Question

Did Mexico experience a real revolution in the early twentieth century and how does this experience distinguish Mexico from other Latin American countries?

Answer 1

Before the arrival of European conquistadors, one of the most powerful civilizations in the world was home to the region now known as Mexico: the Aztecs. After a harsh era of colonization and eventual conquest in 1521, European, Spanish-born people or the peninsulars living in the New World became the most influential people. The War for Independence (starting in 1810) began three decades later, in 1821, liberating Mexico from New Spain. However, this was a war which mainly benefited the criollo (Spanish-blooded upper class) minority A century later, in 1910, the bulk of Mexico's population were mestizos, half-indigenous and half-Spanish-blooded Mexicans, and these indigenous peoples rose again in the Mexican Revolution, a brutal armed struggle.

The reasons for leading the Mexican Revolution arose out of the conviction that the old forms of Spanish colonial rule could no longer be followed by a few rich landowners; a hierarchical structure called la encomienda. It was important to replace that system with a new one in which those who actually worked the land would derive their wealth through their labor.

The Mexican Revolution began in 1910, when liberals and intellectuals started questioning the dictator Porfirio Díaz dictatorship, which had been in power since 1877, a 34-year term called El Porfiriato, in defiance of the values and ideals of the 1857 Mexican constitution. The main goal was to create a democratic republic and abolish unlimited terms of the presidential elections. A major armed conflict in the northern state of Chihuahua, led by local businessman Pascual Orozco and Francisco "Pancho" Villa, was underway by early 1911.

A number of new creative movements in literature, visual arts, and music were born in the Mexican Revolution. The Mexican Revolution's literature is a rich field and includes works known as masterpieces of Latin American literature such as Mariano Azuela's Los de abajo (The Underdogs), published in 1915, which remains a literary classic.

The Muralist Movement lasted about half a century, from the early 1920s through to the 1970s. Through it both Mexico's art and culture have been placed at the service of society and the Mexican Revolution's values. Muralist painters, many of whom were no strangers to political action, used the walls of public buildings, palaces, universities, and libraries to tell the story of both the revolution and the people's daily lives. The mural paintings established the heritage of the country and recognized indigenous origins of Mexico