Pancho Villa

Revolutionary

• Born: June 5, 1878
• Birthplace: Hacienda de Río Grande, San Juan del Río, Mexico
• Died: July 20, 1923
• Place of death: Near Parral, Mexico

Mexican revolutionary leader and general

Villa played a central role in the Mexican Revolution as a rough, crude, and sometimes brilliant general from 1910 to 1920. Villa’s exploits on and off the battlefield have broadened into legends that remain an integral part of Mexican history and folklore, especially as a champion of the poor and landless.

Areas of achievement Government and politics, warfare and conquest

Early Life

Pancho Villa (PAHN-choh VEE-yah) was born on a large estate, or hacienda, in San Juan del Río, Durango, Mexico. His parents, who worked as laborers on the hacienda, named their son Doroteo Arango. Mexico at that time was ruled by Porfirio Díaz. Under the dictatorship of Díaz, landless peasants enjoyed few rights and remained caught in a cycle of poverty from which there was no escape.

As a young boy, Villa taught himself to ride horses, explored the mountainous terrain near his home, and acquired valuable skills that later enabled him to survive as a fugitive. He was only twelve years old when his father died and left him head of the family. At age seventeen, Villa was forced to leave his home after he killed a man who had attacked his sister. Although he was captured by police, he managed to escape into the mountains of northern Mexico. There he joined a group of bandits led by Ignacio Parra and adopted the name of a notorious early nineteenth century bandit, Pancho Villa. After Parra was killed, Villa became leader of his own band of bandits and gained a reputation as a benevolent outlaw who plundered the rich and shared his stolen goods with the poor. Villa’s activities at this time included robbing banks and trains and murdering those who challenged his outlaw existence.

From about 1896 to 1909, Villa extended his influence beyond Durango to Chihuahua, in the northern part of Mexico along the border with the United States. In 1910, however, Villa abandoned his outlaw career to join Francisco Madero in the revolution against the Díaz regime.

Life’s Work

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920 was a dramatic and convulsive period that became a revolt of the landless masses against oppressive rulers, cost millions of lives, and produced vast destruction of property and resources. From this struggle, Villa emerged as a folk hero to the Mexican people and became one of the most colorful personalities of the revolution. Regional and personal conflicts as well as betrayals confused and symbolized the course of the revolution.

When Madero rallied others against the despotic and dictatorial government of Díaz in 1910, Villa joined the movement to reform Mexico. Within a short period of time, Villa controlled a loosely organized force of men dedicated to the democratic ideals espoused by Madero. At the end of 1910, Villa led his troops in capturing the small town of San Andrés in Chihuahua. This victory, the first of many, established Villa as one of the most daring and competent military leaders of the revolution. By May, 1911, Villa confirmed his reputation with a stunning victory over federal troops when he captured Ciudad Juárez. The control of this valuable border city by the rebel army forced the resignation and exile of Díaz and allowed Madero to assume the presidency.

Acquiescing to the demands of the new president, Villa reluctantly agreed to serve under the command of Madero’s general Victoriano Huerta. Villa soon challenged the authority of Huerta, however, and was arrested, then sentenced to die. In June, 1912, while he was smoking the traditional last cigarette before he faced the firing squad, Villa won a reprieve when a last-minute pardon from Madero arrived. Transferred to the prison in Mexico City, Villa there sought the assistance of a fellow inmate to improve his reading and writing skills. In December of the same year, Villa and his tutor both escaped. Traveling north, Villa left Mexico and entered the United States at El Paso, Texas, where he organized supporters, plotted against Huerta, whom he believed had abandoned the ideals of the revolution, and planned his return to Mexico.

In March, 1913, word reached Villa in El Paso that Huerta had murdered Madero and usurped the presidency. Acting on this information, Villa gathered his forces, reentered Mexico, and began to contest Huerta’s control. By October, Villa emerged as the undisputed leader of the anti-Huerta forces in the north. Demonstrating remarkable military skills and utilizing daring strategies, Villa and his army, the Division of the North, cleared Huerta’s forces from the state of Chihuahua. At the end of 1913, in one of the bloodiest battles of the revolution, Villa recaptured Ciudad Juárez. While controlling that city, Villa undertook reforms that increased the food supply for the populace, improved the water system, and repaired the power plant to provide electricity for public and private use.

By 1914, Villa, now dubbed the Centaur of the North, had become the symbol of the revolution to his countrymen. Motivated by a desire to return Mexico to the Mexican people, and with few ideological purposes, Villa successfully commanded his forces in victories against the Huerta government. Although he brutally ordered foreigners to leave areas under his control, in the early stages of the revolution Villa courted the friendship and goodwill of the United States. As an uneducated and unsophisticated general, Villa nevertheless understood the importance of propaganda and publicity to secure favorable public opinion in the United States. When President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 ordered the occupation of the port city of Veracruz after an affront to a ship of the U.S. Navy, Villa alone among Mexican leaders refused to condemn Wilson’s actions. The United States at that time viewed Villa as the one revolutionary capable of establishing and maintaining order in Mexico, yet hesitated to recognize any clear leader.

In the middle of 1914, rebels supported by the United States overthrew the Huerta regime. At this point, the political climate in Mexico disintegrated into chaos. Although quarrels among the various factions had surfaced earlier, fundamental differences in direction and goals caused the revolution by 1915 to degenerate into an anarchy characterized by civil wars in different regions of the country. During this period of intense bloodshed and destruction, a conflict between Venustiano Carranza and Villa dominated the revolution. Carranza, as leader of a large rebel group that called themselves the Constitutionalists, and Villa, as commander in Chihuahua, both claimed control of Mexico. Failure to resolve this contest undermined the political stability of the country. Central to their dispute was a basic difference in attitude, education, and personality. Villa, a colorful, unorthodox, sometimes crude bandit-turned-general, denounced the supremacy of the courtly, well-bred Carranza. Yet, after General Álvaro Obregón, a supporter of Carranza, defeated the Centaur of the North at the Battle of Celaya in April, 1915, Villa’s influence waned. Shortly thereafter, President Wilson recognized the government of Carranza as the legitimate authority in Mexico.

