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Mexican Revolution Research Paper

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The Mexican Revolution was one of the great revolutionary upheavals of the twentieth century and had a profound impact on the development of Mexico well into the modern day. The revolutionary period itself can be split into three distinct stages: First, several factions united behind Francisco Madero in order to overthrow the dictatorial government of Porfirio Diaz. When Madero’s government appeared to maintain the status quo set forth during the Porfiriato period, however, the same forces that brought Madero to power rose up once again to remove him. Finally, the remaining factions, no longer possessing a common goal to unite them, turned on one another in a fight to establish dominance. At the end of this bloody period emerged a new triumvirate: …show more content…

Not all of these key goals were accomplished by the policies between 1920 and 1940. While the push for reform slowed down between 1930 and 1934, Cardenas was responsible for policies reflecting several of the aims of the revolution: land redistribution; the promotion of government control over foreign owned companies; the implementation of nationalist policies involving Mexico's oil production; the organization of corporatist structures for trade unions; the nationalization of railways (1938); the adoption of a free and compulsory educational system for all Mexicans; and policies of integration for the indigenous population (Joseph & Buchenau ch. 6). Most importantly, he created the Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM), a political juggernaut that would dominate Mexico for over seventy years. The formation of the PRM, later known as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was the greatest consequence of the Revolution on post-1950s Mexico; the PRI had an impact on not only Mexico’s political life, but on life in the countryside and on the migration from rural to urban areas/the U.S. as …show more content…

During this time period, Mexican political life shifted to the right. One reason Mexican political life turned to the right was World War II and Mexico’s role as a member of the allied forces. Camacho committed the country to full participation in the war, increasing industrialization to provide supplies for the U.S. and boosting the economy through exports. Another reason Mexican political life turned to the right was the rise of communism. The U.S. was alarmed by the growing power of the Soviet Union and vowed to fight communism worldwide. The Aleman government “eagerly seized upon containment discourse” and made anti-Communism the official policy in order to improve relations with the U.S. (Joseph & Buchenau ch. 7). The shift to the political right and reinvigorated ties with the U.S. conflicted with the Revolution, which sought reform and nationalism. Thus began the propaganda to reinforce the idea of the PRI being the party that embodied the ideals of the Revolution, with Aleman “tweaking of the official discourse to the effect that ‘The Revolution’ had made Mexico into a modern, democratic, ‘Western’ nation” (Joseph & Buchenau ch. 7). The Revolution as a political ideology was critically important not only for the self-identification of the regime, but for political stability as

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