Pancho Villa Research Paper

In The Underdogs written by Mariano Azuela, the protagonist, Demetrio Macias is symbolized as the fuel of the Mexican Revolution. Heroes like Macias gave hope to the oppressed people of Mexico by fighting for what they felt they truly deserved, but, ironically, later becomes what he was fighting against. He does show great leadership and determination to oppress Pancho Villa's army. Pancho Villa, the dictator of Mexico during this revolutionary time, also shows prolific leadership qualities and care for his people; much like Demetrio Macias. However, at times Villa can be a ferocious general who destroyed villiages and killed innocent victims, he shows his compassion who helped those in need and rescued orphans providing them with food, education, and a home. Pancho Villa was a leader who only asked for your loyalty and trust, but was cruel when people tried to oppose him. Venustiano Carranza was another great leader that was a natural at commanding his followers through the struggle of liberty. He did not show any lack of a

Economic strife during the 1907 to 1909 years allowed for opposition parties to rise up to challenge Diaz. One such leader was Francisco Madero, who campaigned across Mexico for democratic elections in a bid to oust Diaz. Diaz responded to Madero’s Presidential bid by having him and five thousand of his supporters arrested. Madero escaped across the border in 1910 and called on the citizens of Mexico to rise up and overthrow Diaz. Other leaders like Emiliano Zapata and Francisco (Pancho) Villa and Venustiano Carranza martialed their forces were able to force Diaz to

Francisco “Pancho” Villa (born Doroteo Arango on June 5th, 1878) was known as a bandit prior to his life as a Mexican General. Villa was born to sharecropper parents on a hacienda in San Juan Del Rio, Durango, Mexico. After the death of his father, Villa only in his teens became the head of his family. Villa soon found himself on the run from the law and the Haciendas owner after he shot the man in the foot after an altercation over Villa’s sister; this is what led to him initially becoming an outlaw. While on the run as a fugitive Villa adapted other well known bandito ways of making money including robbing haciendas, and sticking up wealthy mine owners, this is also when he officially dropped Arango and only used Francisco “Pancho” Villa (Katz, 1998). Some bits of folklore can be found when describing Villa’s actions during this time period. There are tales of him acting like a Robin

However this source also addresses the opposite side due to the fact that he was a prisoner for a time. This source has helped me with my investigation by providing information that is partial to the Mexicans and specifically mentions how the peasants viewed Pancho Villa.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was born in 1490 at Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. His parents went by the name Francisco de Vera and Teresa Cabeza de Vaca. “Cabeza de Vaca means ‘head of cow’ and was derived from a peasant ancestor.” (elizabethan-era.org) “By 1528, he was appointed treasurer underneath the explorer Panfilo de Narvaez which reached what is now Tampa Bay, Florida later in the same year.” “By September of that year, all of the members of the expedition except for 60 of de Vaca’s men had died near the shore of present-day Galveston, Texas.” (Biography.com Editors). Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer who was the first historian of Texas, and one of the four survivors of the Narvaez expedition.

In most history books, Pancho Villa is depicted as a often cruel but always fearless and cunning leader who courageously fought the dictatorial behavior of Porfirian Diaz in the Mexican Revolution. And some of this is certainly true. The great majority of reports and undocumented stories of Pancho Villa's epic struggles against injustice are all about males, but authors Anna Macias and Elena Poniatowska record the fact that women were a big part of the Mexican Revolution and that Villa was a viciously bloodthirsty scoundrel when it came to women and young girls. In order to set the record straight, Macias and Poniatowska present the writings of three women who ably report involvement of women in these moments in history; for example: a) there were women fighting on the side of Villa and his revolutionary band of warriors; and b) "hundreds of thousands" of women "of every class, were among the victims and casualties" of the conflict.

Since Francisco “Pancho” Villa had strong relations to Pablo Valenzuela, who had allegedly stolen goods by Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Ignacio Parra, Francisco “Pancho” Villa was spared from the death sentence which was enforced on some captured bandits. Francisco “Pancho” Villa was forced into the Federal Army which was a common practice adopted under President Porfirio Diaz regime to deal with troublemakers. Several Months after Francisco “Pancho” Villa was arrested, Francisco “Pancho” Villa deserted the Federal Army and fled to the state of Chihuahua. In 1903 Francisco “Pancho” Villa killed an army officer and stole his horse, this is when Francisco “Pancho” Villa got his nickname Pancho Villa. For the next seven years Francisco “Pancho” Villa didn’t do many outstanding or horrible acts, other than stealing and some cases of

Villa’s exploits on and off the battlefield have broadened into legends that remain an integral part of Mexican history and folklore, especially as a champion of the poor and landless. (Johnson)

The 1959 novel, Pocho, by José Antonio Villarreal is an insightful cultural exposition told primarily from the vantage point of Richard Rubio, the coming-of-age son of immigrant Mexican parents who eventually settle in Santa Clara, California, after many seasons of migrant farm work. Although fiction, the story likely mirrors some of the experiences of the author who was born to migrant laborers in Los Angeles in 1924 and was himself a "pocho" - a child of the depression era Mexican-American transition. ("I am a Pocho," he said, "and we speak like this because here in California we make Castilian words out of English words." p 165)

