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Factions in the Mexican Revolution

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Title: Factions in the Mexican Revolution  
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Subject: Mexican Revolution, Magonism, Historical Museum of the Mexican Revolution, Constitutionalists in the Mexican Revolution, Plan of San Diego
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Factions in the Mexican Revolution

External Timeline A graphical timeline is available at

This is a list of factions in the Mexican Revolution.


Revolutionary followers of Venustiano Carranza from 1913 to 1914; and thereafter the Government army from 1914 until his death in 1920. In 1915 an insurgent group known as the Seditionistas was formed and supported by the Carrancistas.

Constitucionalistas (Constitutionalists)

Title first used by all anti-Huerta forces before the breakaway of Villa and Zapata, thereafter used to describe the forces of Carranza etc.


Joint name for Villistas and Zapatistas as supporters of the Convention of Aguascalientes; held in October-November 1914, this called for the overthrow of Carranza.


Term used for all Government troops from 1910 to 1920, but usually associated particularly with Huerta's Federal Army, Huerta being President from February 1913 to July 1914.


Adherents of Felix Diaz, nephew of former president Porfirio Diaz, who opposed both the Madero and Carranza governments in rebellions between 1913 and 1920, and led the reactionary conservative National Reorganizer Army in ineffective revolts late in the Revolution.


Followers of the dictator Victoriano Huerta. Generally considered clones of their leader, never worked without their leader's command, known to intrigue with Germans in order to keep or regain power.


Name given to various revolutionary armies supposedly united under the leadership of Francisco Madero in 1910-11, during the first part of the war.


The Military wing of the particularly in Baja California. A force of Magonistas was led by the Welsh soldier of fortune General Carol Ap Rhys Pryce, the 'Gringo Revolutionary'.

Orozquistas (Colorados)

Followers of Pascual Orozco, also known as the Colorados ("Red Flaggers"). They fought first for Madero, 1910-11, and then against his government in 1912, before joining the Huerta army in February 1913.


Supporters of long-time Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. The Porfiristas were generally conservative, experienced bureaucrats (popularly known as cientificos or scientists) and soldiers of the Diaz regime. After the fall of Diaz, many Porfiristas made intrigues with Reyistas, Huertistas, and Felicistas.


Supporters of long time political intriguer Bernardo Reyes. Reyes and Reyistas participated in the plotting of La decena tragica against President Madero, in which both Madero and Reyes were killed.


Followers of Francisco "Pancho" Villa, mainly serving in the Division del Norte (Northern Division). Formed part of the Maderista forces, and later fought in opposition to the Huerta and Carranza governments, the Villistas later formed a spatially isolated alliance with the Zapatistas. Villa's men were mostly made up of vaquero and charro caudillos, rancheros, shopkeepers, miners, migrant farm workers, unemployed workers, railway workers, and Maderista bureaucrats, who seized haciendas and fought for an undefined socialism.[1] Adolfo Gilly wrote that Villism, though fighting for land redistribution and justice, did not challenge capitalist relations as previously set down during the Porfirio era, but was merely an outgrowth of the bourgeois state-oriented revolution of Madera.[2]


Followers of Emiliano Zapata, based in Morelos state from 1911 until his death in 1919. They fought for Madero until Zapata became disillusioned with his policies, and thereafter in opposition to all Mexican governments until their leader's death. The Zapatistas fought for radical land redistribution and political autonomy, and rallied behind the anarchist demand ¡Tierra y Libertad!.


  1. ^ Cockcroft, James (1992). Mexico: Class Formation, Capital Accumulation, & the State. Monthly Review Press. 
  2. ^ "The Mexican Revolution" (PDF). Retrieved 7 July 2013. 
