The Mexican Revolution: Part II-The struggle of a microbe against an elephant.

The Mexican Revolution lasted from 1910 and 1920. Although Francisco Madero managed to overthrow  the dictator Porfiro Diaz, he proved to be an ineffective president, who soon lost power. A succession of generals and rebel leaders struggled to gain the president's chair, but the fighting merely grew more destructive until Alvaro Obregon emerged as the victor in 1920. Part II presents the presidential campaign of Francisco Madero, the first serious political challenger to the dictatorship of Porfiro Diaz. Refusing to risk losing a fair election, Diaz simply arrested Madero. Denied the possibility of a peaceful regime change, Madero's followers revolted. 

Cast of Characters:
Porfiro Diaz-President of Mexico 
Jose Yves Limantour-Minister of Finance, leader of the Cientificos faction
Bernardo Reyes-general and former governor of Nuevo Leon, potential successor to Porfiro Diaz
Luis Terrazas-former governor of Chihuahua, one of the wealthiest men in Mexico, head of the powerful Terraza-Creel clan
Enrique Creel-Minister of Foreign Relations and Luis Terrazas' son-in-law
Francisco Madero-presidential candidate and member of the wealthy Madero clan
Franciso Vazquez Gomez-Madero's running mate, former personal physician to Porfiro Diaz
Felix Diaz, Jr.-Porfiro Diaz's nephew

Sources:
Villa and Zapata: A Biography of the Mexican Revolution-Frank McLynn
The Mexican Revolution: Volumes I & II-Alan Knight
Mexico: Biography of Power, A History of Modern Mexico, 1810-1996-Enrique Krauze, translated by Hank Heifetz
Porfirio Diaz-Paul Garner
Francisco I. Madero: Apostle of Mexican Democracy-Stanley R. Ross
Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War-John Mason Hart
Revolutionary Mexico: The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution
Agrarian Warlord: Saturnino Cedillo and the Mexican Revolution in San Luis Potosi-Dudley Ankerson

Image Credit:
Dec 6 1914 General Tomás Urbina, General Pancho Villa and General Emiliano Zapata, Creator: Casasola, Agustín Víctor, 1874-1938, Elmer and Diane Powell collection on Mexico and the Mexican Revolution, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Wikimedia Commons