We explain who Francisco Villa was, where he was born and what his role was in the Mexican Revolution. In addition, we explain his characteristics and famous quotes.
Pancho Villa was a Mexican revolutionary leader, nicknamed the “Centaur of the North.”
Who was Francisco Villa?
José Doroteo Arango (1878-1923), better known as Francisco Villa or Pancho Villa, was a Mexican revolutionary leadergeneral of the Northern Division during the Mexican Revolution, nicknamed the “Centaur of the North.”
It was a Key piece of the insurrection against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz and against the presidency of Victoriano Huerta, and served as provisional governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. He was also notable for invading U.S. territory at Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916.
His loyal troops were called “Villistas” and were known for their practices of forced redistribution of wealth: They took the lands from the landowners to give them to the poor peasantsVilla also took over trains and used fiat money to fund his cause.
Numerous corridos and Popular songs consecrated Villa’s name among the national heroesalthough in many literary and cinematographic works he was presented as a simple benefactor bandit, a sort of Mexican Robin Hood.
He died in 1923, riddled with bullets. while driving his car. His remains were the last to be transferred to the mausoleum of the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City, in 1976.
The early years of Francisco Villa
Pancho Villa lived as a fugitive and joined a group of bandits.
Jose Doroteo Arango Born in Durango, Mexico, in 1878on the Río Grande estate (now La Coyotada) in the municipality of San Juan del Río. He was the son of sharecroppers Agustín Arango and Micaela Arámbula, but was orphaned by his father at an early age.
There are different versions about his youth. The most widespread one maintains that, after the death of his father, he had to help his mother support his brothers by working as a sharecropper on a farm, until One of the owners overstepped his boundaries with one of his sisters and Arango shot himFrom then on he escaped to the mountains and lived as a fugitive for almost 20 years.
He joined a group of bandits with which he managed to accumulate money while evading the rurales (the mounted guard of the government of Porfirio Díaz). Much of the goods he stole were distributed among his family, friends and other poor sectors. In 1903, he was recruited by the federal army but deserted and escaped to Chihuahua.
In this age, He changed his name to Francisco “Pancho” VillaThe reasons are disputed. Some maintain that Francisco Villa was the name of a famous bandit from Coahuila and Durango, which Arango had adopted as a pseudonym to conceal his real name. Others accept Villa’s own version: that his father, Agustín Arango, was the illegitimate son of a tycoon named Jesús Villa, and that he had simply taken his grandfather’s surname.
Francisco Villa’s participation in the Mexican Revolution
town He became involved in the revolutionary movement in 1910in support of the uprising of Francisco I. Madero against the regime of Porfirio Díaz, known as the Porfiriato.
In the Maderist ranks he was politically educated and was especially Valued for his knowledge of the land and people of the north from Mexico. Not only did he become a bold and organized soldier, but he recruited and commanded irregular troops in successful military actions in the north.
When the Porfiriato fell and Madero assumed the presidency in 1911, Villa He fought in the service of the Maderista government and joined the Northern Division of the federal army commanded by Victoriano Huerta.
He was promoted to honorary brigadier generalbut General Huerta, who had sympathy for the landed classes and contempt for revolutionaries like Villa, took advantage of an altercation over the theft of a horse and Villa’s declaration that he would abandon the División del Norte, to accuse him of rebellion and have him shot. Madero avoided execution but Villa was sent to prison, from which he escaped at the end of 1912 and fled to the United States.
Villa as governor of Chihuahua
As governor, Villa printed money, confiscated land, and founded schools.
When President Madero was assassinated and Victoriano Huerta usurped the presidency in February 1913, Villa returned to Mexico and organized a military corps in Chihuahua. to fight against the usurper. He joined the constitutionalist movement of Venustiano Carranza, and his military corps, which became part of the Constitutionalist Army, was called the Northern Division. Villa was named general-in-chief. Thanks to his military talent, in January 1914 he already controlled a large part of the state of Chihuahua.
In December 1913, Villa He was appointed provisional governor of ChihuahuaHe was soon replaced, but he maintained control over the decisions of his immediate successors.
In Chihuahua, Villa He exercised his authority in commercial, bureaucratic and legal mattersHe expelled Spaniards suspected of having collaborated with Huerta, printed banknotes, seized shops, confiscated land from large landowners to finance the army and distribute among widows and orphans of those who fell in the revolution, and founded schools that he himself is said to have attended to learn to read and write.
