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On May 25, 1911 the 45 year rule of Mexican President Porfiro Diaz came to a dramatic end. On that day Diaz resigned his Presidency in the face of a poular revolution that had been building steadily over the previous eight months. Back in October of 1910, Liberal Reformer Francisco Madero had publicly declared that Diaz was an illegal president and had called on the Mexican people to overthrow the existing regime.
Madero gathered around him a guerrilla band of strongmen who would spearhead the move towards revolt. At the head of the guerrillas was a thirty two year old bandit by the name of Pancho Villa. Villa was born Doroteo Arango, Villa had a list of previous scrapes with the law. However, unlike most of his compatriots he neither smoked, drank or took drugs. In November, 1910, with Madero exiled in Texas, the revolutionaries began their uprising. On November 21, along with Castulo Herrera, Villa led a raid on the Colony of San Andres. The Colony was soon under rebel control. Soon Villa had word that Federal troops were on the way to quash the rebellion. Villa took 28 men and went to wait for the troops at the railway station. With the rebels hidden around the station, the soldiers presented themselves like sitting ducks when they disembarked from the train. Villa’s men opened fire, killing a number of the troops, including their commander, a Captain Yepez. The rest of the soldiers retreated.
The news of this victory soon spread. The effect was to bolster support for the rebels among the general populace. Numbers were reinforced and soon there were 500 men in the rebel forces at San Andres. Although some officials attempted negotiation with the rebels, President Diaz adamantly refused to compromise. He vowed to crush the rebellion. He sent 5,000 Federal soldiers into Chihuahua to do just that. Meanwhile the Revolutionary forces were steadily growing. By the time the Federal troops approached, they numbered about 1500 men. Throughout December 1910, the Federal forces won a number of battles against the rebels, managing to retake key bases that had been rebel strongholds. But, as the campaign drew out, the Federal troops began to feel the effects of their unfamiliarity with the rugged terrain which was home to the rebels. Public support for the rebels was ever increasing and their numbers constantly being reinforced. A call by Diaz for inscription was a failure. Men would go into hiding rather than be forced to join the army.
On February 14, 1911 Francisco Madero returned to Mexico to take the head of the Guerrilla forces. This gave the uprising added impetus. The Federal Troops were unable to satisfactorily resist the power of the movement against them. The Army was comprised of elderly generals and undisciplined and untested soldiers. In contrast the rebels, epitomised by Pancho Villa, were hardy, experienced and determined. On May 10, the Federal Commander at Ciudid, Juarez surrendered. From that point onwards, the Revolution gained real momentum. Diaz’s support rapidly collapsed.
Diaz finally accepted a proposal whereby he would resign and an interim president would be elected. A general election would then be held. Then Diaz fled to Paris. When Guerrilla troops marched on Mexico City, the former President was already long gone.
Pancho Villa had proved himself the people’s hero of the Revolution. He was a fearless fighter, an extremely capable leader of his men and a disciplined man in his private life. In May Villa resigned from the Revolutionary forces. But his name would soon reappear in the history books. A few years later he was to lead an invasion of a far more ambitious foe – the United States of America.
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