Editing History of Mexico (section)

===Counter-revolution and Civil War, 1913–1915===
[[File:V Huerta.jpg|thumb|[[Victoriano Huerta]], ruler of Mexico from 1913 to 1914]]
Madero was ousted and killed in February 1913 during a coup d'état now known as the [[Ten Tragic Days]]. General [[Victoriano Huerta]], one of Díaz's former generals and a nephew of Díaz, [[Félix Díaz (politician)|Félix Díaz]], plotted with the US ambassador to Mexico, [[Henry Lane Wilson]], to topple Madero and reassert the policies of Díaz. Within a month of the coup, rebellions started spreading in Mexico, most prominently by the governor of the state of Coahuila, [[Venustiano Carranza]], along with old revolutionaries demobilized by Madero, such as [[Pancho Villa]]. The northern revolutionaries fought under the name of the [[Constitutionalists in the Mexican Revolution|Constitutionalist Army]], with Carranza as the "First Chief" (''primer jefe''). In the South, [[Emiliano Zapata]] continued his rebellion in Morelos under the [[Plan of Ayala]], calling for the expropriation of land and redistribution to peasants. Huerta offered peace to Zapata, who rejected it.<ref>Douglas W. Richmond, "Victoriano Huerta" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 1, p. 657. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.</ref>

Huerta convinced [[Pascual Orozco]], whom he fought while serving the Madero government, to join Huerta's forces.<ref>Richmond, "Victoriano Huerta," p. 657.</ref> Supporting the Huerta regime were business interests in Mexico, both foreign and domestic; landed elites; the Catholic Church; and the German and British governments. The [[Federal Army]] became an arm of the Huerta regime, swelling to 200,000 men, many pressed into service and most ill-trained.

The US did not recognize the Huerta government. Still, from February to August 1913, it imposed an arms embargo on exports to Mexico, exempting the Huerta government and favoring the regime against emerging revolutionary forces.<ref>John Mason Hart, ''Revolutionary Mexico''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1987, p. 421, fn. 13, 14.</ref> However, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] sent a special envoy to Mexico to assess the situation, and reports on the many rebellions in Mexico convinced Wilson that Huerta was unable to maintain order. Arms ceased to flow to Huerta's government,<ref>Hart, ''Revolutionary Mexico,'' p. 421, fn. 13, 14.</ref> which benefited the revolutionary cause.

[[File:Francisco Villa.gif|thumb|left|General [[Pancho Villa]] at the entrance of Ojinaga]]

The US Navy made an incursion on the Gulf Coast, occupying [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]] in April 1914. Although Mexico was engaged in a civil war at the time, the US intervention united Mexican forces in their opposition to the US. Foreign powers helped broker US withdrawal in the [[Niagara Falls peace conference]]. The US timed its pullout to support the Constitutionalist faction under Carranza.<ref>Hart, ''Revolutionary Mexico'', pp. 285–286.</ref>

Initially, the forces in northern Mexico were united under the Constitutionalist banner, with able revolutionary generals serving the civilian First Chief Carranza in the [[Plan of Guadalupe]]. Pancho Villa began to split from supporting Carranza as Huerta was on his way out, primarily because Carranza was politically too conservative for Villa. Carranza, a rich hacienda owner whose interests were threatened by Villa's more radical ideas, opposed land reform.<ref>Hart, ''Revolutionary Mexico'', p. 277.</ref> Zapata in the South was also hostile to Carranza due to his stance on land reform.

In July 1914, Huerta resigned under pressure and went into exile. His resignation marked the end of an era since the [[Federal Army]], a repeatedly ineffective fighting force against the revolutionaries, ceased to exist.<ref>Christon I. Archer, "Military, 1821–1914" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 2, p. 910.  Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.</ref>

With the exit of Huerta, the revolutionary factions decided to meet and make "a last-ditch effort to avert more intense warfare than that which unseated Huerta."<ref>Hart, ''Revolutionary Mexico'', p. 276.</ref> Called to meet in Mexico City in October 1914, revolutionaries opposed to Carranza's influence successfully moved the venue to Aguascalientes. The [[Convention of Aguascalientes]] did not reconcile the various victorious [[factions in the Mexican Revolution]] but was a brief pause in revolutionary violence. The break between Carranza and Villa became definitive during the convention. Rather than First Chief Carranza being named president of Mexico, General [[Eulalio Gutiérrez]] was chosen. Carranza and Obregón left Aguascalientes with far smaller forces than Villa's. The convention declared Carranza in rebellion against it, and civil war resumed, this time between revolutionary armies that had fought for a united cause to oust Huerta.

[[File:US_Buffalo_Soldiers_Battle_of_Carrizal.jpg|thumb|right|[[Buffalo Soldiers]] of the American [[10th Cavalry Regiment]] taken prisoner during the [[Battle of Carrizal]], Mexico in 1916.]]

Villa went into alliance with Zapata to form the Army of the convention. Their forces separately moved on to the capital and captured Mexico City in 1914, which Carranza's forces had abandoned. The famous picture of Villa, sitting in the presidential chair in the National Palace, and Zapata is a classic image of the Revolution. Villa reportedly told Zapata that "the presidential chair is too big for us."<ref>Esperanza Tuñon Pablos, "Mexican Revolution: February 1913 – October 1915" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 2. p. 858. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.</ref> The alliance between Villa and Zapata did not function in practice beyond this initial victory against the Constitutionalists. Zapata returned to his southern stronghold in Morelos, where he engaged in guerrilla warfare under the Plan of Ayala.<ref>Tuñon Pablos, "Mexican Revolution," p. 858.</ref>

The two rival armies of Villa and Obregón met on April 6–15, 1915, in the [[Battle of Celaya]]. The shrewd, modern military tactics of Obregón met the frontal cavalry charges of Villa's forces. The Constitutionalist victory resulted in Carranza emerging as the political leader of Mexico. Villa retreated north, seemingly into political oblivion. Carranza and the Constitutionalists consolidated their position, with only Zapata opposing them until his assassination in 1919.