The Life and Times of Pancho VillaAlongside Moctezuma and Benito Juárez, Pancho Villa is probably the best-known figure in Mexican history. Villa legends pervade not only Mexico but the United States and beyond, existing not only in the popular mind and tradition but in ballads and movies. There are legends of Villa the Robin Hood, Villa the womanizer, and Villa as the only foreigner who has attacked the mainland of the United States since the War of 1812 and gotten away with it. Whether exaggerated or true to life, these legends have resulted in Pancho Villa the leader obscuring his revolutionary movement, and the myth in turn obscuring the leader. Based on decades of research in the archives of seven countries, this definitive study of Villa aims to separate myth from history. So much attention has focused on Villa himself that the characteristics of his movement, which is unique in Latin American history and in some ways unique among twentieth-century revolutions, have been forgotten or neglected. Villa s División del Norte was probably the largest revolutionary army that Latin America ever produced. Moreover, this was one of the few revolutionary movements with which a U.S. administration attempted, not only to come to terms, but even to forge an alliance. In contrast to Lenin, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, and Fidel Castro, Villa came from the lower classes of society, had little education, and organized no political party. The first part of the book deals with Villa s early life as an outlaw and his emergence as a secondary leader of the Mexican Revolution, and also discusses the special conditions that transformed the state of Chihuahua into a leading center of revolution. In the second part, beginning in 1913, Villa emerges as a national leader. The author analyzes the nature of his revolutionary movement and the impact of Villismo as an ideology and as a social movement. The third part of the book deals with the years 1915 to 1920: Villa s guerrilla warfare, his attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and his subsequent decline. The last part describes Villa s surrender, his brief life as a hacendado, his assassination and its aftermath, and the evolution of the Villa legend. The book concludes with an assessment of Villa s personality and the character and impact of his movement. |
Contents
Prologue I | 1 |
From the Frontier to the Border II | 11 |
The Revolution That Neither Its Supreme | 57 |
Chihuahua 19121913 | 126 |
Villa and Madero 19121913 | 147 |
From Exile to Governor of Chihuahua | 193 |
Four Weeks That Shook Chihuahua | 229 |
His Relations with the United States | 309 |
The Resurgence of Villa in 19161917 | 583 |
Villas Darkest Years | 615 |
Villa and the Outside World | 655 |
The Attempt to Create Villismo with a Gentler Face | 680 |
PART FOUR 2 RECONCILIATION PEACE AND DEATH | 719 |
Conclusion | 795 |
On the Archival Trail of Pancho Villa | 821 |
Abbreviations | 837 |
IO The Elusive Search for Peace | 354 |
Chihuahua Under Villa 19131915 | 397 |
The New Civil War in Mexico | 433 |
Villas TwoFront War with Carranza | 545 |
Archival Sources | 911 |
Bibliography | 919 |
| 955 | |
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Common terms and phrases
administration agrarian American ammunition Angeles Angeles's arms asked attack attempted bandit battle became brother called Canutillo captured Carrancista Carranza Ciudad Chihuahua Ciudad Juárez civilian classes Coahuila commander confiscated Conventionist Creel decision defeat Díaz's División del Norte Durango enemies Enríquez estates execution fact factions federal army federal troops Félix Díaz felt fight forces foreign former Francisco Francisco Villa González Garza governor guerrilla hacendados hacienda Hernández hoped huahua Huerta joined José killed land later letter Luis Terrazas Maytorena Mexican Revolution Mexico City military Morelos movement Murguía Namiquipa never Obregón officers oligarchy Orozco Orozquistas Pancho Villa Parral Paso peasants pesos political popular Porfirian Porfirio Díaz president prisoners properties radical reform refused region revolutionary leaders Roque González Garza seemed sent Silvestre Terrazas soldiers Sonora Terrazas's tion told Torreón town Treviño United uprising Urbina Veracruz victory Villista wanted Wilson wrote Zacatecas Zapata Zapatistas