Madie Smithco

Miss Burke

Honors World History

May 21, 2018

Mexico Following World War I

Following World War I, Mexico had a struggling economy. They were under a

dictatorship and had to go through a revolutionary war to make changes. The Mexican

Revolution was caused by the dictatorship that left many people in poverty, but the outcome was

positive and left the country with a sense of nationalism and power.

Before the Mexican Revolution, Diaz was the dictator for around 35 years. He was not

very fair and supported foreign investors. The foreign investors caused a lot of the economy to

fall even though Mexico did receive some money. That success only helped the minority of the

population who were business people, large land owners, and foreign investors. The majority of

the population struggled. They were peasants who were in extreme poverty and could not change

their status because they have no land or schooling. The middle class was also frustrated and the

liberals were against Diaz’s dictatorship because they wanted a democracy. A fellow liberal,

Madero, started to rebel because he was extremely against Diaz after he imprisoned him. These

rebellions caused Diaz to give up his power and Madero became president because he supported

free elections. Although, Madero struggled and was killed two years into his power. After him,

two leaders rose. The first was Francisco “Pancho” Villa from the north who wanted personal

gain. The second was Zapata who led revolts for the peasants because he understood their

struggles. He was also an Indian who suffered the same treatment. This treatment was of
peasants was also similar to Africans who became slaves. The following decade was filled with

fighting that left a million people dead.

Following the Mexican Revolution, the economy grew. Carrazan took place of the

president. He made sufficient changes because he was a conservative who allowed for a new

constitution. This constitution of 1917 dealt with three major problems, land, labor, and religion.

For land, the government was allowed to control natural resources, there became less land owned

by foreigners, and the large land was split up. For labor, there was a law set that gave a minimum

wage. For religion, the property of churches became official. Women also gained more rights by

earning the same pay as men for certain jobs, they could take part in legal suits, and they had

equality in family funds. There were also many reforms done. They supported labor unions,

opening schools and libraries, and regaining Indian land. By the late 1920’s, the economy

continued to grow when the Institutional Revolutionary Party came into power. They are still

used today and they were able to accommodate every group in Mexico and continue with

reforms. They also were able to remove more foreign investors and get their oil back. This led to

a sense of nationalism in the country. They had an economic nationalism that helped them build

their own factories and raise tariffs because they were losing a lot of money when trading. They

also had a cultural nationalism where the Latin American writers, thinkers, and artists were able

to separate themselves from European influence and make murals to represent their power. The

Mexican Revolution helped grow the country.

From being a struggling country, Mexico was able to grow a lot. They went from having

struggling groups to all groups being treated equally. They were able to separate themselves

from other countries and became the first Latin American country to have success after a

revolution.