Mexican Revolution

Ferdinand VII

King of Spain from 1808 and again from 1814 to 1833, he attempted to restore absolute monarchy after Napoleon's invasion of Spain. In 1820, Spain's return to constitutional government alarmed conservative Mexican elites who feared losing the Catholic Church's privileges and their own social position, helping encourage support for Mexican independence.

Texas State Historical Association

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Plan of Iguala

Proclaimed by Agustín de Iturbide on February 24, 1821, this plan proposed Mexican independence under a constitutional monarchy. It united former royalists and independence supporters around Catholicism, independence, and unity, helping bring the independence struggle to a successful conclusion.

Exhibitions - Library of Congress

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“Three Guarantees”

The principles of religion, independence, and union established by the Plan of Iguala in 1821. They protected Roman Catholicism, called for independence from Spain, and promoted unity between Europeans and American-born inhabitants of Mexico.

Mexican-American War

A war fought between Mexico and the United States from 1846 to 1848, following disputes over Texas and U.S. territorial expansion. Mexico's defeat and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo resulted in Mexico ceding a vast amount of territory to the United States.

Liberal Party

A political movement that supported constitutional government, civil rights, free enterprise, and reducing the Catholic Church's political and economic privileges. Mexican liberals also promoted secular public education and reforms intended to modernize the country, although liberal policies sometimes contributed to the loss of Indigenous communal lands.

Positivists (Auguste Comte)

Followers of Auguste Comte's philosophy that society could be improved through scientific knowledge, observation, and rational planning. Positivist ideas influenced Mexican leaders who emphasized “order and progress,” economic modernization, education, and political stability.

Benito Juárez

A liberal politician of Zapotec Indigenous origin who served as president of Mexico from 1858 to 1872. He promoted liberal reforms limiting the privileges of the Catholic Church and military, defended the republic against French intervention, and resisted the rule of Emperor Maximilian.

The Porfiriato and the beginning of the Revolution

Porfirio Díaz (“Porfiriato”)

A Mexican general who dominated national politics from 1876 to 1911, with a brief interruption in his presidency. His government encouraged foreign investment, railway construction, commercial agriculture, and economic growth, but restricted political opposition and contributed to land concentration, labour repression, and the displacement of peasants and Indigenous communities.

latifundia/haciendas

Large landed estates that dominated much of Mexico's agricultural economy. Their expansion concentrated land and wealth among powerful landowners and companies, often displacing rural and Indigenous communities and leaving many peasants dependent on estate labour.

federales

The federal government's regular military forces, particularly the Federal Army during the Mexican Revolution. They defended the central government and fought revolutionary forces; the army's leadership and loyalties shifted as governments changed.

Francisco Madero

A wealthy reformer who challenged Díaz in the 1910 presidential election after Díaz publicly suggested Mexico was ready for democracy. After Díaz imprisoned him and claimed victory, Madero escaped and called for an uprising through the Plan of San Luis Potosí, helping launch the Revolution; he became president in 1911 but was overthrown and murdered in February 1913.

Exhibitions - Library of Congress

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renovador

In Mexican revolutionary history, renovador referred to a group of reform-minded legislators associated with the XXVI Legislature during Madero's presidency in 1912–1913. The label later appeared in discussions of the 1916–1917 Constituent Congress, but it did not represent a single, clearly unified political faction.

SciELO México

Pascual Orozco

A northern revolutionary leader who initially supported Madero's uprising against Díaz in 1910 and helped capture Ciudad Juárez. In 1912, Orozco rebelled against Madero after becoming dissatisfied with his government and losing a gubernatorial election; federal forces under Victoriano Huerta defeated him.

Exhibitions - Library of Congress

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Pancho Villa

The popular name of Francisco Villa, a northern revolutionary leader who commanded the Division of the North. He fought against Díaz and Huerta before breaking with Venustiano Carranza, and in 1916 his forces attacked Columbus, New Mexico, prompting a U.S. military expedition into Mexico.

Exhibitions - Library of Congress

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Emiliano Zapata

A revolutionary leader from Morelos in southern Mexico who fought for peasants' rights and the return of land taken from rural communities. He broke with Madero over the failure to deliver land reform and continued fighting under the principle of Tierra y Libertad (“Land and Liberty”).

Plan of Ayala

A manifesto issued by Zapata and his supporters in November 1911 that denounced Madero for failing to carry out agrarian reform. It demanded the return of land taken from villages and called for the redistribution or expropriation of large estates under specified conditions.

Exhibitions - Library of Congress

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Victoriano Huerta

A Mexican general who helped overthrow Madero during the Ten Tragic Days in February 1913, after which Madero and Vice President José María Pino Suárez were murdered. Huerta established a military government but faced opposition from Carranza, Villa, Zapata, and other revolutionaries, and resigned in July 1914.

Exhibitions - Library of Congress

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Venustiano Carranza

The governor of Coahuila who led the Constitutionalist movement against Huerta after Madero's overthrow. After Huerta's defeat in 1914, Carranza fought rival revolutionary factions and became president; his government oversaw the adoption of the Constitution of 1917, which included provisions on labour, land, and the Church's role.

John Pershing

A U.S. Army general who led the Punitive Expedition into Mexico in 1916 after Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico. Pershing's forces failed to capture Villa, and the expedition heightened tensions between the United States and Mexico.

National Archives

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Mexican Revolution

A major political and social revolution that began in 1910 with opposition to Díaz's long rule and continued through years of conflict among rival factions. Liberals sought political reform, while peasants and Indigenous communities demanded land restitution and workers sought improved conditions; the Revolution helped produce the Constitution of 1917 and transformed Mexico's political system.

Bucareli Agreement (1923)

Agreements negotiated between the Mexican and U.S. governments under President Álvaro Obregón to improve diplomatic relations after the Revolution. They addressed U.S. concerns about property and economic interests in Mexico, particularly in relation to the Constitution of 1917, although their legal and political significance remains a subject of historical debate.

Canvas

An online learning management system used by universities to share course materials, submit assignments, and communicate with students. This is not a Mexican historical term, so it can be left out of your history study guide unless your instructor has a specific reason for including it.

Post-revolutionary Mexico

Party of the Mexican Revolution (now the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI))

President Lázaro Cárdenas reorganized the ruling party as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM) in 1938 to bring workers, peasants, the military, and other political groups into the ruling system. It was renamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1946 and dominated Mexican politics for much of the twentieth century.

ejides

The correct Spanish term is ejidos