Villa, Pancho, << VEE yah, PAHN choh >> (1878-1923), was a Mexican rebel general during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). He sought to control Mexico after the fall of President Porfirio Díaz in 1911. After the murder of President Francisco Madero in 1913, Victoriano Huerta became president. Villa supported him briefly. When Venustiano Carranza moved to gain control of Mexico in 1914, Villa attacked him. Álvaro Obregón, who supported Carranza, defeated Villa and helped Carranza become acting chief of Mexico (see Mexico (The Constitution of 1917) ; Obregón, Álvaro ).
The United States encouraged Villa at first, but President Woodrow Wilson turned to Carranza after Obregón defeated Villa at the Battle of Celaya in 1915. Villa retaliated against Americans in Mexico, stopping trains and shooting those on board. In 1916, his troops raided Columbus, New Mexico. They burned the town and killed 18 people. President Wilson sent thousands of U.S. soldiers under the command of General John J. Pershing into Mexico in pursuit of Villa, but Pershing failed to capture him. All Mexicans, including President Carranza, resented Pershing’s expedition. They considered it an attempt to intervene in Mexico’s revolution instead of an effort to hunt down bandits. Wilson withdrew the expedition from Mexico in 1917 (see Wilson, Woodrow (Crisis in Mexico) ).
Loading the player...Pancho Villa
Obregón drove Carranza from power in 1920 and pacified Villa by a grant of land. Villa was shot and killed from ambush by enemies on July 20, 1923.
Villa was born Doroteo Arango in the Mexican state of Durango on June 5, 1878. He changed his name to Francisco Villa and was called Pancho Villa.
See also Mexican Revolution of 1910 .
