The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917 left an indelible mark on the social body of South America. Many people became victims of the civil war, and many made unprecedented careers and went down in history. One of the heroes of the revolution was Pancho Villa, whose biography is inextricably linked with the popular struggle for liberation and social justice. In many ways, the fate of this heroic man is typical of Mexico at the end of the 19th century.
Pancho Villa: family and background
At birth, the future leader of the revolutionary peasantry was named José Doroteo Arango Arambula. The future Pancho Villa was born into a poor peasant family of a hereditary debtor who worked on the hacienda (large private estate) of a we althy aristocrat.
Researchers agree that overwork, lack of rights, constant violence on the part of the owners influenced the revolutionary views of the young farm laborer and determined his political future.
One of the key defining events in Pancho Villa's personal life happened when the hero was barely 16 years old. One of the sons of the owner of the hacienda raped the older sister of young Jose. Not wanting to put up with injustice, the peasant bought a revolver and shot the offender, after which he fled to the mountains, where he hid with other criminals and outcasts.
Youth is outlawed
Mexico, where young Pancho Villa happened to be born and grew up, lived under the strict dictates of Porfirio Diaz, as a result of which all the necessary conditions were formed in the country for the discontent of the lower strata of society. Perhaps it is safe to say that the figure of such an outstanding revolutionary figure could only appear under an amazing combination of circumstances in which personal tragedy, the trends of the times and political expediency came together.
On the run, Pancho Villa led a dangerous and adventurous life. In one incident, he was badly injured and lying on the side of the road, covered in blood, when he was found by passing insurgents. It was 1905, and the local fugitive peasants and peons (those same hereditary debtors) waged a fierce struggle with the police, landowners and local authorities, who stood guard over the interests of the bourgeoisie. Soon, the head of the detachment that picked up the young guy was mortally wounded, and, dying, he appointed Pancho Villa as his successor. So yesterday's fugitive began his career as a professional revolutionary.
The Coming Revolution
For the next four years, Villa continued to lead a small guerrilla war until he met Abraham Gonzalez, who served as a localrepresentative of the liberal presidential candidate Francisco Madero. However, hopes for a peaceful transfer of power by the dictator Diaz were fading before our eyes, and supporters of the liberal path of development raised an armed uprising, which began the Mexican Revolution, which forever changed the history of the country.
The uprising served as a kind of springboard for the uneducated Villa, who could barely read and write. At the very beginning of the uprising, the young commander showed himself to be a capable military leader. Under the leadership of Pancho Villa, whose photo is often adorned with military uniforms, rebel detachments took one of the country's most important customs points - the city of Ciudad Juarez, whose population today is more than one and a half million people.
Escape to USA
The fierce political struggle in revolutionary Mexico during the civil war endangered the life of Villa, who was sentenced to death. With the help of his senior associates, he managed to escape to the United States, but he was not destined to stay there for a long time. Soon Gonzalez and Madero were killed in Mexico, which meant that a new stage of the struggle against the oppressors was coming.
Having crossed the Rio Grande on horseback, Pancho Villa once again found himself in his native country, where he took up the revolutionary struggle with new zeal. Upon his return to Mexico, Villa created an armed formation, later called the "Northern Division". This corps consisted of several thousand people.
Continue fighting
Forin a relatively short time, the young general of the rebel army managed to take control of the entire state of Chihuahua. Villa's authority was so high that the local military elected him governor of the state, which significantly raised his status at the state level and opened up new prospects in the struggle for power over the whole country.
Villa's activities were so successful that they provoked a limited intervention by the United States, whose navy occupied one of the largest Mexican ports of Veracruz. However, President Wilson, having received a warning from the Mexicans, did not dare to launch a full-fledged military invasion.
In 1914, allied rebel units inflicted a crushing defeat on the dictator Huerta, who replaced Porfirio Diaz, and entered the country's capital, Mexico City.
Leading the revolutionary army
On October 1, 1914, a meeting of the national convention began in the capital, in which representatives of the revolutionary armies took part. Among the participants were such generals as Villa, Carranza and Obregon. Zapat was also present, but as an observer.
The delegates agreed that Eulalio Gutierrez would become the interim president of Mexico, but this decision was not approved by Carrans. Leaving the convention, Carrans went to Veracruz, and upon arrival there refused to obey the decision of the congress and did not resign from the general. For this, he was called a rebel, and Pancho Villa was assigned to deal with him. Thus, he became the commander of the entire revolutionary army and had to protect the cause of the revolution.from the troops of Zapata and the rebellious Carrans encroaching on the capital.
Numeric and technical superiority was on the side of the new commander in chief, and the territories of the rebellious general were scattered and poorly connected. In addition, Villa managed to agree with Zapata on a joint attack on Carranza, which was carried out. On December 6, 1914, a solemn parade of 50 thousand soldiers of the armies of Zapata and Villa took place in Mexico City, who led the procession in an open car.
Brave new world
The revolutionary redistribution of Mexico ended with the flight of the interim president, who was accused of preparing a conspiracy against the popular Villa. Roque Garza became the new president.
The territories controlled by Villiers were huge, and they required new rules of the game, as a long armed struggle led to the ruin of the economy and the exodus of owners. The first step was to deal with the land reform. Probably, Villa remembered well the plight of his family, and how hard it was for them in the position of almost involuntary eternal debtors, cultivating someone else's land.
First of all, Pancho Villa limited the rights of large landowners and distributed excess land to peasants, who had to pay a small standard contribution to the treasury. Despite the high popularity among the people, a new threat loomed over the general.
Loss of Territories: Coming Defeat
Already in January 1915 Villa andThe Zapata lost Mexico City to Carranz, who won one victory after another with the support of the Americans, learning about which Villa began to make wrong decisions.
At first, relations between the general of the rebel army and the Americans were reserved, and there were no heated disagreements between them. However, after learning about the support that the US military provided to Carranza, Villa decided to provoke the Mexican-American War and invaded the United States, attacking the city of Columbus, killing seventeen American citizens and about a hundred Mexican rebel fighters.
In response, President Wilson ordered a punitive expedition to Mexico to destroy Villa. The idea, however, failed, as the Mexican revolutionary was too popular among the people. In 1920, Villa entered into an agreement with the new president of the republic, and settled on the hacienda allocated to him, in the vicinity of which, on the plots allocated to him, former fighters of the rebel army worked.
It seemed that the times of struggle are gone, and you can safely enjoy the changes achieved, but everything turned out to be not so simple. In 1923, Villa's car was shot by the former owner of the hacienda where the general lived. As a result of the assassination attempt, the revolutionary died.
Image in culture
One of the most popular examples of popular culture dedicated to the personal life of Pancho Villa was the 2003 film starring Antonio Banderas. The film tells an amazing story about how one famous American director, risking his life, comes toto Mexico to make a film about a popular revolutionary.
The film about Pancho Villa was released in 2003 and became a notable work by Banderas, in which he demonstrated his many acting talents. However, despite the promising story, the film narrative unfolds very slowly.
The film about Pancho Villa, reviews of which are extremely inexpressive, is not popular among moviegoers. Most of the reviews are rather negative. In some, there is a peppy plot, but rather pale performance of Banderas. Others, on the contrary, pay attention to the quality performance of a Hollywood actor.
