The Colour of Time by Dan Jones

Author:Dan Jones [Jones, Marina Amaral & Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786692672
Publisher: Head of Zeus

The Mexican Revolution

Since the 1870s Mexican government had been dominated by the old war hero Porfirio Díaz, whose time as president was known as the Porfiriato: a period of autocratic rule, which delivered modernization and national wealth at the cost of corruption, oppression and pork-barrel politics. In 1910, however, Díaz was an old man, and Mexico was seeking new leadership. When the 80-year-old was returned for another term in plainly rigged elections, the country erupted into rebellion and civil war.

One of the most famous revolutionaries was the guerrilla warrior General Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa, pictured here in January 1914 with his longsuffering wife Doña Luz Corral. Villa joined the fight against Díaz in the northern state of Chihuahua and quickly showed a gift for leadership and an unnatural ability to cheat death: in 1912 he talked his way out of a firing squad as his executioners were lining up to shoot.

A talented robber, enthusiastic philanderer and charismatic bandit-cum-freedom fighter, Villa deliberately courted Hollywood newsreel companies, who paid him for the right to shoot silent movies covering his wartime exploits. But his relationship with the United States was sorely tested in 1916 when Villa invaded New Mexico, then evaded a 5,000-strong detachment of the US Army for more than a year.

The Mexican Revolution was largely settled in 1917 with the promulgation of a new constitution, but the following years saw a bloodbath of revolutionary leaders. In July 1923 Pancho Villa was assassinated: shot dead in his car in the city of Parral after collecting a consignment of gold from a local bank.

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