Notes

Today we're talking about the Porfiriato and the ensuing Mexican Revolution which had a global impact that helped lead to WWI. From 1876 to 1911, Mexico was under the reign of dictatorship in a time called the Porfiriato. The Porfirato started with the General Porfirio Diaz Mori, a mestizo who led a series of protests and revolts over the previous presidents Benito Juarez Garcia, Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, and Jose Maria Iglesias Inzáurraga, eventually leading a successful coup in 1876 which led to his rise to power. In his first four years as president it was quickly apparent the man was Authoritarian, quieting the media when necessary, brutally suppressing rebellion, and electing his people into power until he had his thumb in every pie. Diaz's rule was defined as 'pan o palo' in English, 'bread or the bludgeon'. The man's successor, General Manuel Gonzalez Flores, was picked himself, but after his first, and only, term as president of Mexico, Diaz decided the military man did not fit his standards, running for the 1884 election himself. He had the constitution amended to allow for him to be president for as many terms as he wished to run, and over the next 26 years he continued to mold the government to fit his Mexico, catering to certain groups to keep himself in power and keep his enemies weak. The Native Americans of Mexico were repressed, and their land used to enrich the upper class and the government in a ploy to stop Mexico from falling too deep into debt. in 1910, Francisco Madero González decided to run against him, his party, the Antireeleccionistas. Diaz, however, arrested the man, before declaring that he had won the election, Madero having only gotten a small amount of votes. However, this soon started the next series of revolts which would become the Mexican Revolution.