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| Venustiano Carranza Portrait in the Carranza Museum, Colonia Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City. Carranza did not fight in any battles |
Split Between Leaders
Zapata, in his Plan of Ayala, issued when Madero was president, demanded sweeping land reforms, especially the return of village lands, which Carranza, a member of a wealthy landowning family, had specifically excluded from the Plan of Guadalupe. When it became clear that Carranza was not willing to introduce these social reforms, Zapata formally broke off all connection on September 5, 1914.
Tensions between Carranza and Pancho Villa remained high throughout 1913-14, as Villa had defied Carranza several times, particularly when he captured the city of Zacatecas. Carranza feared Villa would beat him to Mexico City so, in August, when Carranza entered the capital, he refused to allow Villa to enter with him. He also refused to promote Villa to major-general. Villa formally disavowed Carranza on September 23, 1914.
Convention of Aguascalientes: Villa and Zapata Override Carranza
On July 8, 1914, Villa and Obregón signed an agreement that, after Huerta's forces were defeated, 150 generals of the Revolution and state governors would meet to determine the country's political future. The Convention met on October 1 in Mexico City and was dominated by Villa's men. They demanded it be moved to the city of Aguascalientes in the center of the country, some distance north of the capital. José Vasconcelos, a young lawyer, argued that Article 128 of the 1857 Constitution provided that the Revolutionary Army now constituted the legitimate government of Mexico. On this basis, state governors, including Carranza, were excluded.
On October 5 the Convention reconvened in Aguascalientes. Immediately declaring itself the sovereign power, the Convention called on Carranza to resign as Primer Jefe. Carranza responded to the ultimatum with a message on October 23, agreeing to resign if three preconditions were met: (1) establishment of a pre-constitutional regime that would make necessary social and political reforms before constitutional government was re-established; (2) resignation and exile of Villa; and (3) resignation and exile of Zapata. Zapata and his supporters arrived on October 26.
The Convention's joint Committees of War and Government (a group that included Álvaro Obregón, Felipe Ángeles, Eulalio Gutiérrez, and Francisco Madero's brother Raúl) agreed in principle to Carranza's conditions. The Convention elected Eulalio Gutiérrez as Provisional President for 20 days and called on Carranza to resign immediately. Carranza sent the Convention another telegram in which he said he would not resign until his conditions had been fully met, noting that Villa remained in control of the División del Norte, Zapata had not resigned and Gutiérrez was only granted power for 20 days, which hardly made him an effective pre-constitutional government.
The Convention then appointed Villa commander of the Conventionalist Army. In November, Carranza and his supporters retreated to the state of Veracruz. On December 6, at the head of an army of 60,000 men, Villa and Zapata entered Mexico City (View video of their entrance into the city). Subsequently, Zapata returned to his stronghold in Morelos.
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| Villa and Zapata in the National Palace, Villa sits in the Presidential Chair. Wikipedia |
Carranza and Obregón Recover Control
The port of Veracruz had been occupied by United States forces in April in order, among other reasons, to prevent arms from Germany arriving to aid Huerta, so Carranza established his government in Córdoba, Veracruz. In November 1914, Carranza negotiated the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Veracruz, following payment for damages resulting from their incursion, and set up his government there.
Carranza controlled only the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas on the Gulf Coast. These states, however, gave Carranza an advantage, since they were the sites of Mexico's two main Gulf ports. Because he held them, and because Veracruz was the center of Mexican oil production, Carranza was able to collect more revenue than Villa. The rest of the country was under the control of the various generals represented by the Convention.
In April 1915, Álvaro Obregón scored a decisive victory over Villa at the Battle of Celaya, in Guanajuato, northwest of Mexico City, in which 4,000 of Villa's soldiers were killed and another 6,000 captured. Villa also lost to Obregón in the Battle of Trinidad, which was fought between April 29 and May 5.
In July, Francisco Lagos Cházar, the last Interim President appointed by the Convention of Aguascalientes, surrendered. In August, Carranza's troops entered Mexico City for a second time. In October, the United States government recognized Carranza as President of Mexico.
On November 1, 1915, Villa attacked Agua Prieta, Sonora, on the border with Arizona. Unbeknownst to him, forces led by Plutarco Calles had been reinforced with the cooperation of the U.S. government, which allowed Mexican troops to move by train from Texas through U.S. territory to get to Agua Prieta. Withdrawing from Agua Prieta, on November 21, Villa tried one last attack on Hermosillo, Sonoro. Many of his remaining troops went on a rampage in the city and many deserted.
Likely out of anger that the U.S. had recognized the Carranza government, embargoed further arms sales to him and actively helped reinforce Carranza's troops at Agua Prieta, on March 9, 1916, Villa's troops attacked Columbus, New Mexico, and Camp Furlong, a small Army post there. Ten civilians and eight soldiers were killed in the attack, and two civilians and six soldiers were wounded. The raiders burned the town, stole horses and mules and seized machine guns, ammunition and merchandise, before fleeing back to Mexico.
On March 15, in what is known as the Mexican Expedition, the U.S. sent General John J. Pershing with troops into Mexico in pursuit of Villa. The Carranza govenment objected to their incursion and armed skirmishes occurred between U.S. and Mexican government forces, nearly leading to all-out war. U.S. forces remained in Mexico until January 1917, but they never caught Pancho Villa.
Constitution of 1917 Re-establishes Formal Government
In August 1916, Carrranza returned to Mexico City. In September, he called for a Constitutional Convention to be held in Querétaro, Querétaro. He declared that the liberal 1857 Constitution of Mexico would be respected, but purged of some of its shortcomings.
When the Convention met in December 1916, it included only 85 conservatives and centrists close to Carranza. Against them were 132 more radical delegates who insisted that the new Constitution embody land reform. Article 27 of the Constitution declared that private property had been created by the Nation and that the Nation had the right to regulate private property in order to ensure that communities with "none, or not enough land and water" could take them from the haciendas.
The radicals also exceeded Carranza's program on labor relations. Article 123 of the Constitution established an eight-hour work day, abolished child labor, contained provisions protecting female and adolescent workers, required holidays, provided that a reasonable salary be paid in cash and for profit-sharing with workers. It established boards of arbitration and provided for compensation in case of dismissal.
In relation to the Catholic Church, articles were adopted that were also more radical than Carranza´s. In Articles 3 and 130 the Roman Catholic Church was denied recognition as a legal entity, priests were denied various rights and subject to public registration, religious education was forbidden, public religious rituals outside churches were banned, and all churches were nationalized as the property of the nation.
In short, the 1917 Constitution of Mexico, approved by the Convention on February 5, 1917, was more radical than the one Carranza had envisioned. Álvaro Obregón, who had been Carranza's leading general and was his acting Secretary of War, was a member of the Convention, but supported the more radical positions. The Carrancistas did gain some important victories: the power of the President was enhanced and that of the legislature diminished. The post of Vice-President was eliminated. In May, Carranza was elected President.
Other chapters:
Mexican Revolution Protagonists and Antagonists Dictator Porfirio Díaz Triggers a Revolution Short and Tragic Presidency of Francisco Madero Battle Against Victoriano Huerta Post-War Power Struggles: The End of Almost Everyone
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