held by “friendly” hacendados and full confiscation of land owned by persons opposed to the Plan de Ayala.

14. “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees” Zapata’s influence lasts to this day, particularly in revolutionary tendencies in south Mexico. There are controversies on the portrayal of Zapata and his followers, on whether they were bandits or revolutionaries. But in modern times, Zapata is one of the most revered national heroes of Mexico: to many Mexicans, specifically the peasant and indigenous citizens, Zapata was a practical revolutionary who sought the implementation of liberties and agrarian rights for the landless peasants.

15. Less Known Figures Flores-Magon Brothers Leaders of the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) based in the US Southwest. Originally fromOaxaca. “The PLM widely circulated its reformist program, a significant part of which was to be incorporated into the 1917 Constitution. It called for an 8 hour day, a minimum wage, an end to child labor, an end to latifundismo, protection of human rights for Mexicans in the US, an end to US interference in Mexican affairs, and only one term for the president”. (Cockcroft 1998:91)

16. Women of the Revolution

17. Corridos- La Valentina

18. Mexican Immigration to US • The Mexican Revolution brought one of the largest shifts of population between two countries, and the abruptly increased presence of brown skinned people in the US encouraged exaggerated stereotypes. • Between 1900 and 1920, about 1 million Mexicans migrated to the US . • At the turn of the 19th century, Houston had only a few hundred Mexicans; 30 years later, that number had climbed to more than 15,000! • By 1919, Mexicans comprised 5% of Los Angeles’ population of over a million. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuna, 2007