Pancho Villa was indisputably the most well known of the revolutionary leaders during the many wars, yet he is also the most misunderstood. People really can't seem to decide if he is radically heroic or pure evil. It really just comes down to which side of the barrel of his gun you end up on. To his enemies Villa was a vile bandit, trouncing around and robbing like a common criminal with an entire army of banditos to support him. However to those within his territory he was the great defender of the people. He even was able to work out a contract with Hollywood, allowing them to film some of his exploits in exchange for 50% of the profits going to fund his own revolution. Regardless, Villa was one crazy dude and its a shame that he had such an anticlimactic end.
Rating:
Military leadership: 8/10
Charisma: 10/10
Ethics: 5/10
Death: 3/10
- Overview:
- Never rose to a position higher than Governor of Chihuaha
- Demonized at times and worshipped at others, a man of great contradictions
- Advocated freedom of the mexican people, yet ruled absolutely in chihuahua and brutally in lands controlled by his enemies
- Ideology:
- Anti-bolsheviks and anti-communism
- "Equality does not and cannot exist. Society is a big stair with some people at its lower end, some people in the middle, some rising and some very high. It is a stair very clearly determined by nature"
- Aims
- Land Distribution
- Greater education
- Price and tax control
- Methods
- Seized Hacienda land to redistribute to the peasants and his soldiers and robbed trains for supplies
- Built schools in his region for children.
- Printed his own currency for his people as payment
- Successes/ achievements:
- Remarkable Generalship allows him to remain undefeated from the first battle of Ciudad Juarez against Porfirio Diaz’s federal army in 1911 until the Battle of Celaya against General Obregon in 1915
- Incredibly well-liked by the people, after attacking the United States he was able to outmaneuver and escape capture of the pursuing U.S forces, primarily because the locals would not give up his location.
- Ousts president Carranza from Mexico City with the aid of Emiliano Zapata circa 1915.
- Failures:
- Battle of Celaya against General Obregon costs him monumental losses to capacity to wage war.
- Attacked the United States after they did not side with him for rightful control of Mexico and for supporting Carranza’s regime.
- Death
- Gunned down in his car in 1923 by men with repeating rifles
- Unknown assailants and for an unknown cause
- speculations include
- Obregon ordered the assassination in order to prevent him from running against him for the presidency
- He had upset the local populace with his taking of wives and other women for sexual pursuits
- The united states had secretly ordered an assassination and had hired mexican muscle to carry it out.
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