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Back to Podcast EpisodesPancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution (Part Two)
Of the many political and military figures involved in Mexico’s 1910 Revolution, Pancho Villa remains the most famous and charismatic.
Villa formally requested that Felipe Angeles be permitted to officially join Villa’s military staff. Angeles was a traditional army officer with an expertise in artillery. He served during the Diaz government but was in France when the revolution broke out. Ultimately, he decided that the populist concepts of the revolution were more to his liking and felt Villa best embodied these ideas.
Public outrage over Villa’s Columbus, New Mexico attack prompted Woodrow Wilson to launch a rapidly deployed military expedition under the leadership of the commandant of Fort Bliss, Texas and experienced Apache antagonist, John “Black Jack” Pershing. Commanding six thousand men, split into two separate columns, Pershing crossed the border, without the permission or even cooperation of the Carranza government, which was sensitive to any American incursion. Fleeing south, Villa, attacked any appropriate smaller targets along the way but suffered a serious leg wound at Guerrero on March 28. Pershing’s force quickly located the Villistas and successfully attacked Guerrero but Villa escaped into the mountains where he hid for six weeks, recovering from his gunshot injury. Although Villa was no longer popular in Mexico, the American expedition was considered an invasion and an incident at Hidalgo Parral in which several American soldiers and numerous Mexicans were killed prompted an agreement between the two governments that the Pershing expedition would gradually withdraw
Published on 3 years, 9 months ago