Timeline of the Mexican Revolution

  • 1910: Francisco I. Madero enters electoral race against long-term dictator Porfirio Diaz. Diaz has Madero jailed to keep him out of the running. Diaz wins the rigged election, but the populace is unconvinced and he is unpopular. Madero escapes jail and issues a call to arms against Diaz, in the "Plan of San Luis Potosi.". Mexican Revolution begins. Thousands of Mexicans flee across the border for safety.

  • 1911: Díaz is forced to dissolve his government because of a successful revolt led by Francisco Madero, wins the subsequent election. To protect its citizens and property, the U.S. sends troops to the border, where fighting in the Mexican Revolution is so close that U.S. citizens gather to watch.

    In Morelos, Emiliano Zapata leads a revolt in the south central state of Morelos against Madero on a platform of land reform. He accuses Madero of betraying the Revolution, and lays out his program in the "Plan de Ayala," November 25, 1911 He sets himself up as the de facto ruler in Morelos, and starts to collectivize the haciendas, etc.

  • 1912: Villa fights with Orozco's rebels in the north, first capturing and then losing Parral. Villa joins forces with Huerta, Madero's field commander in the north. Villa is sentenced to be shot for insubordination, but Madero has him imprisoned instead.

  • 1913: Felix Diaz escapes from prison, and plans a coup against Madero, leading to ten days of intense fighting in Mexico City, the "Decena Tragica" (10 Tragic Days). Victoriano Huerta, conspiring with Henry Lane Wilson, the American ambassador under president Woodrow Wilson, betrays Madero. Huerta assumes power in Mexico, as president, and has Madero, his brother, and his vice-president killed "while trying to escape."

  • 1914: Huerta has lost control of three-quarters of the country, now rules by various revolutionary factions. He maintains power only around Mexico City. Woodrow Wilson, suspicious of Huerta, escalates a misunderstanding into the seizure and six-month occupation of Vera Cruz by U.S. Marines and Naval contingents. Huerta resigns.

  • 1915: The "Year of Hunger" begins, with chaos everywhere and starvation commonplace in Mexico City. Revolutionary leaders, including Venustianzo Carranza (in Vera Cruz), Alvaro Obregon (in Mexico City), Pancho Villa ( in Chihuahua), Zapata supporters (in Morelos), and many others vie for power.

  • 1916: The fighting shifts to a conflict between the followers of Zapata and Carranza. In Morelos, the Zapata's forces are beaten and forced to retreat into the mountains by the Carrancistas. General John J. Pershing leads 10,000 American soldiers into Mexican territory in retaliation for a raid on Columbus, New Mexico by General Francisco "Pancho" Villa. Pershing chases Villa unsuccessfully around the northern states.

    Zapata's forces reorganize and capture the main water-pumping station feeding Mexico City. They regain ground lost in Morelos, after a series of Carrancista atrocities there. Meanwhile, Pancho Villa amasses 5,000 men, and seizes the town of Torreón again.

  • 1917: In January, After 11 fruitless months, Pershing is forced to return to the U.S. without ever catching sight of Villa. U.S.-Mexican relations suffer because of the invasion. In February, a six-week effort at the town of Queretaro produces the Mexican Constitution of 1917. When Carranza is elected president (although not recognized as legitimate by the Zapata), it becomes evident that he has no intention of enforcing the new constitution. Carranza and Obregon break openly.

    A secret telegram (the “Zimmerman Note” from Germany to Mexico—proposes an armed alliance between the two countries. Its publication stirs the U.S. to enter World War I.

  • 1918: The Spanish influenza epidemic sweeps Mexico, killing thousands. General Gonzales takes his Carrancista forces into Morelos, and again occupies the cities, fighting with Zapata's forces, much reduced by the flu epidemic, who take to hiding in the mountains.

  • 1919: Carranza has Zapata assassinated at Chinameca. Obregon declares himself as a candidate for the presidential elections the following year, against Carranza's chosen candidate.

  • 1920: Obregon is summoned to Mexico City by Carranza, to be killed, but friends help him to escape. Obregon rebels against Carranza, who flees the city, only to be assassinated in the state of Puebla. Following a provisional presidency, Obregon is elected president.

  • 1923: Villa assassinated, after accepting terms from Obregon to preserve the peace. His assassins were never punished.

Sources: Harvard University timeline and Geocities timeline