Resenting the official recognition of Carranza and attempting to demonstrate that his opponent did not control all of Mexico, Villa initiated attacks against the United States in towns along the border. These skirmishes culminated in a raid against Columbus, New Mexico, in March, 1916, when four hundred of Villa’s men crossed the border before dawn, brutally murdered seventeen American citizens, then burned the center of the town before they escaped.

The reaction of the United States to Villa’s wanton act of violence and disregard for international law was swift. Troops under the leadership of General John J. Pershing formed the Punitive Expedition that marched to Mexico in an attempt to capture Villa and disperse his forces.

Even though permission to enter Mexico remained a disputed issue between Carranza and Wilson, Pershing pursued Villa’s army for more than ten months. Although never able to capture Villa, the Expedition succeeded in disrupting his organization and reducing his control in northern Mexico. Villa continued sporadic campaigns against the Carranza government until Carranza’s murder in 1920. At that time, Villa surrendered his remaining army to the new president and retired to a ranch provided for him by the Mexican government. By then a hero to the Mexican people, Villa spent the next three years peacefully as a rancher in Chihuahua, outside the political sphere. On July 20, 1923, assassins hired by his old enemies murdered Villa and his bodyguards near the town of Parral.

Significance

Villa, who began his career as an outlaw and bandit, became a symbol of the revolution to Mexican peasants during and after his death. Despite documented evidence of his cruelty and perverse disregard for human life, Villa has dominated Mexican folklore as a champion of the poor and landless masses. Numerous myths and legends, popularized in songs and romanticized tales, recount Villa’s feats. Villa’s support came from the lower classes, who saw in him a charismatic figure capable of winning for them an opportunity to gain a place in Mexican society and to improve their fortunes in life. As a military leader, Villa demonstrated extraordinary skill in routing his enemies on the battlefield. To his troops, Villa seemed to be the epitome of Mexican masculinity, with his fearless exploits and daring attacks against superior forces. Chased by Pershing’s troops for more than ten months, Villa and his followers outwitted and eluded the more powerful and domineering United States. This feat not only brought Villa worldwide attention but also advanced Mexican nationalism during a period of violence and confusion.

In the final analysis, Villa remained loyal to his cause during a time in Mexican history noted for betrayal and emerged as one of the foremost personalities of the revolution. Yet Villa persists as an enigma. To some, Villa’s brutality and atrocities inspired fear and hatred, while others responded to his leadership and acts of kindness with respect and adulation. Despite conflicting interpretations of his motives and actions, Villa influenced the course of Mexican history and has endured as a hero to his countrymen.

Bibliography

Braddy, Haldeen. The Paradox of Pancho Villa. El Paso, Tex.: Western Press, 1978. This study, along with Braddy’s earlier volume, Cock of the Walk (1955), looks at the highly romanticized figure of Villa, with an emphasis on legends and myths that have developed since his death.

Clendenen, Clarence C. The United States and Pancho Villa: A Study in Unconventional Diplomacy. New York: Kennikat Press, 1961. This work stresses that events in Mexico during the revolution had a profound impact on the United States. The study is based on excellent research that explores Villa’s actions and the diplomatic consequences.

Cumberland, Charles C. Mexican Revolution: The Constitutionalist Years. Introduction and additional material by David C. Bailey. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972. This scholarly account of the revolution, when Villa was most active, provides informative biographical information on the period’s leading figures with insightful interpretations of the factional disputes during a very confusing time in Mexican history.

Machado, Manuel A., Jr. Centaur of the North: Francisco Villa, the Mexican Revolution, and Northern Mexico. Austin, Tex.: Eakin Press, 1988. A well-written, well-researched, and favorable biography, with numerous pictures, that emphasizes Villa’s pivotal role as a military leader in the revolution.

McLynn, Frank. Villa and Zapata: A Biography of the Mexican Revolution. London: Jonathan Cape, 2000. A comprehensive and extensively researched book in which McLynn reconstructs the Mexican Revolution through the biographies of Villa and Emiliano Zapata.

Mason, Herbert Mollory, Jr. The Great Pursuit. New York: Random House, 1970. This detailed military history of the Punitive Expedition, with recollections by those involved on both sides, concentrates on the activities of the U.S. Army. The author claims the expedition was successful because it dispersed Villa’s troops and gave the United States experience to draw on in World War I.

Peterson, Jessie, and Thelma Cox Knowles, eds. Pancho Villa: Intimate Recollections by People Who Knew Him. New York: Hastings House, 1977. These essays, composed by those who knew Villa as friend and enemy, capture the intensity of the revolution and highlight his central role.

Plana, Manuel. Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution. Translated by Arthur Figliola. New York: Interlink Books, 2002. Brief overview of Villa’s life and his role in the Mexican Revolution.

Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar: Pershing’s Hunt for Pancho Villa A True Story of Revolution and Revenge. New York: Little, Brown, 2006. Recounts Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916, and General Pershing’s subsequent search for Villa.

White, E. Bruce. “The Muddied Waters of Columbus, New Mexico.” The Americas 32 (July, 1975): 72-98. This essay for advanced students explores why Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico. The author argues that the reason for the raid is less important than the result, since the Punitive Expedition helped the U.S. Army better prepare for World War I.

Related Articles in Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century

1901-1940: Mid-October, 1910-December 1, 1920: Mexican Revolution; March 15, 1916-February 5, 1917: Pershing Expedition.