Capitalist ventures prospered, particularly in the United States, while the poor citizens of Mexico saw worsened living conditions. Villa joined with Francisco Ignacio Madero and his followers who eventually defeats Díaz, forcing him into exile. When Madero chose Carranza (a Díaz supporter) to be his Minister of War, Villa was outraged. Villa, along with General Victoriano Huerta, would start a revolt against Madero. Huerta would later murder Madero and name himself President, Carranza would ally himself with Villa to overthrow Huerta, and Carranza would become president after his Plan of Guadalupe.

During the first weeks of 1911, Zapata continued to build his organization in Morelos, training and equipping his men and consolidating his authority as their leader. Soon, Zapata's band of revolutionaries, poised to change their tactics and take the offensive, were known as Zapatistas. On February 14, Francisco Madero, who had escaped the authorities to New Orleans, returned to Mexico, knowing that it was time to restart his revolution with an all-out offensive. Less than a month later, on March 11, 1911, "a hot, sticky Saturday night," the bloody phase of the Mexican Revolution began at Villa de Ayala. There was no resistance from the villagers, who were mostly sympathetic to the revolution, being sharecroppers or hacienda workers themselves, and the local police were disarmed quickly. Not all battles that followed were this quick, however. The revolution took its bloody course with the legendary Pancho Villa fighting in the northern part of Mexico, while Zapata remained mainly south of Mexico City. On May 19, after a week of extremely fierce fighting with government troops, the Zapatistas took the town of Cuautla. Only forty-eight hours later, Francisco Madero and the Mexican government signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez, which ended the presidency of Porfirio Díaz and named Francisco León de la Barra, former

However, tensions between the United States and Mexico had been rising as Mexico was in a state of almost civil war. In 1914, Victoriano Huerta, leader of Mexico, resigned from his position, leaving his successor undetermined. Two men, Francisco “Pancho” Villa and his former ally, Venustiano Carranza, fought each other for the leadership position. The U.S. government supported Carranza, who eventually drove Pancho Villa to Mexico’s northern mountains and became leader of Mexico by late 1915. Angered over U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s support for Carranza, Pancho Villa brutally executed sixteen American citizens in Santa Isabel, Mexico, in January 1916.

When one thinks of ancient Indian empires, the Aztecs usually come to mind; the tremendous amount of luck and personal courage in rivaling and ultimately defeating this massive Indian empire in the new-found world should be a huge focus. Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition to achieve wealth in the new-found world. When arriving Cortes found himself situated near a large Aztec civilization located in Mexico City. Cortes eventually gathered a large number of compadres and local tribes together and took over this once thriving civilization. That being said, Cortes and his men did show courage but that alone could not come near to the amount of luck the conquistadors

This is largely due to the fact that Diaz gave away the country's wealth to buy the loyalty of some, by gifts of haciendas (large estates), concessions or cash. Under his leadership, the gap between the rich and the poor grew undoubtedly larger due to his disregard of democratic principles and the common folk, and his acute determination to keep his dictatorship by any means possible. One of the most renowned opposition leaders of Diaz at the time was the European-educated Francisco Madero. Madero led a series of strikes in resistance to Diaz across the country and eventually ran against him in the election for presidency in 1911. Although Madero had a significant number of votes, Diaz had him imprisoned because he felt the people of Mexico were not ready for democracy, and feared the loss of his own presidency. Madero was not released until after the election so that votes could be tabulated in favour of Diaz. When released from prison, Madero continued to fight against his former adversary. Madero led the first phase of the armed revolution which resulted in Diaz's defeat and to his own presidency reign until 1913. It was during this time that many of the folk heroes of the Revolution emerged, including Francisco "Pancho" Villa of the North, and Emiliano Zapata of the South. In 1913 Madero was assassinated by A Mexican general by the name of Victoriano Huerta. Victoriano and his federal army was defeated in a coalition of armies led by Alvara Obregon, who took

3. Diaz was also known for his involvement in the battle commemorated by Cinco de Mayo. It celebrates the victory of the Mexican troops in La Batalla de Puebla in 1862. Despite tremendous odds, the humble Mexican army defeated the most powerful fighting unit in the world.His army's victory over the French forces made the people regard him as a powerful and successful leader. At the time, he wanted democracy for his country; however, when he became ruler, the dictatorship was already in place. how the victory was a major point in Mexican history and why it’s still remembered and celebrated to this day.) ? The battle also marks the arrival on the political scene of Porfirio Díaz, then a brash young general who disobeyed Zaragoza in order to chase down fleeing French troops. Díaz would eventually get a lot of the credit for the victory and he used his new fame to run for president against Juárez. Although he lost, he would eventually reach the presidency and lead his nation for many