The Aguascalientes Convention
In June 1914, the Northern Division under Villa’s command took the city of Zacatecas, which opened the way to Mexico City. This event was important for the victory against the Huerta government, who was forced to resign in July of that same year. However, this event encouraged the rivalry between Villa and Carranzasince the latter had given orders that were not followed by Villa and his men.
Carranza called a Convention of the various revolutionary forces to smooth things over and agree on a plan of action. Their intention was to consolidate the new political order, while Villa and other revolutionary leaders proposed implementing social reforms. The convention met in Mexico City, but disagreements led to it being moved to Aguascalientes.
There, the convention was strongly influenced by Villa and Emiliano Zapata. It declared itself sovereign, proclaimed Eulalio Gutiérrez Ortiz as president (who later resigned and was replaced by Roque González Garza) and named Villa commander of the Conventionist Army. Villa and Zapata went to Mexico City while Carranza, supported by General Álvaro Obregón, settled in Veracruz and ignored the Conventionist government. The war between the Conventionist and Constitutionalist armies began.
The defeat of Francisco Villa
Between 1917 and 1920, Villa’s forces were declining.
Over the next few months, Villa suffered a series of military defeats which gradually forced him to retreat to the north. Meanwhile, Carrancism was gaining strength in a large part of Mexico and the Conventionist faction was experiencing internal fragmentation.
At that time, The United States intervened in the conflict and allied himself with Carranza to defeat Villa. Villista reprisals against the foreign nation were not long in coming and included train robberies and massacres of American mine workers. In March 1916, Villa and his troops attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, in the United States, and this caused a corps of the American army, under the command of General John Pershing, to pursue the Villistas, who had to disperse into Mexican territory.
Between 1917 and 1920, Villa’s forces were dwindling and became a group dedicated to guerrilla activity against the government of Carranza, who had managed to promulgate a Constitution and proclaimed himself constitutional president. The Villistas were harassed by Mexican and American troops.
In 1920 Carranza was assassinated and Adolfo de la Huerta assumed the presidencywho arranged for Villa’s surrender to end the conflict. In exchange for laying down his arms, he was given a ranch in Durango for his retirement and a distribution of land among his men. Villa accepted and settled in the Canutillo ranch.
The death of Francisco Villa
Francisco Villa was murdered and his body was decapitated.
Fearing that Villa would take up arms again when his enemy Alvaro Obregon assumed the presidency in December 1920, plans were made to assassinate him. These were carried out on July 20, 1923. Francisco Villa was ambushed and riddled with bullets in Parralin the state of Chihuahua, while driving his car to return to Canutillo.
While there has been speculation about the masterminds behind the murder, available information suggests that It was ordered by the Secretary of the InteriorPlutarco Elías Calles, possibly with the president’s knowledge. His dealings with the United States government may have motivated the crime.
Villa’s body remained in the Parral pantheon, where he was decapitated in 1926. The whereabouts of his head remains unknown.In 1976, the preserved remains were transferred to the mausoleum of the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City.
Wives and children of Francisco Villa
Luz Corral was Villa’s main legitimate wife.
It is unknown how many wives Francisco Villa had. One version holds that he married about seventy-five times.but the known list does not exceed twenty, not counting casual affairs. The list includes women from Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Zacatecas.
Villa’s main legitimate wife was Luz Corralfrom Chihuahua, whom he married in church in 1911 and in a civil ceremony in 1915. Also important were his marriage to Juana Torres (from Coahuila) in 1913, and to Soledad Seáñez Holguín (from Chihuahua) in 1919.
The list of Villa’s children is also extensive and possibly incomplete. Currently, At least 26 children with different women are recognized.
Pancho Villa Quotes
Some famous quotes attributed to Villa are:
- “I prefer to pay a teacher first and then a general.”
- “Equality does not exist, nor can it exist. It is a lie that we can all be equal; we must give each person their rightful place.”
- “Armies are the greatest supports of tyranny. There can be no dictator without his army.”
- “Comrades in arms and gentlemen, do not think that the person who is going to speak to you is a philosopher, I am a man of the people, but you will understand that these men, when they speak, speak from the heart.”
- “Do not think that I have adopted this attitude of peace because I cannot sustain myself. Villa can sustain himself as long as he wants.”
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References
- Katz, F. (1998). The Life and Times of Pancho Villa. Stanford University Press.
- Taibo II, PI (2006). Pancho Villa. A biography…