Factions in the Mexican Revolution

A graphical timeline is available at Timeline of the Mexican Revolution

This is a list of factions in the Mexican Revolution.

Carrancistas

Revolutionary followers of Venustiano Carranza from 1913 to 1914, and thereafter the Government army from 1914 until his death in 1920. In 1915, an insurgent group known as the Seditionistas was formed and supported by the Carrancistas.

Constitucionalistas (Constitutionalists)

Title first used by all anti-Huerta forces before the 1914 breakaway of Pancho Villa following the defeat of Victoriano Huerta. Venustiano Carranza, the "First Chief" of the Revolution, attracted talented generals to his faction, most especially Alvaro Obregón. Obregón defeated Villa's División del Norte in the Battle of Celaya, ending Villa as a national force. The Constitutionalists were the winner faction of the Revolution, with Carranza becoming president of Mexico and the Mexican Constitution of 1917, drafted by this winning faction in a constitutional convention at Querétaro, was promulgated.

Convencionistas

Joint name for Villistas and Zapatistas as supporters of the Convention of Aguascalientes; held in October-November 1914, which attempted to marginalize Carranza and assert its legitimacy in power following the ouster of Huerta in July 1914.

Federales

Term used for all Government troops from Mexican independence to 1914, but usually associated particularly with Victoriano Huerta's Federal Army. (Huerta was President from February 1913 to July 1914). The Federal Army was disbanded in August 1914 following Huerta's going into exile in the United States.

Felicistas

Adherents of Felix Diaz, nephew of former president Porfirio Diaz, who opposed both the Madero and Carranza governments in rebellions between 1913 and 1920, and led the reactionary conservative National Reorganizer Army in ineffective revolts late in the Revolution.

Huertistas

Followers of the dictator Victoriano Huerta. Generally considered clones of their leader, never worked without their leader's command, known to intrigue with Germans in order to keep or regain power.

Maderistas

Name given to various revolutionary armies supposedly united under the leadership of Francisco Madero in 1910-11, during the first part of the war.

Magonistas

The milirary wing of the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) under the leadership of the Flores-Magon brothers, who organised abortive local uprisings against Diaz in 1906 and 1908, and fomented further revolts after 1911, particularly in Baja California. A force of Magonistas was led by the Welsh soldier of fortune General Carol Ap Rhys Pryce, the "Gringo Revolutionary" .

Orozquistas (Colorados)

Followers of Pascual Orozco, also known as the Colorados ("Red Flaggers"). They fought first for Madero, 1910-11, and revolted against his government in 1912 under the Plan Orozquista, before joining the Huerta army in February 1913.

Porfiristas

Supporters of long-time Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. The Porfiristas were generally conservative, experienced bureaucrats (popularly known as cientificos or scientists) and soldiers of the Diaz regime. After the fall of Diaz, many Porfiristas made intrigues with Reyistas, Huertistas, and Felicistas.

Reyistas

Supporters of long time military man and politician General Bernardo Reyes. Reyes and Reyistas participated in the plotting of the coup to overthrow Madero in La decena tragica of February 1913, in which both Madero and Reyes were killed.

Villistas

Followers of Francisco "Pancho" Villa, mainly serving in the Division del Norte (Northern Division). Formed part of the Maderista forces, and later fought in opposition to the Huerta and Carranza governments, the Villistas later formed a spatially isolated alliance with the Zapatistas, who remained in Morelos. Villa's men were mostly made up of vaquero and charro caudillos, rancheros, shopkeepers, miners, migrant farm workers, unemployed workers, railway workers, and Maderista bureaucrats, who seized haciendas and fought for an undefined socialism.^[1] Adolfo Gilly wrote that Villismo, though fighting for land redistribution and justice, did not challenge capitalist relations as previously set down during the Porfirio era, but was merely an outgrowth of the bourgeois state-oriented revolution of Madera.^[2]

Zapatistas

Followers of Emiliano Zapata, based in Morelos state from 1911 until his death in 1919. They fought for Madero until Zapata became disillusioned with his policies, and thereafter in opposition to all Mexican governments until their leader's death in 1919. The Zapatistas fought for radical land redistribution and political autonomy, and rallied behind the anarchist demand, ¡Tierra y Libertad!.

References