Pancho Villa: The Bandit That Fought in the Mexican Revolution

The power dynamics in the revolution shifted again when General Victoriano Huerta attempted a right-wing coup in February 1913. As Madero’s government crumbled under Huerta’s forces, Madero led anti-Huerta soldiers in the Constitutionalist Army from 1913 to 1914. The civilian governor of Coahuila, Venustiano Carranza, became the leader of this anti-Huerta coalition. After Huerta’s eventual defeat and exile in July 1914, Villa and Carranza began to diverge politically. Villa, alongside other revolutionary leaders, assembled a gathering of generals in a bid to form a new government, but the resulting coalition was weak and inefficient. Though Villa and Emiliano Zapata, another revolutionary leader, were formally allied during this period, their partnership was largely theoretical. Both men supported land reform, but Villa’s reforms remained unrealized during his tenure of influence.