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Agrarian Revolution
In October 1914 the Revolutionary leaders met in the city of Aguascalientes to patch together an agreement regarding the future organization of the country. Far from creating consensus, however, the Convention at Aguascalientes only widened the divisions between the Carranza and Sonorans on the one hand, and the agrarian Revolutionaries under Zapata and Villa on the other. Eventually the Constitutionalists under Carranza withdrew from the convention, once again plunging the country into civil war.
Although Zapata's Liberating Army of the South and Villa's Division of the North were on the same side in conflict, they had divergent ideas regarding the agrarian question, reflecting the quite different organization of peasant communities in the two parts of the country as well as military exigencies. The Villistas eventually hoped to divide the haciendas and reestablish the military colonies and peasant landholdings; however, the actual division of land in Villista territory was to be postponed until the end of the Revolution. Villa feared that if the agrarian reform took place before victory, the Revolutionary soldiers who were fighting far from their home villages would be left out. The Zapatista agrarian utopia, however, hearkened back to the traditional communal village organization of the region; since Zapatista guerrillas tended to remain within their particular region, agrarian reform could take place immediately. In December 1914 the Villistas and Zapatistas took Mexico City, establishing a Conventionist government and forcing the Constitutionalists to retreat to the port of Veracruz, where Carranza established a rump government. The occupation of the capital by agrarian forces was a decisive moment in Mexican history, even though Mexico City was retaken by the Constitutionalist army under Álvaro Obregón in early 1915.
To prepare his offensive against the agrarian revolution, the Carranza rump government in Veracruz promulgated the agrarian law of January 6, 1915. The law called for the distribution of land in areas under Constitutionalist control and the right of campesinos to seek restitution before the law. These promises proved decisive in broadening the Constitutionalists' base of support. Between 1915 and 1916, the Constitutionalists won several decisive victories. Between April and June 1915 they destroyed the Division of the North in four battles in the Bajío region of north-central Mexico. Although the Constitutionalists were able to corner the Zapatistas, they were unable to dislodge them from their Morelos stronghold. The United States government recognized the Carrancista government the same year. Nonetheless, innumerable bands of campesino guerrillas continue to operating throughout Mexico; one of the result of this dispersed agrarian war was Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, in March 1916.
In October 1914 the Revolutionary leaders met in the city of Aguascalientes to patch together an agreement regarding the future organization of the country. Far from creating consensus, however, the Convention at Aguascalientes only widened the divisions between the Carranza and Sonorans on the one hand, and the agrarian Revolutionaries under Zapata and Villa on the other. Eventually the Constitutionalists under Carranza withdrew from the convention, once again plunging the country into civil war.
Although Zapata's Liberating Army of the South and Villa's Division of the North were on the same side in conflict, they had divergent ideas regarding the agrarian question, reflecting the quite different organization of peasant communities in the two parts of the country as well as military exigencies. The Villistas eventually hoped to divide the haciendas and reestablish the military colonies and peasant landholdings; however, the actual division of land in Villista territory was to be postponed until the end of the Revolution. Villa feared that if the agrarian reform took place before victory, the Revolutionary soldiers who were fighting far from their home villages would be left out. The Zapatista agrarian utopia, however, hearkened back to the traditional communal village organization of the region; since Zapatista guerrillas tended to remain within their particular region, agrarian reform could take place immediately. In December 1914 the Villistas and Zapatistas took Mexico City, establishing a Conventionist government and forcing the Constitutionalists to retreat to the port of Veracruz, where Carranza established a rump government. The occupation of the capital by agrarian forces was a decisive moment in Mexican history, even though Mexico City was retaken by the Constitutionalist army under Álvaro Obregón in early 1915.
To prepare his offensive against the agrarian revolution, the Carranza rump government in Veracruz promulgated the agrarian law of January 6, 1915. The law called for the distribution of land in areas under Constitutionalist control and the right of campesinos to seek restitution before the law. These promises proved decisive in broadening the Constitutionalists' base of support. Between 1915 and 1916, the Constitutionalists won several decisive victories. Between April and June 1915 they destroyed the Division of the North in four battles in the Bajío region of north-central Mexico. Although the Constitutionalists were able to corner the Zapatistas, they were unable to dislodge them from their Morelos stronghold. The United States government recognized the Carrancista government the same year. Nonetheless, innumerable bands of campesino guerrillas continue to operating throughout Mexico; one of the result of this dispersed agrarian war was Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, in March 1916.