(4) The Madero
Era II: Orozco’s
Revolt, Mar.1912-Jan.1913
March
1912
Orozquista Revolt.Villa.
Orozco’s revolt explodes in Chihuahua:
==Mar.02 > Maderista Governor
Abraham
González is compelled to flee rebellious Ciudad Chihuahua
==Mar.03 > The revolutionary
hero Orozco
launches a dangerous revolt in Chihuahua, repelling an attempt by
Pancho
Villa to restore government control in the state capital - the revolt
has
strong regional support, and most of the local irregular forces join in
- President Madero is stunned
==Mar.07 > Signs of panic in
Mexico City
- US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson is frantically requesting arms from
the
US State Department and urging American citizens to flee
==Mar.08 > Secretary of War
José
González Salas leaves Mexico City to command the Federal forces
against Orozco
==Mar.13 > The revolutionary PLM
endorses
the revolt
==Mar.14 > The US Congress
authorizes
a discretionary arms embargo on Mexico and Taft halts arms sales to
Orozco
==mid.Mar > Orozco secretly
orders that
the estates of the powerful Terrazas family not be disturbed by rebel
forces;
in return, the Chihuahuan oligarchs support Orozco
==Mar.23 > The Orozquistas
route the
Federals at the 1st Battle of Rellano [afternoon]: Federal
General
González Salas commits suicide - the Madero regime is badly
shaken
==Mar.24 > Pancho Villa suddenly
seizes
Parral in south Chihuahua
==Mar.25 > The Plan Orozquista is
published:
it accuses Madero of allowing the Mexican flag to be profaned by “the
sacrilegious
hand of the Yankee” and calls for social reform
Madero Regime.
==late.Mar. > ~Madero temporarily
imposes
press censorship
Zapatista Revolt.
==late.Mar.-spring > Zapatista
activity
is accelerating, with nearly full control of countryside; the
Zapatistas
take Puebla, but are defeated in attacks on Tres Marias and Parque del
Conde
Unrest.(south).
==Mar.-late.Jul. > The revolt in
east
Oaxaca revives, cutting the rail link to Chiapas
April
1912
US Relations.
==Apr.02-06 > Responding to US
charges,
the Mexican and Japanese governments deny any Japanese interest in
Magdalena
Bay in Baja California
Zapatista Revolt.
==early.Apr >Zapata briefly takes
several
key towns in Morelos, but is unable to hold them for long - mass
executions
by Federal forces in Jojutla
Orozquista Revolt.Villa.Huerta.
Orozco’s revolt begins to loose momentum:
==Apr.01 > Huerta takes command
against
the Orozco revolt, despite Madero’s misgivings
==Apr.02 > Villa repels an attack
on Parral
[morning], inflicting the first defeat on the Orozquistas
==Apr.03-04 > Villa evacuates
Parral [night]
- Orozquistas sack the town: Orozco’s popularity begins to decline
==Apr.12 > Huerta arrives in
Torreón
with reinforcements, and reorganizes the Federal forces in Chihuahua
==mid-late.Apr. > The Federal
forces at
Torreón are ravaged by typhoid
Madero Regime.
==Apr.--- > Mexican electoral
reform -
direct elections are introduced
Labor.
==Apr.--- > The National Railways
are
largely ‘Mexicanized’ after a failed strike by American employees
Rural.Madero
Regime.
Madero’s first, weak attempts at land reform:
==Apr.--- > The government begins
carrying
out its modest land reform program
==early summer > A government
survey of
national lands is largely completed, but the attempt at conservative
land
reform is not succeeding
Unrest.(south).
==Apr. > A revolt in Guanajuato
is suppressed
==spring. > Zapatista-inspired
revolts
overrun much of southern Puebla and often cut its communications with
Oaxaca
until summer
Unrest.(northwest).
==spring > A widespread revolt
erupts
in Sinaloa
May 1912
Zapatista Revolt.
==early May > The Zapatista
offensive
in Morelos is fading
==May 19 > Martial law ends in
southern
Mexico - Morelos elects a pro-reform legislature
Orozquista Revolt.Huerta.
In the north, the tide turns against Orozco:
==early.May > Orozco fails to
drive the
Federals from Monclova in Coahuila
==May.05 > Vázquez
Gómez
arrives in Ciudad Juárez and forms a government, but he is soon
arrested and expelled by his fellow rebel Orozco
==May.12 > Huerta defeats the
Orozquistas
at Estación Conejos as he begins advancing north from his base
at
Torreón
==mid.May > The radical
Orozquista Braulio
Hernández is ousted - Orozco’s movement becomes increasingly
dominated
by conservatives
==May.22-23 > Huerta
decisively defeats
Orozco at the Second Battle of Rellano: ~the Orozquista revolt
begins
to disintegrate
Unrest.(south).
==mid-late.May. > A revolt erupts
in northern
Oaxaca: serranos besiege the state capital
June
1912
Villa.Huerta.
==Jun.04 > A day after he
announces that
he’s withdrawing his forces from Huerta’s command, Pancho Villa is
suddenly
arrested and condemned to be shot without a trial: Villa very narrowly
escapes execution; Madero’s reprieve is said to have arrived between
the
orders “Aim!” and “Fire!” - ~Villa is sent to prison in Mexico City,
while
Huerta unsuccessfully orders officers to kill him while he’s in transit
Zapatista Revolt.
