Beginnings of The Mexican Revolution
In 1910, the Mexican Revolution began, with Madero's pro-democracy, anti-reeleccionista volunteers confronting Díaz's federal troops. As the revolution spread, Villa joined with Madero's forces and aided in winning the first Battle of Ciudad Juárez in 1911. All across Mexico, Madero's volunteers won victories, driving Díaz into exile. Villa, however, strongly disapproved of Madero's decision to name Venustiano Carranza, who had previously been a staunch supporter of Diaz until Diaz refused to appoint him as Governor of Coahuila in 1909, as his Minister of War.
When one of Madero's military commanders, Pascual Orozco, started a counterrebellion against Madero, Villa gathered his mounted cavalry troops and fought alongside General Victoriano Huerta to support Madero. However, Huerta viewed Villa as an ambitious competitor, and later accused Villa of stealing a horse and insubordination; he then had Villa sentenced to execution in an attempt to dispose of him. Reportedly, Villa was standing in front of a firing squad waiting to be shot when a telegram from President Madero was received commuting his sentence to imprisonment, from which Villa later escaped after serving only a brief period in jail. During Villa's imprisonment, Gildardo Magaña Cerda, a Zapatista who was in prison at the time, provided the chance meeting which would help to improve his poor reading and writing skills, which would serve him well in the future during his service as provisional governor of the state of Chihuahua.
Read more about this topic: Pancho Villa
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