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The Mexican Revolution By Porfirio Diaz

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The Mexican Revolution began in 1910, when after decades of authoritarian rule, the Mexican leader, Porfirio Díaz, was challenged by Francisco I. Madero. Díaz was both the official and unofficial ruler of Mexico from 1876 to 1911. During the Porfiriato, Díaz managed to modernise the country through the development of mines, plantations, railways and telegraph lines. While these developments brought great economic prosperity for Mexico, the quality of life of the peasants was greatly diminished. The Ley Lerdo law, passed in 1856, meant that land that had previously been communal and owned by the state could now be sold to the government to haciendados, and peasants who had once worked the land were now treated almost as slaves by the large estate owners. This strict hierarchical class system ensured that resentment formed between the peasants and the middle classes. Elections in the country were also corrupt, with Díaz fixing the election of 1910, and often asking his self-appointed cabinet to amend the Constitution to allow him to do so. Despite the economic prosperity of the Porfiriato, the social *unrest* throughout the country was too great – people began to call for the deposition of Díaz as ruler. Several different groups were involved in the fight for social reformation, but the most notable are known as the ‘Big Four’. These four warlords were Emiliano Zapata and the Zapatistas, Pancho Villa and the Villistas, Venustiano Carranza and his Constitutionalist Army

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