==Jun.15 > The brutal General
Robles is
transferred from Morelos
Madero Regime.
==Jun.30 > Mexico holds its first
truly
fair elections in decades, for the 26th Congress
==Jun.--- > In a public speech,
Madero
says “...liberty, by itself, will resolve all problems.”
Unrest.(south).
==early summer. > The rebels in
north
Oaxaca defeat a Federal punitive force at Ixtepeji
July-August
1912
Orozquista Revolt.Huerta.
==Jul.06 > Huerta defeats the
Orozquistas
at Bachimba, southeast of Ciudad Chihuahua
==Jul.07 > Federal troops enter
Ciudad
Chihuahua: Orozco’s power is broken
==Aug.20 > Federal forces retake
Ciudad
Juárez
==Aug.--- > The Orozquistas
invade Sonora,
but meet strong local resistance
Zapatista Revolt.
==Jul.17 > The progressive
Morelos legislature
meets, passing a wave of reforms through Aug. that undermines popular
support
for the Zapatistas
==Jul.20 > Zapatistas massacre a
train
at Parres in the Federal District
==Aug.12 > Zapatistas massacre a
train
at Ticuman in central Morelos
Madero Regime.
==late.Jul. > Madero requests the
suspension
of the constitution in those parts of the country that are in revolt -
he is angrily denounced by the opposition
Labor.Madero
Regime.
==Jul-Aug.--- > Responding to
renewed
strikes, the government again sponsors a conference between
industrialists
and labor - further attempts at labor reform
September-December
1912
Orozquista Revolt.Huerta.
==early.Sep > The Federals take
Ojinaga,
the last rebel stronghold - the Orozquista forces break up into
guerilla
bands as Orozco flees to the US
==Sep.15 > Federal commander
Huerta drunkenly
boasts that he could ally with Orozco and take Mexico City - ~Madero
soon
hears of the comments
==Sep.20 > The Sonorans
decisively defeat
the invading Orozquistas at San Joaquín - ~the rebel remnants
retreat
back into Chihuahua
==mid.Oct > Madero relieves
Huerta, ostensibly
for health reasons
US Relations.
==Sep.12 > A harsh note from US
Ambassador
Henry Lane Wilson to the Mexican government makes unsubstantiated
charges
that the Madero regime has failed to protect Americans
Zapatista Revolt.
Zapata’s revolt revives:
==Sep.16 > A
moderate-conservative legislature
convenes in Morelos, which soon aborts reforms and renews a hard-line
policy
against the Zapatistas
==mid.Oct > The Zapatista revolt
is showing
renewed signs of life
==Nov.01 > The Zapatistas decide
to burn
the cane fields of haciendas that refuse to pay ‘taxes’- by late.Jan,
half
of the state’s sugar crop has been burned
Far Left.Labor.
The rise of anarcho-syndicalism in Mexico City:
==Sep.22 > The syndicalist
COM (Casa
del Obrero Mundial) is established despite harassment from the Madero
regime
==Jan.1913 > The COM undermines
the government’s
Gran Liga union, and dominates organized labor in Mexico City
Unrest.(north).
==Sep.--- > Revolts are spreading
in the
Torreón area - also, the Cedillo family begins an agrarian
revolt
in San Luis/Tamaulipas
Unrest.(south).
==Sep.--- > Rebels again attack
Ciudad
Oaxaca and ravage the central valley
Unrest.(northwest).
==Sep.--- > The Yaqui revolt in
Sonora
is growing serious
Right.
==mid.Oct. > ~Conservatives begin
plotting
a coup in Mexico City
Right.Unrest.
==Oct.16 > Félix
Díaz’
conservative revolt in Veracruz attracts little support
==Oct.23.[morning] >
Federal forces
retake Veracruz and crush the uprising
Rural.Madero
Regime.
The government moves toward serious land reform:
==late.Nov > after a Cabinet
shuffle,
Manuel Bonilla is given the agriculture post and begins working on real
land reform
==Dec.03 > Legislator Luis
Cabrera proposes
the ejido (village communal land tenure) as the basis for
radical
land reform
Labor.Madero
Regime.
==Dec.18 > A Mexican tax decree
penalizes
companies that defy labor reforms
Villa.
Pancho Villa on the lam:
==Dec.25 > Villa escapes from
prison in
Mexico City, disguised as a lawyer
1913
==Jan.02 > He slips over the US
border
at Nogales
==Jan.20 > Villa sends an
ultimatum to
Madero, demanding that his rights be restored
January
1913
Right.
==late.Jan. > Félix
Díaz
is transferred to a Mexico City prison, where he’s soon involved in
plotting
a coup with Reyes and other conservatives
Madero Regime.Right.
==Jan.--- > The Maderista Bloque
Renovador
faction urges a purge of conservatives occupying high office - Madero
reproaches
them for their pessimism
US Relations.
==early.1913 > Madero secretly
requests
that upon taking office, President-elect Woodrow Wilson remove the
hostile
American Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson
Madero Regime.(north).
==early.1913 > Carranza calls a
meeting
of northern governors at his estate at Ciénaga del Toro
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