Madero Revolution

Porfirio Diaz:

 was the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1911,  Commonly considered by historians to have been a dictator, he is a controversial figure in Mexican history. His leadership was marked by significant internal stability but this stability only existed within his inner circle. Modernization and economic growth occurred but most of it did not benefit the majority of the Mexican population. A lot of the wealthy friends of Diaz forcibly acquired acres of land by the thousands, forcing many Mexicans into poverty. Diaz stayed in power for over 30 years by imprisoning or assassinating his opponents. Díaz's regime grew unpopular due to repression and political stagnation, and he fell from power during the Mexican Revolution, after he had imprisoned his electoral rival Francisco Madero and declared himself the winner of an eighth term in office.

Francisco Madero: 

was one of the strongest believers that President Díaz should resign from power and not seek re-election.  He created a political pamphlet entitled The Presidential Succession with the central idea of not re-electing Diaz. Madero traveled all across the country campaigning for his ideas and for his presidency.

Francisco I. Madero was a firm supporter of democracy and of making government subject to the strict limits of the law, and the success of Madero's movement made him a threat in the eyes of President Díaz. Shortly before the elections of 1910, Madero was apprehended in Monterrey and imprisoned in San Luis by Diaz and once imprisoned Diaz declared himself the winner. With his fathers influence and money Madero was released from prison on the grounds that he could not leave the city of San Luis. But Madero met a man who was friends with Doroteo Arango, better known as Pancho Villa. With the help of Villa Madero fled to the United States in October of 1910. In exile, he issued the ''Plan of San Luis,'' a manifesto which declared that the elections had been a fraud and that he would not recognize Porfirio Díaz as the legitimate President of the Republic.

Instead, Madero made the daring move of declaring himself President Pro-Temp until new elections could be held. Madero's call for an uprising on November 20th, 1910, marked the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. 

Pancho Villa:

 A commander of the north division for Madero and played a huge role in Madero’s escape from San Luis as well as the growth in Madero’s following. Many of the followers for Madero were there because of Pancho Villa, militarily or otherwise. With the help of Villa Madero was able to overthrow Diaz and take over as President of Mexico. this gave Villa a lot of power.

Without Villa one could argue that Madero would have never overthrown Diaz, and possibly never have started a Revolution in the first place.

Against The Day

The book chronicles some of the aftermath of the Battle at Casa Grandes. Casa Grandes  was a big loss for Madero and showed his lack of military experience. There also seems to possibly be some type of time travel going on, because it would be hard to believe that archaeologists would set up a site right where a war is going on. I also wonder if this is a flashback (pg 377) or a dream sequence for Frank. It is interesting to note that the battle is going on near a church during holy week, again bringing religion into the conversation. Its interesting that Pynchon picked the Casa Grandes battle because it wasnt a major battle in terms of the whole revolution. In fact, the only significance to it is that it was more of Pancho Villa’s battle because the majority of the soldiers were his. The Casa Grandes battle was the first battle of the Madero Revolution and also had the most casualties for Madero.

Sources:

http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch03mex.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Villa

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2824-the-mexican-revolution-1910