Mexico was a neutral country in
World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918. The war broke out in Europe in August 1914 as the
Mexican Revolution was in the midst of full-scale civil war between factions that had helped oust General
Victoriano Huerta from the presidency earlier that year. The
Constitutionalist Army
The Constitutional Army ( es, Ejército constitucionalista; also known as the Constitutionalist Army) was the army that fought against the Federal Army, and later, against the Villistas and Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution. It was forme ...
of
Venustiano Carranza under the generalship of
Alvaro Obregón defeated the army of
Pancho Villa
Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...
in the
Battle of Celaya
The Battle of Celaya, 6–15 April 1915, was part of a series of military engagements in the Bajío during the Mexican Revolution between the winners, who had allied against the regime of Gen. Victoriano Huerta (February 1913-July 1914) and then ...
in April 1915.
Background
After the Battle of Celaya in April 1915, the violence in Mexico was largely restricted to local fights, especially
guerrilla fights in Morelos under the leadership of
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the ins ...
. The partial peace allowed a new
Mexican Constitution
The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...
to be drafted in 1916 and proclaimed on February 5, 1917. Foreign oil companies felt threatened by the new constitution, which empowered the Mexican government to expropriate natural resources deemed vital to the nation. Mexico was in constant threat of being invaded by the U.S., which wanted to take control of
Tehuantepec Isthmus and Tampico oil fields.
[Glenn P. Hastedt (2009) ]
Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
', p. 315, Infobase Publishing, USA.[Ernest Gruening (1968) ]
Mexico and Its Heritage
', p. 596, Greenwood Press, USA.[Lorenzo Meyer (1977) ]
Mexico and the United States in the oil controversy, 1917-1942
', p. 45, University of Texas Press, USA[Drew Philip Halevy (2000) ]
Threats of Intervention: U. S.-Mexican Relations, 1917-1923
', p. 41, iUniverse, USA. Germany made several attempts to incite a war between Mexico and the U.S., seen especially in the
Zimmermann Telegram affair in January 1917, where the aim was to draw the U.S. into conflict on its southern border rather than join Great Britain and France in the conflict against Germany and its allies.
Relationship with the United States
Mexican neutrality in the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
reflected a
hostility toward the U.S., due to several earlier U.S. interventions in Mexico.
[Lee Stacy (2002) ]
Mexico and the United States, Volume 3
', p. 869, Marshall Cavendish, USA. In February 1913,
Victoriano Huerta had conspired with the U.S. ambassador
Henry Lane Wilson
Henry Lane Wilson (November 3, 1857 – December 22, 1932) was an American attorney who was appointed by President William Howard Taft to the post of United States Ambassador to Mexico in 1910. He brought together opponents of Mexico's democra ...
to oust
Francisco I. Madero
Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...
from the presidency of Mexico. The ''
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
'' was the culmination of violence in Mexico City, known as the
Ten Tragic Days
The Ten Tragic Days ( es, La Decena Trágica) during the Mexican Revolution is the name now given to a multi-day coup d'etat in Mexico City by opponents of Francisco I. Madero, the democratically elected president of Mexico, between 9 - 19 Fe ...
(''La decena trágica''), in the waning days of the
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
presidency. President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
also ordered the
invasion of Veracruz in 1914, resulting in the death of 170 Mexican soldiers and an unknown number of civilians.
[Alan McPherson (2013) ]
Encyclopedia of U.S. Military Interventions in Latin America
', p. 393, ABC-CLIO, USA.[Susan Vollmer (2007) ]
Legends, Leaders, Legacies
', p. 79, Biography & Autobiography, USA.
The relationship between
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
and
Venustiano Carranza, whose political position had been aided by U.S. recognition in October 1915, allowing U.S. arms sales to Carranza's faction against its main rival General
Pancho Villa
Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...
