Compared by one contemporary to a dove fluttering about in a sky full of hawks, Madero took office as president in November, but the vicious civil war that ensued lasted for almost ten years and caused a million deaths. He himself was a casualty, executed in Months Past. Mexico Political. Related Articles. The Mexican Revolution.
The Emperor Maximilian arrives in Mexico City. Popular articles. When the Men Came Marching Home. But following two unsuccessful presidential campaigns, Diaz abandoned liberalism and worked to overthrown the Mexican government. He began with an visit to New York City to enlist the support of U.
Diaz then proceeded to south Texas, where he raised several hundred thousand dollars from private supporters to train a small army. With this army, Diaz crossed the river and took Matamoros with little resistance on April 1, A charismatic and capable leader, he almost succeeded in this protean task, yet finally failed because he gave economic development far too high a priority over social justice.
His father, a moderately well-to-do veterinarian and innkeeper, died when Porfirio was only 3 years old. Though as a child he learned carpentry and shoemaking to help support his family, his mother sent him to study in a seminary in hope of his attaining the priesthood. He later attributed his anticlericalism to his witnessing priests distributing tracts favoring the foreign invasion. In the s he served as a guerrilla officer against the conservative clerical forces seeking to prevent liberal reforms.
In the victorious liberals appointed him a brigadier general. In he participated in the successful Mexican defense of Puebla but was later captured when the city surrendered. He escaped, raised another liberal army, and laid siege to the city of Oaxaca. Again he was captured only to escape once more.
By he had established a reputation as a brilliant guerrilla fighter and as a man able to overcome great odds despite adversity. In he retired from the army to his native state of Oaxaca, where the grateful citizens had given him a large farm, La Noria.
Lerdo's regime, plagued by popular apathy and a querulous military, soon collapsed and Lerdo fled into exile. He enlarged and gave great power to a constabulary, the Rurales. He also formed a compromise with the Catholic Church, by which the federal government would not harass the Church if the latter would not interfere in Mexican politics. Friends of the government made huge fortunes in public-land speculation, and foreign companies bought up huge tracts of Mexican land.
The government reversed the old Spanish mining laws and allowed foreigners to purchase subsoil rights, or ownership of all oils and metals contained in the ground. The mining industry entered a boom period in which Mexico produced more gold and silver in 20 years than it had in the previous 4 centuries.
Political peace was maintained through the Rurales and the policy known as "bread or club. Defining their program as one of "freedom, order, and progress," they tried to establish a religion of science based on the cold indexes of Mexico's expanding economy.
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