(Ferdinand E. Marcos (1917-81), Filipino politician, president. Time (New York, 6 June 1977). )

Webster's dictionary defines the word revolution as "an overthrowing of government [and/or] radical change" (Webster's). The usual goal of a revolution is to change something that the populace does not like. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 was just that. The changes made in the Mexican government during the first half of the twentieth century bear many resemblances to changes made during the French Revolution. According to Brinton, there are four stages to every revolution. The preliminary stage was when both Mexico and France set up the problems to come in the future due to the leadership at that time. The preliminary stage then led up to the first stage where frequent uprisings occurred against the government and sometimes even the people. The third and perhaps most turbulent of the four stages was the crisis stage, where some streets ran red with blood, and order ran amuck. The final stage is the recovery stage, where the governments agreed upon a plan that would benefit the people who worked so hard for the changes to see the fruits of their labo

The crisis stage of both the Mexican and French Revolution had civil wars break out. Victoriano Huerta started the crisis stage of the Mexican Revolution when he teamed up with the United States government to overthrow Madero. The government felt that Madero was unqualified for this position because they thought he was an alcoholic. This sparked many battles over the presidency and caused many deaths. Huerta had Madero was arrested, and on February 22, 1913 Madero was shot. Huerta excused Madero's execution by claiming that he was "trying to escape" (Summary). Huerta, who had mostly everything in his favor, lost power quickly. Perhaps Huerta lost power because "of his drunkenness and tyrannical rule" (Summary). The people did not want another tyrant like Diaz. Thus, the revolutionaries of north and south Mexico were back trying to free their country once again, "led by Pancho Villa, Alvaro Obregon, and Venustantio Carranza" (Summary). They stormed Mexico City and when they did, Huerta knew his time was over. Carranza took over in Huerta's place against the advice of Villa. This sparked Villa into a civil war with Carranza. This war went on for many a month with Carranza and Obregon warring against Villa and Zapata. It was at this time that Carranza wrote a constitution that gave many rights to the government and the people. While the constitution allowed many freedoms, it had one drawback that might have been considered unacceptable to the Mexican populace: it gave the President dictatorial powers. The Mexican Constitution of 1917 "embodied the ideas of all the revolutionary groups, and included the liberties and rights of citizens, as well as the democratic and federal concepts of the 1857 Constitution. It also recognized social rights such as the right of workers to strike and to organize, the right to education, and the right of the Nation to regulate private property in accordance with the common interest" (Constitution). The constitution also controlled the limitation of the church and the ownership of land. It stated that "the wealth contained in the soil, the subsoil, the waters and seas of Mexico belongs to the Nation. The right to [own] land... [and] exploit the subsoil may ... only be granted by the Nation" (Constitution). This severely limited the power of the church, who ran many private schools and also angered the foreign investors that bought property in Mexico. However, Zapata and Villa were still fighting against Carranza and Obregon. The tide turned against Carranza when he set up an ambush to kill Zapata. The war between these two groups was shortly broken up after Zapata was murdered in the trap set by one of Carranza's generals. This stage for the Mexicans was much like that of the French Revolution. The crisis stage of the French Revolution was reached when the radicals took control. The radicals, led by Robespierre, formed the Committee of Public Safety, which was in charge of the war against Europe and the business of the state. This same group of radicals also instituted the Reign of Terror, a period in which they executed hundreds of people for some very inadequate reasons that were used to justify the execution of public enemies. According to Erika Vause, the causes of the Reign of Terror were "the European War, the civil war in the Vendee, the rebellion of certain provinces, hyperinflation, and the numerous factions that existed in Paris" (Vause). These events led up to the peak of the crisis stage. All these reasons contributed to the Terror in different ways. The European and civil wars forced a strong, disciplined government to take action, while a financial crisis caused famine and a need for the people to be brought under control. France went to arms against most of Europe during this time period for many reasons. One was that foreign countries viewed France as a troubled and divided nation and perhaps open and vulnerable to attack. Another may have been that nobl

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Approximate Word count = 2867
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)