, was initially cordial. Villa retaliated arms dealers in Columbus, New Mexico because he had been sold faulty weapons and powder that resulted in the death of his men in battle. In the 1916 attack, 17 American people were killed when they would not return their money or supply replacement weapons. Although it occurred on American soil, it was not an attack on the US government. The media reported it differently. Wilson sent U.S. Army General
John J. Pershing into Mexico for punitive action to capture Villa. The
Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...
destroyed Villa's militia but failed to capture Villa himself. The expedition stalled and Carranza, a strong nationalist, demanded Pershing's withdrawal from Mexican soil. Wilson complied and the expedition was ended,having never apprehended Villa.
U.S. interests were threatened by the proclamation of the
Mexican Constitution of 1917
The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...
and Mexico was in constant threat of being invaded by the U.S.
Extent of involvement in the war
These facts marked the participation of Mexico in the Great War.
* The Carranza government was ''
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...
'' recognized by Germany at the beginning of 1917 and by the U.S. on August 31, 1917, the latter as a direct consequence of the Zimmermann telegram in an effort to ensure Mexican Neutrality in the Great War.
[Thomas Paterson, J. Garry Clifford, Robert Brigham, Michael Donoghue, Kenneth Hagan (2010) ]
American Foreign Relations, Volume 1: To 1920
', p. 265, Cengage Learning, USA.[Thomas Paterson, John Garry Clifford, Kenneth J. Hagan (1999) ]
American Foreign Relations: A History since 1895
', p. 51, Houghton Mifflin College Division, USA. After the
occupation of Veracruz
The United States occupation of Veracruz (April 21 to November 23, 1914) began with the Battle of Veracruz and lasted for seven months. The incident came in the midst of poor diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United States, and was re ...
in 1914, Mexico was unwilling to participate militarily alongside the U.S., maintaining Mexican neutrality was the best the U.S. could hope for.
* Carranza granted guarantees to German companies for keeping their operations open, specifically in Mexico City,
[Jürgen Buchenau (2004) ]
Tools of Progress: A German Merchant Family in Mexico City, 1865-present
', p. 82, UNM Press, USA. but he was at the same time selling oil to the
British fleet. In fact, 75 percent of the fuel used by the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
came from Mexico.
[Lorenzo Meyer (1977]
Mexico and the United States in the oil controversy, 1917-1942
p. 253, University of Texas Press, USA.
* Carranza rejected the proposal of a military alliance with Germany, made via the
Zimmermann Telegram, and he was at the same time able to prevent a permanent military invasion from the U.S., which wanted to take control of
Tehuantepec Isthmus and Tampico oil fields.
[Stephen Haber, Noel Maurer, Armando Razo (2003) ]
The Politics of Property Rights: Political Instability, Credible Commitments, and Economic Growth in Mexico, 1876-1929
', p. 201, Cambridge University Press, UK. Mexico was producing 55 million barrels of petroleum by 1917.
[George Grayson (1981) ]
The Politics of Mexican Oil
', p. 10, University of Pittsburgh Press, USA. Carranza gave the order to destroy and set fire to the oil fields in case of a U.S. invasion.
[Lorenzo Meyer (1977]
Mexico and the United States in the oil controversy, 1917-1942
p. 44, University of Texas Press, USA.
* Carranza's troops confronted and defeated
John J. Pershing in the
Battle of Carrizal
The Battle of Carrizal occurred on June 21, 1916. It was a major skirmish between United States Army troops of General John J. Pershing's Punitive Expedition and Carrancista troops fought at the town of Carrizal in the Mexican state of Chihuahu ...
. General Pershing was furious at this result and asked for permission to attack the Carrancista garrison at Chihuahua. President Wilson, fearing that such an attack would provoke a full-scale war with Mexico, refused. The Battle of Carrizal marked the effective end of the
Punitive Expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong beh ...
.
References
{{Reflist, 2
Sources
* Mexico and the United States in the oil controversy, 1917–1942. University of Texas Press, 1977
* Threats of Intervention: US-Mexican Relations, 1917–1923. iUniverse, 2000.
* Básicos. Historia Universal 2, Ed. Santillana, 2007
* Historia de México II, Ed, Santillana, 2008
External links
* Articles relating t
Mexicoat the International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
* Scheuzger, Stephan: Mexican Revolution, in
1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
* Rinke, Stefan
Zimmermann Telegram in
1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
World War I by country