Caudillo and Peasant in the Mexican Revolution

Until quite recently, the Mexican Revolution was usually defined as an agrarian movement and as a peasant war.

D. A. Brading (Edited by)

9780521102094, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 December 2008

328 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm, 0.42 kg

Until quite recently, the Mexican Revolution was usually defined as an agrarian movement, as a peasant war, with Emiliano Zapata, leader of the villagers of Morelos, taken as its most typical figure. Yet this interpretation leaves many questions unanswered. It ignores the sheer diversity in both regional background and social goals of the revolutionary forces. It does not explain why the partition of the great estates and effective land distribution was delayed until the 1930s, almost two decades after the cessation of hostilities. More important, it fails to account for the emergence of a one party political system, in which the resources of the state are concentrated on industrialization and economic growth. This book consists of case-studies and general perspectives, all based on research, which follow the careers of several caudillos, some conservative, some progressive, with the aim of analysing the means by which these revolutionary chieftains first obtained power and then promoted or opposed the authority of the national state.

1. Introduction: national politics and the populist tradition D. A. Brading
2. Peasant and caudillo in revolutionary Mexico 1910–17 Alan Knight
3. Pancho Villa, peasant movements and agrarian reform in northern Mexico Friedrich Katz
4. Rancheros of Guerrero: The Figueroa brothers and the revolution Ian Jacobs
5. The relevant tradition: Sonoran leaders in the revolution Hector Aguilar Camin
6. Alvaro Obregón and the agrarian movement 1912–20 Linda B. Hall
7. Saturnine Cedillo: a traditional caudillo in San Luis Potosi 1890–1938 Dudley Ankerson
8. Revolutionary caudillos in the 1920s: Francisco Múgica and Adalberto Tejeda Heather Fowler Salamini
9. Caciquismo and the revolution: Carrillo Puerto in Yucatan Gilbert M. Joseph
10. State governors and peasant mobilisation in Tlaxcala Raymond Buve
11. Conclusion: peasant mobilisation and the revolution Hans Werner Yowler.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], History of the Americas [HBJK]